Adobe InDesign is a software application produced by
Adobe SystemsAdobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
. It can be used to create works such as posters, flyers, brochures, magazines, newspapers and books. In conjunction with Adobe Digital Publishing Suite InDesign can publish content suitable for tablet devices. Graphic designers and production artists are the principal users, creating and laying out periodical publications, posters, and print media. It also supports export to
EPUBEPUB is a free and open e-book standard by the International Digital Publishing Forum...
and
SWFSWF is an Adobe Flash file format used for multimedia, vector graphics and ActionScript. Originating with FutureWave Software, then transferred to Macromedia, and then coming under the control of Adobe, SWF files can contain animations or applets of varying degrees of interactivity and function.,...
formats to create digital publications, and content suitable for consumption on
tablet computerA tablet computer, or simply tablet, is a complete mobile computer, larger than a mobile phone or personal digital assistant, integrated into a flat touch screen and primarily operated by touching the screen...
devices. The
Adobe InCopyAdobe InCopy is a professional word processing software made by Adobe Systems. It is integrated to Adobe InDesign however it is sold separately and is not included in any Creative Suite edition; the current version is Adobe InCopy CS5.5...
word processor uses the same formatting engine as InDesign.
History
InDesign is the successor to Adobe's own
PageMakerPageMaker was one of the first desktop publishing programs, introduced in 1985 by Aldus Corporation, initially for the then-new Apple Macintosh and in 1987 for PCs running Windows 1.0....
, which was acquired with the purchase of
AldusAldus Corporation, named after the 15th-century Venetian printer Aldus Manutius, was the inventor of the groundbreaking PageMaker software, a program that is generally credited with creating the desktop publishing field. The company was founded by Jeremy Jaech, Mark Sundstrom, Mike Templeman,...
in late 1994. By 1998 PageMaker had lost almost the entire professional market to the comparatively feature-rich
QuarkXPressQuarkXPress is a computer application for creating and editing complex page layouts in a WYSIWYG environment. It runs on Mac OS X and Windows. It was first released by Quark, Inc...
3.3, released in 1992, and 4.0, released in 1996. Quark stated its intention to buy out Adobe and to divest the combined company of PageMaker to avoid anti-trust issues.
Adobe rebuffed the offer and instead continued to work on a new software for page layout. The project had been started by Aldus and was code-named "Shuksan". It was later code-named "K2" and was released as InDesign 1.0 in 1999.
In 2002, InDesign was the first
Mac OS XMac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
-native
desktop publishingDesktop publishing is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal computer.The term has been used for publishing at all levels, from small-circulation documents such as local newsletters to books, magazines and newspapers...
(DTP) software. In version 3 (InDesign CS) it received a boost in distribution by being bundled with Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat in the Creative Suite.
InDesign exports documents in Adobe's
Portable Document FormatPortable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
(PDF) and has multilingual support. It was the first DTP application to support
UnicodeUnicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
for text processing, advanced typography with
OpenTypeOpenType is a format for scalable computer fonts. It was built on its predecessor TrueType, retaining TrueType's basic structure and adding many intricate data structures for prescribing typographic behavior...
fontsIn typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
, advanced transparency features, layout styles, optical margin alignment, and cross-platform scripting using
JavaScriptJavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
.
Later versions of the software introduced new file formats. To support the new features, especially typographic, introduced with InDesign CS, both the program and its document format are not backward-compatible. Instead, InDesign CS2 has the backward-compatible .inx format, an XML-based document representation. InDesign CS versions updated with the 3.1 April 2005 update can read InDesign CS2-saved files exported to the .inx format. The InDesign Interchange format does not support versions earlier than InDesign CS.
Adobe developed InDesign CS3 (and Creative Suite 3) as
universal binaryA universal binary is, in Apple parlance, an executable file or application bundle that runs natively on either PowerPC or Intel-manufactured IA-32 or Intel 64-based Macintosh computers; it is an implementation of the concept more generally known as a fat binary.With the release of Mac OS X Snow...
software compatible with native Intel and
PowerPCPowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...
Mac machines in 2007, two years after the announced 2005 schedule, inconveniencing Intel-Mac early-adopters. Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen had announced that "Adobe will be first with a complete line of universal applications."
The CS2 Mac version had code tightly integrated to the
PPCPowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...
architecture, and not natively compatible with the Intel processors in Apple's new machines, so porting the products to another platform was more difficult than had been anticipated. Adobe developed the CS3 application integrating Macromedia products (2005), rather than recompiling CS2 and simultaneously developing CS3.
InDesign and Leopard
InDesign CS3 initially had a serious compatibility issue with Leopard (
Mac OS X v10.5Mac OS X Leopard is the sixth major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Leopard was released on 26 October 2007 as the successor of Tiger , and is available in two variants: a desktop version suitable for personal computers, and a...
