Indesign 5.5 dimensioning and arrowheads

[Drisconsult]

After 20 years with Ventura I now have to migrate to Indesign (5.5). I need to dimension lines with arrowheads. It seems an impossible task with Indesign - or is it. With Ventura it was a delight, with InDesign its a bloody nightmare.

 

[apepp]

...stroke palette > flyout menu (arrow top right of palette) > show options...

...choose start and end styles.

...or do you mean something else?

Andrew
==============

http://www.apepp.info

- Graphic Design and Web Design, Exeter, Devon, UK.
==============

 

[Drisconsult]

Hello Andrew
Eventually I have solved the arrowhead problem (oh I long for Ventura). There must be devotees of InDesign out there but they don't know what they are missing. Now I have a problem with setting a default font so that when I create a text box I don't have to reset the damn thing again. I have Steve Johnson's InDesign CS5, followed closely his text, but does it work? Not on your life. Apart from this, every line I create is blue. The only time I can convert this line to black is when there is something on the end of it, otherwise it remains blue no matter what I do in the Strokes menu. I have tried copying a line with an arrowhead (which is black) and then deleting the arrowhead, the line then reverts to blue again. This may be my day for being daft, but this program is driving me nuts.
Regards
Terence

 

[apepp]

If you change settings when no documents are open, your changes set the defaults for new documents. If a document is open when you change settings, the changes affect only that document.

Similarly, if you change settings when no objects are selected, your changes set the defaults for new objects.

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/indesign/cs/using/WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-6d21a.html

Andrew
==============

http://www.apepp.info

- Graphic Design and Web Design, Exeter, Devon, UK.
==============

 

[spamjim]

There must be devotees of InDesign out there but they don't know what they are missing.

Your struggle with InDesign is probably due to the idea of being a "devotee". If we were truly devoted to any particular product (even InDesign), we'd probably have as difficult time as you migrating to something new. Many InDesign users are/were QuarkXPress, Pagemaker, FrameMaker, Publisher, and Ventura users. We know what it is like elsewhere. Most of us were not born using InDesign.

 

[Drisconsult]

Hello Andrew
It was very kind of you to take the trouble to reply to my problem.
I have just opened InDesign with no files loaded. I have a grey screen. Selected Arial 11pt from the Character dialog box. Then I loaded the book that I have just started to write (on IT actually) went to a fresh page; created a text box and InDesign immediately defaulted to Minion Pro.
Regards
Terence

 

[apepp]

If you change settings when no documents are open, your changes set the defaults for new documents, not existng ones...

...to change existing ones you need to change the default paragraph styles, object styles, etc.

...rather than using the default paragraph styles, object styles etc, you should create your own defaults, that is NEW styles "in addtion" to the default ones...

...the reason for this is if a document is opened on another computer, indesign will use your own default styles...if you change the exisitng defaults the other computer won't remember the default styles...

...so it is best practice to create your own newly named default styles (without a document open)...and apply these to new documents.

Andrew
==============

http://www.apepp.info

- Graphic Design and Web Design, Exeter, Devon, UK.
==============

 

[apepp]

...so if you double click the default paragraph style (without a document open), what does is use?

...usually this is Times.

...so even if you change this default paragraph style, it will work on your NEW documents...not existing ones...

...note that changing this existing default paragragh style works fine for your machine, but on another computer it will probably revert back to Indesigns default, bog standard font settings...

...so without a doc open, you should create your own NEW styles, with your own names and have them selected (in addition to the defaults, you can't delete the defaults listed)...quit indesign and open indesign again, you will see your custom default styles "stick".

...from there your NEW docs will use these instead.

...for existing docs, you will need to change them with the doc open.

Andrew
==============

http://www.apepp.info

- Graphic Design and Web Design, Exeter, Devon, UK.
==============

 

[apepp]

...so, "window > styles" menu is where you need to work with...without a doc open.

...and make your own defaults so they apply to all you NEW docs.

Andrew
==============

http://www.apepp.info

- Graphic Design and Web Design, Exeter, Devon, UK.
==============

 

[Drisconsult]

The problem is, I did create my default font to arial before I began this new book. I was following the instructions in Steve Johnson's book on InDesign 5.5. Unfortunately every time I create a new test frame the program defaults to Minion Pro. I have the character diaolg box loaded on the right-hand side of my document. It shows Arial 11pt as the default font. Then after creating a new text frame - Minion Pro. The solution is that I have to reset the font every time a create a new text frame. I will learn to live with this problem, no program is perfect.
Thank you for taking the time over this problem.
Regards
Terence

 

[apepp]

...not really...

...your paragraph style isn't set right.

Andrew
==============

http://www.apepp.info

- Graphic Design and Web Design, Exeter, Devon, UK.
==============

 

[apepp]

The problem is, I did create my default font to arial before I began this new book"

...how?

...you need to set the default font in your paragraph style, not the character palette.

Andrew
==============

http://www.apepp.info

- Graphic Design and Web Design, Exeter, Devon, UK.
==============

 

[apepp]

...that is "window > styles > paragraph styles"...

