Adobe InDesign CC - Workspace Basics
It is important to properly understand the user interface to get the most out
of InDesign. Let us take a quick tour of the user interface.
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What we see above is the default interface for most installations. Remember
that the interface is fully customizable. The interface is grouped into many
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panels as follows.
Application Bar
First up, is the Application Bar on the top of the window beside the Help
menu which allows us to set the document zoom level or allow turning the
rulers and guides on and off. It also allows us to tile multiple windows
vertically or horizontally. The Br and St icons stand for Adobe Bridge and
Adobe Stock respectively and you may or may not see them depending on
your installation.
Control Panel
Below the application bar is the long strip called the Control Panel which is a
quintessential component of the UI. The Control Panel basically allows you to
change properties such as text formatting, color fill, and a host of
contextually dependent functions. It is freely movable and you can float or
dock it. Make sure you dock it in a place, which is convenient as you’ll be
using this very often.
Document Layout
Next, we will take a look at the blank document. This blank document was
created using the default options in the New dialog box. We will be learning
more about the New dialog box in the next chapter. If you observe closely,
the blank document is surrounded by black borders. That is the limit of the
printed page. The pink guides on the top and bottom define the margins. The
purple guides on the left and right are column guides.
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If you have multiple columns, you will find that the purple guides define each
column. Neither the pink nor the purple guides print out or will be seen in
the exported PDF.
Toolbar
The Toolbar which is usually to the left of the main workspace contains all
the tools required to work with the document. It has the selection tools, the
text tools, eyedropper tools, etc. Clicking on these tools will open up further
functions relevant to that tool in the Control Panel described above. Some
tools like the Type tool for example have a small arrow underneath them
which can reveal a similar tool with a different function.
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Panels Bar
To the right of the workspace is the Panels bar which has some additional
fucntions. What you see on the Panels bar can vary based on the workspace.
Similar to the other window components described above, the Panels bar can
be moved around freely or docked to a suitable position.
Clicking a button in the Panels bar will open up additional options. For
example, clicking the Stroke option will open a pop-out window allowing us
to change the properties of the stroke. You can add more functions to the
Panel bar by going to the Window menu and choosing the desired function.
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Ruler Measurements
It is important to be able to set the ruler measurements as desired. There
are two ways of doing this. One of the ways, is to right-click on the point
where the horizontal and vertical rulers intersect and select the desired
measurement units. You can also hide the rulers, if you don’t need them.
The other way, if you want to use a different measurement from now on for
all new documents, is to use the Units and Increments option in the
Preferences dialog box in the Edit menu or simply press Ctrl + K on
Windows or Command + K on the Mac to open the Preferences dialog
box. This is detailed in the subsequent chapters.
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