hrj: (Default)
hrj ([personal profile] hrj) wrote2009-06-03 09:02 pm
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CSA Box & Projects

Got the new roses in the ground today and printed off the handouts to go with the Dublin-Viking caps class. (I decided to mess around with In Design's templates, so I did it up as a three-fold brochure. It's a bit silly, but it's the only way I ever explore new program features.) Also stopped by the thrift store to pick up a couple of plain white sheets to make into classical scenery backdrops for the gods & goddesses encampment at A&S.

This week's veggie box has the regular potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and lettuce -- I don't normally eat this many carrots, so I need to start being a bit more inventive -- plus strawberries (YAYYYYY!!!!!), basil, and walnuts. The last two items cried out to become walnut pesto, so I picked up a head of garlic on my way home. The lettuce is going into lunches for the next two days. Hmm, if I turn the carrots and cabbage into slaw for next week's lunches, then I've thrown the dinner menus wide open (as long as they include potatoes).

[identity profile] goldenstag.livejournal.com 2009-06-04 12:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Okee dokee. Well, I wasn't planning on rushing out and getting anything, and frankly I think with Word 2007 I could just as easily (or really, more easily) created my books there, than PageMaker, or from the sounds of it, In Design. (I have nothing in the works at the moment, but it's always in the back of my head ...)
ext_143250: 1911 Mystery lady (Default)

[identity profile] xrian.livejournal.com 2009-06-04 02:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Word is really rather clunky if you try to use it to lay out pages -- and Word layouts don't export very well into any other program. But if it produces layouts you like, and your publisher likes them, by all means use Word.

InDesign's advantage is that it gives you much more control and flexibility in your page setups, and saves you a fair amount of work fiddling with where things go. I avoid Word whenever possible, but I see my co-workers putting in lots and lots of time trying to make their pages "look right" that I don't have to do.

And being a professional at it (i.e. I use it 40 hours a week), I can't really speak to the learning curve.

I've also found that InDesign has a pretty good word processor embedded into it -- in fact I vastly prefer it to Word. To a large degree, I think it's a matter of what you're used to.

[identity profile] hrj.livejournal.com 2009-06-04 02:07 pm (UTC)(link)
The layout programs like InDesign or Quark are most useful if you have a lot of major graphics or layout issues: wrapping text around odd shapes, combining multiple layers of elements, layout out text shaped paths. Also, if you're doing a magazine-like layout where you have stories jumping across discontinuous sets of pages. And, of course, they're great for dealing with printing masters for folded booklets, since it handles all the pagination issues automatically, and they have a lot of built-in tools for communicating very precise printing specifications for when you're dealing with something higher-end than a desktop printer..