} First Thing } Second Thing } Third Thing } Last But Not Least

}Accessible Charts} Column Rules}MagicTints

RGB v. CMYKThe Final Verdict

JANUARY 2020 / ISSUE #129

“Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow. Delay may give clearer light as to what is best to be done.” –Aaron Burr

I’m pretty sure that Aaron Burr wasn’t thinking about color printing when he offered up that quip which has given heart to genera-tions of procrastinators. But it just so happens that putting off conversion from RGB to CMYK is one of the keys to achieving the best possible color in almost any printing scenario, as Claudia McCue explains in this month’s feature article.

For far too long, designers have followed conventional “best practices” which often result in mediocre color reproduction. My hope is that Claudia’s article will settle the issue of RGB vs. CMYK images once and for all—and give folks the courage to let go of the old ways of doing things and embrace something better.

Next, accessibility expert Nolan Haims shares his favorite techniques for making charts acces-sible to all audiences through the use of alt text,

tables, and anchored objects. That probably sounds complicated, but it’s actually quite straightforward and an essential thing to do if you have charts that must be understood by folks with visual impairments.

Then Maya P. Lim will get your creative juices flowing with a wonderfully fun take on how to enhance your designs with column rules. After seeing her examples, you’ll never settle for sepa-rating columns with boring rules again.

And in the InReview, Ron Bilodeau looks at MagicTints, an extension that gives you the ability to change the look of placed images very quickly—and in the context of your layout. You can use it to make one image match the tone of another, or apply new tones to groups of images.

And as always, we wrap things up with the Best of the Blog. This month, that includes articles on freezing columns and rows in tables, making multiple graphics flow with text, and the new home of Peter Kahrel’s incredible script repository.

Enjoy!

}PUBLISHERDavid Blatner

}EDITORIALEditor in Chief Mike Rankin, mike@creativepro.com Editorial AdvisorAnne-Marie ConcepciónManaging EditorWendy KatzContributing Writers Claudia McCue, Nolan Haims, Ron Bilodeau, Maya P. Lim, Peter Kahrel, Ken Whitaker

}DESIGNArt Direction and ProductionPamela Sparks

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BY Claudia McCue

RGB vs. CMYK: THE FINAL VERDICTIt’s time to close the case on this ancient debate that stretches back to the beginning of desktop publishing

INDESIGN MAGAZINE / JANUARY 2020 4

If you want to simulate the effect of freezing a row in a table, choose Window > Arrange > New Window. Then choose Window > Arrange > 2-up Horizontal and resize/pan the view so you have the desired row(s) “frozen” at the top (FIGURE 5).

How to Make Multiple Graphics Flow with TextKen Whitaker | November 27, 2019

InDesign makes it easy to insert a single graphic so it flows with text. But what about several graphics that need to be

placed together as one object? And what about inserting two (or more) graphics evenly across a text frame? Let’s see how that’s done.

How a Graphic Is Placed in TextA single graphic can be placed at a text insertion point as either Inline, Above Line, or Custom. To place a graphic anchored within a text frame, do the following:1. At the text insertion point, choose File >

Place, and select a graphic file.2. Right-click on the placed image and

chose Anchored Object > Options. 3. In the dialog box, specify how you want

to place the graphic (FIGURE 1).

There are all sorts of placement options available in InDesign. Adobe provides superb guidance on these options here. For the purposes of this article, we’ll assume inline placement.

Combining Multiple Graphics for Anchored PlacementThere are times when you may want to combine multiple graphics to be placed together as one anchored object. This is fairly typical with screen captures that you want to annotate with other graphics. This takes several simple steps:1. Outside of a text frame, temporarily place

the objects on the page. In this example, there are three graphic objects: screen capture, caption number, and caption line (FIGURE 2, NEXT PAGE).

2. Group them all together with Object > Group.

3. Cut to the clipboard with Edit > Cut.4. Place cursor in the text frame as an

insertion point (between the two paragraphs).

FIGURE 5

FIGURE 1

INDESIGN MAGAZINE / JANUARY 2020 39

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5. Paste with Edit > Paste.The grouped graphic flows with the text

preceding it (FIGURE 3).

And if you need to replace any of those objects, do the opposite steps: cut the object out of the text frame, place it on the page, and ungroup the objects.

Placing Graphics Evenly Across the PageThere are certainly times where you may want to have multiple objects equally spaced horizontally on a line at an insertion point. An unusual yet easy way that I’ve found to horizontally space graphics is by using a table.

Let’s horizontally place two graphics on one line with these simple steps:1. At the insertion point, create a one-row,

two-column table with the Table > Insert Table command (FIGURE 4).

2. Select the entire table and remove the default cell stroke by right-clicking and choosing Cell Options > Strokes and Fills. A table will be created with

columns that are evenly spaced across the entire width of the text frame. Set the cell stroke’s weight to 0 (FIGURE 5).

With both cells still selected, click the Align Center text symbol on the toolbar. This ensures that placed anchored graphics will be centered in each cell.3. Press Esc to exit the Text tool, and click

somewhere on the page outside of any text frame. Import the graphic file into its

FIGURE 2

FIGURE 3

FIGURE 4

FIGURE 5

INDESIGN MAGAZINE / JANUARY 2020 40

own frame on the page with File > Place (FIGURE 6).

Pasting onto the page (instead of at the cell’s insertion point) ensures that the graphic is scaled to its original size.4. To insert it into a table cell, cut the

graphic frame (Edit > Cut), click in the cell at the centered insertion point, and Edit > Paste (FIGURE 7).

Repeat step 4, and paste in the second graphic in the second column’s cell (FIGURE 8).

By changing the cell’s text alignment (left, center, or right), you can modify the hori-zontal placement in the table. Since tables are anchored in text, your graphics move when preceding text adjusts. For placing multiple graphics together into a cell, follow the same instructions in “Combining Multiple Graphics for Anchored Placement.”

Peter Kahrel’s Script Repository Comes to CreativeProMike Rankin | December 11, 2019

Peter Kahrel’s repository of scripts is an immensely important resource for anyone who works on long documents in InDesign. It contains essential scripts for batch converting files, sorting and merging tables, working with book documents, managing footnotes and endnotes, using GREP, and much, much more.

Recently, Peter made the decision to move and close down his website. So when the scripts needed a new home, we were more than delighted to host them. You can now find the repository at CreativePro.

If you have bookmarks or links to the scripts at his old site, be sure to update them

since that site has gone offline.Thanks to Peter for all

he’s done for InDesign users everywhere!

FIGURE 6

FIGURE 7

FIGURE 8

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CoverArticlesRGB vs. CMYK: The Final VerdictAccessible ChartsDesigning with Column RulesInReview: MagicTintsTemplate of the Month: Book Covers

Best of the BlogHow to Un-Ignore Words in Spell CheckFreezing Columns and Rows in InDesign TablesHow to Make Multiple Graphics Flow with TextPeter Kahrel’s Script Repository Comes to CreativePro

InDex to all Past Issues