), as Adobe stated: "InDesign CS3 may unexpectedly quit when using the Place, Save, Save As or Export commands using either the OS or Adobe dialog boxes. Unfortunately, there are no workarounds for these known issues." Apple fixed this with their OS X 10.5.4 update.
Server version
In October 2005, Adobe released "InDesign Server CS2", a modified version of InDesign (without
user interfaceThe user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
) for Windows and Macintosh server platforms. It does not provide any editing client; rather it is for use by developers in creating client-server solutions with the InDesign plug-in technology. In March 2007 Adobe officially announced
Adobe InDesign CS3 Server as part of the Adobe InDesign family.
Versions
- InDesign 1.0 (codenamed K2): August 31, 1999.
- InDesign 1.5 (codenamed Sherpa): April 2001.
- InDesign 2.0 (codenamed Annapurna): January 2002 (just days before QuarkXPress 5). First version to support Mac OS X and native transparencies & drop shadows.
- InDesign CS (codenamed Dragontail) and InDesign CS PageMaker Edition (3.0): October 2003.
- InDesign CS2 (4.0) (codenamed Firedrake): shipped in May 2005.
- InDesign Server (codenamed Bishop): released October 2005
- InDesign CS3 (5.0) (codenamed Cobalt): April 2007. First Universal binary
A universal binary is, in Apple parlance, an executable file or application bundle that runs natively on either PowerPC or Intel-manufactured IA-32 or Intel 64-based Macintosh computers; it is an implementation of the concept more generally known as a fat binary.With the release of Mac OS X Snow...
versions to natively support Intel-based Macs, Regular expressionIn computing, a regular expression provides a concise and flexible means for "matching" strings of text, such as particular characters, words, or patterns of characters. Abbreviations for "regular expression" include "regex" and "regexp"...
, Table styles, new interface
- InDesign CS3 Server (codenamed Xenon): released May 2007
- InDesign CS4 (6.0) (codenamed Basil): Introduced September 23, shipped in October 2008.
- InDesign CS4 Server (codenamed Thyme)
- InDesign CS5 (7.0) released April 2010
- InDesign CS5.5 (7.5) released April 2011
Language availability
Adobe InDesign CS5 is available in the following languages: Arabic (Middle Eastern version), Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English (International & United States), Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew (Middle Eastern version), Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian.
Historical Language availability
Adobe InDesign CS4 offered a Romanian version, though this is no longer available for CS5.
French (Canadian) and Spanish (Latin American) versions use the same files as are used in French and Spanish versions, respectively.
Text settings
InDesign Middle Eastern versions come with special settings for laying out Arabic or Hebrew text, such as:
- Ability to use Arabic
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, PersianPersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
or HindiStandard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
digits
- Use kashida
Kashida is a type of justification used in some cursive scripts, particularly Arabic. In contrast to white-space justification, which increases the length of a line of text by expanding spaces between words or individual letters, kashida justification is accomplished by elongating characters at...
s for letter spacing and full justification
- Ligature option
- Set vowels/diacritic
A diacritic is a glyph added to a letter, or basic glyph. The term derives from the Greek διακριτικός . Diacritic is both an adjective and a noun, whereas diacritical is only an adjective. Some diacritical marks, such as the acute and grave are often called accents...
s positioning
- Justify text
In typesetting, justification is the typographic alignment setting of text or images within a column or "measure" to align along both the left and right margin...
in three possible ways to get the desired results (Standard, Arabic, NaskhNaskh is a specific calligraphic style for writing in the Arabic alphabet, thought to be invented by the Iranian calligrapher Ibn Muqlah Shirazi . The root of this Arabic term means "to copy". It either refers to the fact that it replaced its predecessor, Kufic script, or that this style allows...
)
- Option to "Insert Special Character": three Hebrew characters (Geresh
Geresh is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings.#An apostrophe-like sign placed after a letter :...
, GershayimGershayim , also occasionally grashayim , names two distinct typographical marks in the Hebrew language. The name literally means "double geresh".-Punctuation mark:...
, Maqaf) and an Arabic one (Kashida)
- Apply standard, Arabic or Hebrew styles for page, paragraph and footnote numbering
Bi-directional text flow
In InDesign Middle Eastern versions, the notion of right-to-left behaviour applies to several objects: Story, Paragraph, Character and Table. You can easily mix Right-to-Left and Left-to-Right Words, Paragraphs and Stories in a document.
- InDesign CS4 Middle Eastern versions allow you to change in one click the direction of neutral characters (for ex.:,/?, etc.) according to your keyboard language.
