Anything having to do with computers, Im entirely self-taught (having done graduate work in the social sciences at a time when universities owned only mainframes that required punchcards . . .), but Im also thoroughly autodidactic. So when I get involved with new software of any kind, I immediately go looking for the best big, fat reference book I can find. Ive been using PageMaker for about eight years to produce the quarterly journal I edit for a learned society, but decided it was time to jump to a newer program. But the series of manual-replacements published by Osborne-McGraw-Hill and Hayden, with which Ive been very pleased in the past, dont seem to include a volume for InDesign, so I asked around and Grumans past work was heavily recommended. They were still right, Im happy to say. The opening chapters provide the clearest description Ive found yet of the differences between the PageMaker approach and the QuarkXpress approach, the chapter on styles is excellent, and the whole section on prepress and packaging is now filled with Post-It bookmarks. And so is Appendix D, "Switching from PageMaker." Gruman manages to clearly explain things on several levels at once, so both the muddler-through like me and the experienced graphics designer will be satisfied. And after Ive taught myself the essential differences between the old and the new, the huge amount of pure reference material will keep this volume close at hand.
As the author of the InDesign CS Bible, Im obviously proud of the book. But theres even more information available to supplement the book at , including some chapter updates for Indesign and Mac OS X changes that occurred after the book went to press. --Galen Gruman
