Acrobat 9 Pro: The Macworld Review
Published By: Macworld July 2008
Pariah S. Burke reviews Acrobat 9 Pro in the official Macworld review. Narrowly focused update features moderate enhancements.
Credentials are one thing—everyone on your shortlist has them—but the best way to get to gauge the depth of a consultant's knowledge and ability is, well, it's to hire him or her. The second best way is to read the consultant's published works. I've written two books all by my lonesome, co-authored two other books, and written somewhere north of articles published in many of the most respected industry publications and Websites.
Below are many of my recent articles from numerous publications . More than how many years (many) or clients (more than 100) I've served as a consultant and trainer, my books and articles are my real credentials.
Click on titles to read the articles in their original publications.
Use Any Font in a Web Site Design
Published By: Creativepro.com June 2008
There have always been two certainties in Web design: You can never have enough bandwidth, and all Web design must rely entirely on fonts installed on the viewer’s computer. But thanks to sIFR, at least one of these so-called inescapable certainties is wrong.
Get Your Photoshop On — Inside InDesign!
Published By: Creativepro.com June 2008
InDesign CS3's new Effects panel gives you unprecedented artistic options. Find out how to make the most of them, and get a special discount on InDesign Magazine.
Git Along, Li’l PDF: How to Stamp Proofs with Your Own Brand
Published By: Creativepro.com June 2008
Acrobat's Stamp tool can prevent a lot of confusion if you use it for things like explaining Lorem Ipsum placeholder text and FPO images on client proofs. But rather than settling for Acrobat's generic stamps, you can create your own. Yeehaw!
Quark How-To: Fill Type with Artwork in QuarkXPress
Published By: Creativepro.com April 2008
How would you fill type with artwork or imagery? Would you do it in Photoshop or Illustrator? If the artwork-filled type is going to end up in a QuarkXPress layout, why worry about transparency, clipping path, or image preview issues? Instead, you can fill the type directly within XPress.
InDesign How-to: Fill Type with Artwork
Published By: Creativepro.com April 2008
Last week, we showed you how to fill text with images in QuarkXPress. This week, it's InDesign's turn.
Discretionary Line Breaks
Published By: InDesignSecrets October 2007
There are so many new features in InDesign CS3 that it’s easy to lose track of some of them. One I’d like to draw your attention to is the new discretionary line break.
Like a discretionary hyphen, the discretionary line break (”DLB” from here on out) finesses where and how InDesign breaks a line of text [...]
Tab Leaders (Part 6): Tips and Tricks
Published By: InDesignSecrets September 2007
This is the last installment in the back-to-basics-and-on-to-advanced “Tab Leaders” series. If you’ve been following the series, we began by inserting tabs and dot leaders in columnar text (Part 1); moved on to formatting tab leaders differently than the text they separate (Part 2); created in-line, fill-in-the-blank-style tab spaces (Part 3); used the automated formatting [...]
Tab Leaders (Part 5): Fixed-Width Floating Tabs/Spacers
Published By: InDesignSecrets September 2007
Although I had planned to make part 5 the last in this series, a reader question prompted me to push the tips and tricks out a week and cover another topic this week.
After reading the first few “Tab Leaders” installments, reader Tom asked:
I would like to add words to a text frame and hit tab [...]
Tab Leaders (Part 4): Automatic Styling
Published By: InDesignSecrets September 2007
First, in part 1, we talked about separating columns of text with dot or other kinds of leaders. Next, in part 2, “Formatting Leaders,” we learned that tabs and their leaders can be styled like any other character, opening the possibilities of creative column separators. Last week part 3 focused on using custom text underlines [...]
Tab Leaders (Part 3): Fill-In Blanks in Paragraph Text
Published By: InDesignSecrets September 2007
In parts 1 and 2 of this series we discussed inserting and formatting tab leaders in columnar text. The process of separating columns of text is extremely straight forward: hit the TAB key on your keyboard, highlight the resulting tab character, and, using the Tabs Ruler palette (Text > Tabs in InDesign CS3 and Window [...]
Tab Leaders (Part 2): Formatting Leaders
Published By: InDesignSecrets August 2007
Last week in the first part of this back to basics series on tab leaders we discussed creating dotted tab leaders in the Tabs palette to separate columnar text. Now, let’s talk about formatting those leaders.
Tab leaders—dots, underscores, hyphens, smiley faces, whatever—inserted via the Tabs Ruler are automatically the same font and color as the [...]
Switching Between Preview and Normal Modes
Published By: Quark VS InDesign August 2007
With the new single column Tools panel in InDesign CS3, the separate buttons for Preview and Normal modes have become one button...
Underline Options Shortcut
Published By: Quark VS InDesign August 2007
Opening the Underline Options in InDesign means showing the Character palette/panel and selecting Underline Options from that panel’s flyout menu. It’s not very convenient or expediant...
Tab Leaders (Part 1): Separating Columns of Text with Dots
Published By: InDesignSecrets August 2007
Way back in Podcast 25 listeners asked questions about underlining text and creating tab leaders. After hearing the same questions recently from colleagues, I thought the topic was worth revisiting.
Vanessa from Australia asked:
I have a name, address, and a company name. I want to follow each one of those with a dotted underline [...]
Stop Unembeddable Font Warnings
Published By: Quark VS InDesign August 2007
Despite the near impossibility of extracting embedded fonts from PDFs, some type foundries still prevent their fonts from being embedded in PDFs...
Quark Responds to ‘Quark Insider’
Published By: Quark VS InDesign August 2007
Sunday, a Quark insider alleged layoffs, fiscal irresponsibility, and slumping sales. Wednesday Quark responded. I spoke with Ray Schiavone, president and CEO of Quark, about recent layoffs in the U.S. and India, about the state of Quark's finances, and about whether QuarkXPress 7 is selling.