...the character palette is not the same, so your looking in the wrong palette.

Andrew
==============

http://www.apepp.info

- Graphic Design and Web Design, Exeter, Devon, UK.
==============

 

[apepp]

...as mentioned above, you should be creating your own default style in the "paragraph styles" palette. So you have it listed with:

[Basic Paragraph] < leave untouched
My Own Default < your own default font.

...the above avoids a problem of opening the doc on another computer running indesign and that computers indesign default font being used instead.

...create the above without a doc open and it will be the default for all new docs.

Andrew
==============

http://www.apepp.info

- Graphic Design and Web Design, Exeter, Devon, UK.
==============

 

[apepp]

...sometimes indesign might need it's preference file reset if the program behaves weirdly:

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/indesign/cs/using/WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-6d21a.html

Restore all preferences and default settings

When InDesign is behaving erratically, deleting preferences (also referred to as “trashing preferences” or “removing preferences”) often solves the problem.

It’s a good idea to make a backup copy of the preference files called InDesign Defaults and InDesign SavedData. Instead of removing your preferences, you can copy these backup files over the problematic corrupt preference files and not lose any customizations.

Do one of the following:

(Windows) Start InDesign, and then press Shift+Ctrl+Alt. Click Yes when asked if you want to delete preference files.

(Mac OS) While pressing Shift+Option+Command+Control, start InDesign. Click Yes when asked if you want to delete preference files.

Various program preferences and default settings are stored in the Adobe InDesign preferences files. These files, including the InDesign Defaults file, are saved each time you exit from InDesign. For manual deletion or renaming, the locations of the preference files are as follows:

Mac OS

InDesign SavedData
Users/[user]/Library/Caches/Adobe InDesign/Version [version]/InDesign SavedData

InDesign Defaults
Users/[user]/Library/Preferences/Adobe InDesign/Version [version]/InDesign Defaults

Windows XP

InDesign SavedData
\Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\Application Data\Adobe\InDesign\Version [version]\Caches

InDesign Defaults
\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Adobe\InDesign\Version [version]

Windows Vista or Windows 7

InDesign SavedData
Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\Version [version]\Caches\InDesign SavedData

InDesign Defaults
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\Version [version]\InDesign Defaults

Andrew
==============

http://www.apepp.info

- Graphic Design and Web Design, Exeter, Devon, UK.
==============

 

[spamjim]

Just like InDesign, Ventura offered different types of styles or "tags" for paragraphs and for characters. These two programs are much more alike than you allow yourself to see. You would have had the same problem in Ventura if you were only defining character style tags.

I find it hard to believe that you could really be struggling with InDesign when you already know 95% of it by using Ventura.

You would probably do much better to see InDesign in action.

How to set default font before creating documents:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYPwR5DE3-c

How to change font in existing paragraph styles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSBYSYXupXc

 

[Drisconsult]

Hello Andrew
At last I have my default font. I might disagree with you a tad on the similarity of InDesign with Ventura. I could change the Body Text tag any time at any place and it would become the default font. Still no matter, thanks to you I have a major problem sorted out. If it were possible to send screenshots (Snagit) much of what your visitors want could be made much simpler.
Let me thank you for persiting in making sure I got this right. Reminds me of my teaching days when I was dealing with distributive databases. Unfortunatly they are long gone. The book incidentally is book 2 of Computer Studies & Information Technology, Macmilland Education.
Sincere regards
Terence

 

[apepp]

Hi Terence...

...it was spamjim mentioning Ventura v Indesign...I've never used Ventura...

...mainly because Indesign is the industry standard these days, it used to be Quark, although Quark is still widely used in the print world, but not like it used to be.

...its true though that layout apps have similarities, it's sometimes that they have their own quirks to getting a similar job done.

...as i had used Quark for many years, when Indesign popped up, to me it wasn't much of an issue to bend what i already knew into the indesign world.

...but even then it took some time to bed in a bit.

...but now, having worked with indesign for so long, i wouldn't go back to Quark if I had the choice...

...after a while you may also see the light I expect.

Andrew
==============

http://www.apepp.info

- Graphic Design and Web Design, Exeter, Devon, UK.
==============

 

[apepp]

I could change the Body Text tag any time at any place and it would become the default font"...

...this should still be the case in indesign, but it has to be done without a doc open to apply to all new docs...the same for many other settings.

...you should also be able to change the default "[Basic Paragraph]" paragraph style without a doc open...to apply to new docs...

...should this not work or "stick", then you can try deleting the preferences file, as mentioned above...deleting the preferences file usually fixes indesign oddity.

...its better practice to create your own default paragraph style (and other styles) though.

Andrew
==============

http://www.apepp.info

- Graphic Design and Web Design, Exeter, Devon, UK.
==============

 

[Drisconsult]

Hello Andrew
One last thing before I wearout my welcome. Is there a Marqee facility in InDesign? I'm sure there is but where to find it.