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Adobe InDesign CS3 Classroom in a Book

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Adobe InDesign CS3 Classroom in a Book

(21 customer reviews)

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NL9780321492012

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This thorough, self-paced guide to Adobe InDesign CS3 is ideal for beginning users who want to master the key features of this program, while readers who already have some experience with InDesign can use this book to familiarize themselves with InDesign CS3's newest features. Using step-by-step, project-based lessons, each chapter contains a project that builds upon the reader's growing knowledge of the program, while review questions at the end of each chapter reinforce the most important skills learned in each lesson. The companion CD contains all the assets readers will need to work through each project in the book. Adobe InDesign CS3, Adobe's page layout and design software, has been updated to accelerate user productivity with loads of new features: new Photoshop effects--including gradient feathering, inner shadows, and glows--that you can apply to objects on a page; finer transparency controls, which let you apply transparency settings independently to an object's fill, stroke, and content for more complex visual looks; numerous productivity enhancements; advanced find/change features; new table and cell styles; export to XHTML, and more.

Educational instructor notes—created to help teachers plan, organize, and time their lessons—are available for this book (and for other Classroom in a Book titles) at www.peachpit.com/instructorresources.

SPECIAL NOTE: Before starting the lessons in the book, visit www.peachpit.com/indesigncs3cib for important lesson and project file updates.

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Product Details

Author:	Adobe Creative Team
Paperback:	450 pages
Publisher:	Adobe Press
Publication Date:	May 08, 2007
Language:	English
ISBN:	0321492013
Product Length:	9.02 inches
Product Width:	7.41 inches
Product Height:	0.85 inches
Product Weight:	2.03 pounds
Package Length:	9.0 inches
Package Width:	7.4 inches
Package Height:	1.0 inches
Package Weight:	2.0 pounds
Average Customer Rating:	based on 21 reviews

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review: 3.0

( 21 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 56 found the following review helpful:

poor quality update Jun 02, 2007 By Russ Holland
This book is disappointing. Aside from the typos, poor grammar, and a few technical errors, there is almost no use or mention of the new CS3 features. The new features are glossed over in a few pages at the start of the book, but it is nothing but marketing fluff. The book is really a re-hash of the same content that existed in previous versions. Definitely do NOT get this book if you want to learn the new features. To make it worse, the writers are from a training company in Seattle - not Adobe - and they shamelessly promote their services in several of the chapters. The book is like a paid advertisement that needs better proofreading.

82 of 85 found the following review helpful:

A big waste of time and money Jun 18, 2007 By Steven Smith
I am a brand new Adobe InDesign CS3 user. I purchased this book because it was published by Adobe. I figured, who better to learn about an Adobe product from then Adobe?

Big mistake!

This book is terrible. It has typos, grammatical mistakes, and instructions that are both incorrect and incredibly difficult to follow. The pictures and instructions often leave you scratching your head. I've gotten half way through several of their lessons only to give up frustrated. I turned the page back and forth to make sure I didn't miss something only to find out that I hadn't.

I am an advanced computer user. In fact, I am a software product trainer. I mention this because I want to make a point of saying that I am not a "newbie". I know computers and software. Even with my knowledge, I found this book useless. If I wrote this, I would expect Adobe to fire me.

Do yourself a favor, steer clear of this book.

56 of 60 found the following review helpful:

Mediocre At Best May 25, 2007 By CMOS
This book should cost about $20 tops, for the amount of detail it covers (not a lot, compared to how complex and powerful the application itself is), and the quality of editing. There are several typos and grammar errors throughout the book, and the quality of the paper is poor IMO.

But the main disappointment is the half-hearted coverage of InDesign's most powerful features, both new and those existing from prior versions. Most examples and descriptions are of the "nuts and bolts" variety and are hard to follow at times. Not sure why it is that Adobe's own books often fall short in the technical merit department, compared to 3rd party authors who cover Adobe software.

As someone who teaches Photoshop for a living and uses InDesign fairly often to help run my business (brochures, newsletters, etc.), I was expecting more from Adobe on this one. Worst of all I purchased this book through another vendor at what I thought was a discounted price, paying $40 for it. Even at $30 though, it would be a waste of money IMO. Look elsewhere for InDesign help.

I've heard good things about the Real World InDesign series, though I do not own the latest copy yet...

27 of 27 found the following review helpful:

Guided tour, not tutorial Sep 24, 2007 By Allen Stenger
I'm reviewing the second printing (published mid-July 2007), which has many fewer errors than the first printing. There were only two or three spots where I couldn't get the result in the book, and I wasn't sure if that was my fault or the book's.

InDesign is conceptually a simple program: you collect all your content, plop it down on pages, and drag it around until you are happy with the result. The complication comes from the zillions of settings and treatments for the objects. This book is less a tutorial than a guided tour showing you how to use some of these settings.

One weakness of the book is that it deals primarily with very short documents (one to a few pages), and even on the multipage documents the exercises usually only work on one page in isolation. For this kind of document I would usually use Adobe Illustrator and not a layout program. The place where you really need layout is for multipage documents with a lot of text that flows from page to page (magazine articles, newsletters), and with book-length documents where organizing the work and using stylesheets becomes critical. Chapter 11 deals with a book-length document, although it doesn't deal with these issues.

A related weakness is that the focus is on specific features and not the overall look. The book is tactical rather than strategic. You can argue that strategy is a designer issue and not part of learning the program, but I would like to have seen more emphasis on planning the document and setting up styles. In most cases you start out with an existing layout and start populating it with content, and never deal with the overall look of the document.

The CD-ROM includes the lesson materials, and a few short video tutorials from lynda dot com. One minor gripe is that, unlike other CIB books, this one does not give the estimated times for each lesson.

Overall I felt the book was lightweight. I certainly did not get the in-depth knowledge that I got from working through the Photoshop CIB book. However, it does give you a good survey of the program's capabilities, and is well-organized and well-written.

17 of 17 found the following review helpful:

Getting help only if you pay by body parts... Jul 06, 2007 By A. Meit
I know a thing or two about tutorials/manuals for I often test them as a beta-tester. The following comments are for all five of the CIBs. Yes, I have worked though each one.
As a bare start its ok but its just too much of a skimpy overview for the high price its requesting. This book should have been a PDF, unlocked, with the software. If you want a good intro at a reasonable price, don't buy this book. As for its content, I have found errors that should have been found long before it got to print. If you really want it, than wait a few more months for an updated edition. As for the pdf version, stay away from that too. Its DRM settings are overly restrictive, i.e., only 30 text selections over 30 days. There are much better books coming soon at the price with respect to its in-depth coverage. So buy them. :-)

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