welcome... 2009

By Simon Strantzas (procurement@loop.ca), Product Specialist

It was a long tough year for all of us, but that time is now gone and a new year has begun. I'm hopeful this one proves better than the last.

What do we have to look forward to in the coming months? Snow Leopard, for one, Apple's new operating system. It eschews new features for solidity, and an effort to optimize what's already in place. You won't get a new way to view your files (not that many used Cover Flow anyway) but instead the goal is to beef up technologies that are already present and make them run as efficiently as possible. The OS is so advanced it will only run on the Intel hardware, leaving aside any computer not made in the last few years. Now before you get excited, your existing copy of Leopard will keep running on your G5 just fine, but when you finally make the switch to the new hardware you'll be able to take advantage of the best OS on the planet.

That said, this year also brings to an end Apple's presence at MacWorld. Some of you will remember the days when there were TWO MacWorlds, one for the East and one for the West. Apple pulling itself from the first rang the death knell for that show, and I have a strong suspicion it will do the same for this one. Loop will be there this year, for the first time as an exhibitor, but the fun will be tempered with a bit of sadness. If you're attending, make sure you track us down at booth #4130 and say hello. Nothing helps dispel the gloom like a "hello" from old friends.

What does the future hold in store for Apple? Only time will tell. I suspect we'll see new Mac Pro towers and a new line of displays announced this month, but after that I expect Apple to settle down for a bit. Nothing like the iPhone for a while. 2009 sounds like it will be a year of caution, and I think Apple will spend time counting their hatched chickens and making sure they're growing healthy. Not to say there won't be any surprises -- with Apple, there are always surprises -- but I think for the most part we're just going to see great product lines refined into better ones over the next few months. Apple's had a great few years, let's face it. They deserve to rest for a moment so that they, and we, can catch a breath!

---

have indesign append like quark

By Casey D'Andrea (http://blog.loop.ca), Application Specialist & Trainer

Back in the days of using Quark, one of the more useful features was appending from another document. When you start off with a fresh document sometimes you want to import styles and swatches and other presets from another document. Within InDesign, you need to visit multiple palettes to do this, Object Styles, Paragraph/Character Styles, Table/Cell Styles Swatches, and so on. There are a couple way to speed up this process, albeit with a couple caveats which I will explain.

create an indesign book

The solution is to create an InDesign Book, add the source and target InDesign document, then Synchronize the two. The Book serves as a temporary conduit allowing you to define what does get imported into the target document. CAVEAT: One thing to keep in mind is that the attributes in the source document take precedence over the target document. For example, if there is a discrepancy between two swatches or styles, the target document's definition will be replaced by the source's definition.

The Synchronize option includes the following standards: Table / Cell Styles, Object Styles, TOC Styles, Character / Paragraph Styles, and Swatches. It also includes other valuable options: Numbered Lists, Text Variables, Master Pages, and Trap Presets.

Store a collection of InDesign documents, one for each client / customer and use the above method. If you are starting with a blank slate, this will prove to be a timesaver.

using libraries or snippets

This takes a little longer to prepare, but will be super convenient in the end.

paragraph styles
Create as many paragraphs as there are paragraph styles, applying a unique paragraph style to each one. The paragraphs don't really need to contain text. A paragraph return will suffice. Overset text is allowed so you could use a compact text frame, and then open up the Story Editor to add all the necessary paragraphs and formatting.

character styles
Create a nested Paragraph Style adding all your Character Styles. InDesign CS3 has a limit of 40 nested Character Styles, so you will need to create multiple nested Paragraph Styles if you want to go beyond that limit.

object styles
Create as many frames as there are object styles, applying a unique object style to each one.

swatches
Create a text frame containing as many characters as there are swatches, applying a unique swatch to each one.

table / cell styles
Create as many tables (can be 1x1) as there are table styles, applying a unique paragraph to each one. Create a simple table containing as many cells as there are cell styles, applying a unique cell style to each one.

Once you've prepared all of the InDesign elements, group them, then export them as an InDesign snippet. The next time you need to append the styles and swatches to a document, simply drag that snippet onto your document and all the styles / swatches within the snippet will be appended to the document. CAVEAT: One thing to keep in mind is that the attributes in the document takes precedence over the snippet. In other words, if the paragraph style named Body uses Myriad 12/14 in the snippet, and there is already a paragraph style in the document of the same name using Adobe Caslon 10/12 the document's attributes will be used.

The nice thing about a snippet is that it is very small and can be easily emailed to someone. They can also be easily stored in a client folder allowing one to drag it into a new project for that client, appending all the swatches and styles you need to get started. It might prove useful to even set up an InDesign library housing all the different client / customers. Once the library item or snippet has been dragged onto the document, simply delete it.

It's not perfect, but meh...

As noted by the caveats, these solutions are not perfect, but they can get you much closer to the desired result in fewer steps. If you need to have specific control over styles and swatches, then using the Load commands from their respective panels is the way to go. Otherwise, try it out, you'll like it.