Book Review – Adobe InDesign CS5 Bible

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Adobe InDesign CS5 Bible
By: Galen Gruman
Price: $49.99
Wiley Publishing
Companion Web Site

Like the biblical figures of note, Galen Gruman has descended  from the sacred mountain to present the InDesign faithful with the holy tablets of practical and useful instruction. Is Adobe InDesign CS5 Bible ready for the design masses? Read on and find out.

ORGANIZATION AND LAYOUT

I found the layout and logical flow of the this InDesign CS5 user manual to be well structured and easy to follow. The Table of Contents and Index were well constructed and thorough. The pages were well designed and communicated their contents both clearly and handsomely. The 8-page color insert on color techniques, was refreshing after many pages of black on white.

WHAT’S INSIDE

Paraphrasing Mr. Gruman regarding this eighth version of Adobe’s class leading desktop publishing program, Adobe’s focus was improving object manipulation and delving further into the nonprint publishing capabilities of InDesign. Indeed, InDesign CS5 has many more improvements baked in, but these identified areas where in need of some attention.

Adobe InDesign CS5 Bible, covers such important areas as: Document, Object, Graphics, Text, Business Document, Output, and Multimedia Fundamentals. Also covering the use of XML and Scripts within InDesign CS5. Within each major part of the book, the author looks deeply into the use and integration of these technologies within the InDesign environment and the larger CS5 family of applications.

The 8-Page color insert covering color techniques within CS5 was a nice contrast to the black on white surrounding it. Color will always make such a dramatic impact when juxtaposed to black ink on white paper. This was a nice addition to the book and the color is very illustrative of the color processes and what can be accomplished using InDesign CS5.

MAKING A GOOD RESOURCE EVEN BETTER

Adobe InDesign CS5 Bible directs its readers to a companion site (see link above). I found this site to be less than intuitive to navigate and utilize. A fresh and intuitive companion website would indeed be a great bonus for this book. Right now it leaves something to be desired, but with a little attention it could be a great companion resource for he book.

Adobe InDesign CS5 Bible is a well thought out and implemented resource to aid the IndDesign professional as well as the amateur. While the online companion resource could use some attention, the book itself does deliver on its goal to help the InDesign user. I am awarding Adobe InDesign CS5 Bible the above average rating of 7 out of 10 in our MyMac.com Rating System.

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