Basic Page Setup

InDesign is Adobe's replacement for the aging PageMaker application. In many ways, InDesign is very similar to PageMaker, but there are differences that can throw an experienced PageMaker user for a loop (albeit briefly). In this tutorial you will set up a simple layout and master page. First, download this archive.



Open InDesign.

1. Create a new document (FILE> NEW). Set the number of pages to 1, the page size to Letter, the margins to .25 inches each side, and the number of columns to one.



2. We are going to set up a master page for this document on the off chance that we may create more than one page. Go to the Pages palette. Click the triangle at the ride side and choose New Master. Set the Prefix to B and the number of pages to 1. Click OK to continue.

3. In order to associate our page 1 with the B master page, drag the B-master icon over the page 1 icon in the pages palette.



4. Now, we need to setup the master page. Double-click the B-Master icon to switch to the B-Master page. Anything you do to this page will automatically be applied to any pages associated with this master page. We are going to set up guidelines and a few graphic elements. In order to set a guide, use the arrow tool, click in the ruler and drag to the correct position. Set up the guides as follows:

Vertical guides at 2 7/8, 3, 5 3/8, 5 5/8, and 7.5 inches.

Horizontal guides at 1 3/8, 1.5, and 10.5 inches.

5. Next, we are going to add some simple graphic elements. Use the line tool to draw two horizontal lines using the guides at 1 3/8 and 1.5 inches. Use the line tool to draw a vertical line the 3 inch mark from the 1 1/8 mark to the 1 5/8 mark. We will make a box for the page number in the lower right corner. Use the rectangle tool to draw a box using the guides in the lower right corner. Graphic elements are done!



6. Let's hide the guides to see what out page looks like. Go to the VIEW menu and choose Hide Guides.

7. Interesting so far, but not quite what we want. Let's add an image to the background. Go to the FILE menu and choose PLACE. Find the archive folder and choose lunarmodule.jpg. The cursor changes to the place cursor. Click in the top left corner to place the image. You will see that it is covering up the line elements.

8. With the image still selected, go to the OBJECT menu, choose Arrange > Send to Back. This changes the stacking order of the objects. We are done with our Master page.



9. Whoa, step 9 and still haven't started on our real page! Fear not. In the Pages palette, double-click the Page 1 icon. Hey, there's stuff on it now! Because we had already associated this page with the B-Master page, anything we did to that master page appears on it.

10. It's time to add our text and photos. Choose PLACE from the FILE menu and select planetbob.jpg from the ind0001-archive folder. Place it on the page. Move it so the top left corner is at the 3 1/8 inch horizontal mark and the 1 7/8 vertical mark. This image is slightly smaller than what we need.

11. To resize planetbob.jpg, select the Scale tool (pulling the corners of the image box only changes the size of the box, not the size of the image, just like in QuarkXPress). Now you can pull the corners to resize the box. Hold down the Shift key to constrain the proportions, and drag the lower right corner to the 8 inch horizontal mark. Our image is placed!



12. Let's go ahead and add a text caption under the image. Select the Text tool from the Tools palette. Draw a text box under the image. Make it the same width as the image, and two lines tall. We are going to go ahead and set up a style for the captions.

13. Open the Styles palette. Create a new style by clicking the new style icon at the bottom of the Styles palette. It will show up as Character Style 1 in the styles list. Double-click this item to define the settings. In the General settings, rename the style Caption. Click the Next button. Set the font to Gill Sans Light Italic, the size to 10 and the tracking to 25. Click the Okay button.



14. Start typing a caption for your image. Select the text and apply your style by selecting the style from the Style palette. Using the same style, create a page number in the rectangle at the bottom right.

15. Next, we add the main body text. Using the Text tool, draw a text box in the first left "column" created by the guides. Go to the FILE menu and choose PLACE. Select the bodytext.txt file. The text will automatically fill the box. Notice the little red box at the bottom of the text block . This indicates that there is more text than is shown. Click this button. The cursor will change to the place text cursor. Using the guides in the next column, draw a text box for the text. You will still have more text, so click the red box again and draw another text box in the remaining column. All of your text should be placed.

16. Now we need to define a style for the body text. Go to the Styles palette and create a new style. Name it Body, set the font to Gill Sans Light, the size to 10 and the tracking to 25. Click OK when done. Select the text using the text tool and click the Body item in the Styles Palette.



17. We need headlines for this journalistic work of art! Draw a text box in the upper left area of the page as shown.



Define a headline style, using Gill Sans Bold at 14 point size and a tracking of25. Open the Paragraph palette and set the alignment to Right. Create a section title, in this case, "Sky Watch:" Move the text block so the baselines are touching the top line of the graphic element. Create the next headline as shown, apply the Headline style and change the alignment back to Left. Move this block so that the baselines touch the top line.



There you have it! 17 easy steps to setting up a page in InDesign! Read through what you just created, change some of the story if you want and remember, if someone asks you to go into space, leave your red shirt at home!