Table of contents
You can create a table of contents (TOC) for any document or book in InDesign Middle Eastern versions. InDesign Middle Eastern versions come with a set of Table of contents titles, one for each supported language. The TOC is also sorted according to the chosen language.
InDesign CS4 Middle Eastern versions allow you to choose the language of your index title and cross-references by right clicking in the title field in the Generate Index window.
Indices
InDesign allows for the creation of a simple keyword index or a somewhat more detailed index of the information in your book using embedded indexing codes which are instantiated as an index using a command in the Indexing palette. Unlike more sophisticated programs, InDesign is incapable of inserting character style information as part of an index entry (e.g., when indexing book, journal or movie titles). Indices are limited to four levels (top level and three sub-levels). InDesign Middle Eastern versions let you set various Sort Options for your indices according to the language with which you are dealing.
There are no provisions for importing index entries as part of an XML file.
Importing and exporting
InDesign Middle Eastern versions bring the capability of opening directly and converting
QuarkXPressQuarkXPress is a computer application for creating and editing complex page layouts in a WYSIWYG environment. It runs on Mac OS X and Windows. It was first released by Quark, Inc...
files, even using Arabic XT, Arabic Phonyx or Hebrew XPressWay fonts, retaining the layout and content.
InDesign Middle Eastern versions come with more than 50 import/export filters enabling you to place many kinds of images and Roman texts:
Microsoft WordMicrosoft Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS , the Apple Macintosh , the AT&T Unix PC , Atari ST , SCO UNIX,...
97-98-2000 Import filter and Text Import filter.
InDesign can also be used as a front end on top of database applications, such as
CCI EuropeCCI Europe is a software company based in Denmark that publishes newspaper production suites such as CCI Newsdesk, CCI NewsGate, CCI AdDesk Sales and CCI AdDesk Production. Its products are used around the world. Clients in the United States include The Oklahoman, The San Francisco Chronicle, USA...
's NewsGate software.
Reverse layout
InDesign Middle Eastern versions include a reverse layout feature to reverse the layout of a document, when converting a Left to Right document (Roman) to a Right to Left one (Arabic or Hebrew) or vice versa. It is also helpful when creating a multilingual document.
The Middle Eastern versions are also available for
Adobe AcrobatAdobe Acrobat is a family of application software developed by Adobe Systems to view, create, manipulate, print and manage files in Portable Document Format . All members of the family, except Adobe Reader , are commercial software, while the latter is available as freeware and can be downloaded...
,
Adobe IllustratorAdobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Adobe Systems. Illustrator is similar in scope, intended market, and functionality to its competitors, CorelDraw, Xara Designer Pro and Macromedia FreeHand....
,
Adobe PhotoshopAdobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated.Adobe's 2003 "Creative Suite" rebranding led to Adobe Photoshop 8's renaming to Adobe Photoshop CS. Thus, Adobe Photoshop CS5 is the 12th major release of Adobe Photoshop...
,
Adobe InCopyAdobe InCopy is a professional word processing software made by Adobe Systems. It is integrated to Adobe InDesign however it is sold separately and is not included in any Creative Suite edition; the current version is Adobe InCopy CS5.5...
, and Adobe Dreamweaver, and also for
Adobe Creative SuiteAdobe Creative Suite is a collection of graphic design, video editing, and web development applications made by Adobe Systems. The collection consists of Adobe's applications , that are based on various technologies...
(Design Standard, Design Premium, Web Premium).
Complex script rendering
InDesign supports
UnicodeUnicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
character encoding and there is a special Middle East version supporting complex text layout for Arabic and Hebrew types of complex script. The underlying Arabic and Hebrew support is present in the Western-language editions of InDesign CS4 and CS5, but the user interface is not exposed, so it is difficult to access.
There is a third party tool,
IndicPlus from a custom plug-in development company named
MetaDesign Solutions, that adds capability to render Indic and other complex scripts with InDesign. This tool is available for CS2/CS3/CS4/CS5/CS5.5 versions of InDesign, for both Windows and Macintosh platforms and adds the much needed complex script based languages support in InDesign. It adds the ability to edit and treat text in a wide range of languages. Some of these include Arabic, Assamese, Azeri, Bengali, Farsi, Georgian, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Khmer (Cambodian), Lao, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Thai, Urdu, Vietnamese, amongst others. It supports all Unicode based fonts.
User groups
InDesign has spawned 69 user groups in 29 countries with a total membership of over 42,000.
External links
- InDesign User Group
- MathMagic
MathMagic is a mathematical WYSIWYG equation editor, available for Windows and Mac OS X since its first debut in 1998. MathMagic is known for its DTP quality equations and widely used by Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress users...
- Mathematical Equation Editor plug-in for InDesign CS~CS5