QuarkXPress to Adobe InDesign CS4 Conversion Guide

Supercharging Your Workflow
In the fast-paced world of publishing, it’s essential that you find
ways to optimize your workflow, whether you’re importing and formatting
large amounts of text and graphics, working alongside editors, or collaborating
with remote clients or colleagues. InDesign offers a number of features to
help in these situations. Plus InDesign is highly extensible and customizable
through the use of plug-ins and scripts. InDesign is the hub of your workflow;
taking some time to make that workflow efficient is an investment that will
pay dividends for years to come.
DataMerge and XML
To maximize profitability, publishers
must find the most efficient ways to
extract and store content in a format
that can be reused. InDesign lets
you import data from a database in
several ways.
The simplest method to import text
and graphics from a database or
spreadsheet is via the Data Merge
panel (Window > Automation > Data
Merge). This lets you import tab- or
comma-delimited text files into a
template that you create.
For more complex data publishing,
InDesign offers extensive XML support.
You can import, create, format, edit,
and export XML files using an integrated
toolset that includes a Structure
pane for viewing and managing tagged
content, a Tags panel (Window > Tags)
for creating and applying XML tags to
content, easy controls for mapping XML
styles to text styles (and vice versa),
and optional use of Document Type
Definition (DTD) files for defining and
validating XML structure.
You can also use scripting to generate
and format InDesign pages based
on imported XML, or apply an XSL
transformation (XSLT) when importing
or exporting XML content to make it
easier to flow XML into InDesign page
templates or export it to a database
or website.
For more information, refer to
Adobe’s website (www.adobe.com/
products/indesign/scripting).
Share My Screen
When working with others in remote
locations, you can choose File >
Share My Screen to create a virtual
room, based on Adobe ConnectNow
(now directly accessible from within
InDesign), where you and two other
participants can share a screen; chat
via text, audio, or video; and share
collaborative whiteboards.
InCopy
If you need powerful editorial collaboration
capabilities, Adobe offers
Adobe InCopy CS4, a professional
writing and editing program that’s
tightly integrated with InDesign CS4.
The combined power of InCopy and
InDesign lets editorial and design
staff—whether offsite or onsite—work
on the same file at the same time,
without overwriting each other’s
work. Designers retain complete control
over the design, and writers and
50 Adobe InDesign CS4 | Conversion Guide