Quark to Open Silicon Valley Office
Published By: Quark VS InDesign August 2007
New Santa Clara Office Will Supplement Sales, Customer Support and Product Development
Quark Insider: Sales Low, Spending Up, Employees Out
Published By: Quark VS InDesign August 2007
Highly placed Quark insider alleges sudden layoffs, irresponsible spending, and alarmingly low sales.
Change Typefaces without Using the Mouse
Published By: InDesignSecrets August 2007
Here’s a quick tip for changing the font of text quickly in all versions of InDesign and InCopy—and without ever touching the mouse.
Let’s begin by establishing two facts: First, CMD+T/CTRL+T opens or closes the Character panel/palette. Second, we know that typing into the Character panel’s Font Family field causes InDesign to try to match typed [...]
Photoshop and InDesign: So Happy Together
Published By: Creativepro.com June 2007
InDesign CS2 lets you turn layers and layer comps in a Photoshop image on and off. So what? So plenty! Here's how to use this capability to increase your production, layout, proofing, and file-management efficiency.
Zevrix Solutions Releases InPreflight 2 Public Beta for Adobe InDesign
Published By: Quark VS InDesign May 2007
The New Version Includes Powerful Document Packaging Abilities
Quark to Host 6-City Free Training Symposium
Published By: Quark VS InDesign May 2007
Free one-day training symposium on QuarkXPress 7 to tour six cities in May, June, October.
Announcing Winners of Contest to Design Alternate Adobe Creative Suite 3 Icons
Published By: Quark VS InDesign May 2007
Winners from three different countries take home US$7,000 in prizes for designing alterate Adobe Creative Suite 3 application icons.
Download CS3 Replacement Icons
Published By: Quark VS InDesign May 2007
Download award-winning replacement icons for Adobe Creative Suite 3 and CS3 version applications.
How to Not Lose Italics and Bold
Published By: Quark VS InDesign April 2007
When a little plus sign appears next to an entry on the Paragraph Style palette, designers want to clear that plus sign. Doing so, however, wipes away desired local text formatting as well as undesired. That is, unless you apply italics, bold, and other formatting the smart way.
Find/Change Objects and Attributes in InDesign CS3
Published By: InDesignSecrets March 2007
Among many exciting new and improved features in InDesign CS3, the totally re-imagined Find/Change function is among my favorite top five. The first time I opened the Find/Change dialog I was literally stunned into silence (shutting me up is not an easy task). What about it could possibly silence, even for a moment, this opinionated [...]
Resize Text and Text Frames in One Step
Published By: Quark VS InDesign March 2007
Ever want to resize text as well as the frame? Of course you do, from time to time...
Adobe Unveils 6 Creative Suite 3 Editions
Published By: Quark VS InDesign March 2007
New editions of Creative Suite target print, web, video, and gotta-have-it-all designers.
Quark XPert Tools Pro Xtensions?Free!
Published By: Quark VS InDesign March 2007
Quark to giveaway XPert Tools Pro, a suite of 16 xtensions for QuarkXPress 7.
HumanEyes Debuts Turnkey 3D Lenticular Creation Solution for Designers
Published By: Quark VS InDesign March 2007
Designers create 3D with newly-shipping Creative3D; then post job to Creative Marketplace to get price & time quotes from lenticular printers
Sort InDesign Menus Alphabetically
Published By: Quark VS InDesign February 2007
Sometimes you know the name of a command but just can’t seem to find it in the menu. Conveniently (quirkily?) InDesign allows you to re-order menu commands alphabetically...
Sort InCopy Menus Alphabetically
Published By: Quark VS InDesign February 2007
Sometimes you know the name of a command but just can’t seem to find it in the menu. Conveniently (quirkily?) InCopy allows you to re-order menu commands alphabetically...
Change Measurement Systems on the Fly
Published By: InDesignSecrets February 2007
You probabaly already know that you can type into just about any of InDesign’s measurement fields a value based on any measurement system InDesign understands. For instance, if the document uses pica for measurement, you can still specify height, width, and numerous other values in inches by typing X in (for inches [also “ and [...]
Fix Tool Keyboard Shortcuts
Published By: Quark VS InDesign February 2007
A long time ago, in a valley far, far away, Adobe Acrobat had one-button keyboard shortcuts to common tools...
Hide Palettes
Published By: Quark VS InDesign January 2007
If you’ve worked in Adobe applications for any length of time you probably already know that pressing TAB will hide (and then show) all opened palettes...
Remove Text Boxes from a Thread
Published By: Quark VS InDesign January 2007
Need to remove a text box here and there without completely breaking the thread? Just delete the unwanted box(es)...
Quark Expands Leadership Team
Published By: Quark VS InDesign January 2007
Quark names SVP of corporate marketing and company CIO
Remove Text Frames from a Thread
Published By: Quark VS InDesign January 2007
Need to remove a text frame here and there without completely breaking the thread? Just delete the unwanted frame(s)...
Unthread Text Frames
Published By: Quark VS InDesign January 2007
To unthread text frames without deleting the frames themselves, double-click the out port on the first frame (or the last frame you want to remain threaded in the story)...
Instant New Document without New Document Dialog
Published By: Quark VS InDesign January 2007
Just need to quickly create a new document using the default options? Press CMD+OPT+N/CTRL+ALT+N. Start typing. New document, no dialog.
© Pariah S. Burke for Quark VS InDesign, 2007...
Select Color Range Preview Toggle
Published By: Quark VS InDesign January 2007
In Photoshop, Select > Color Range allows you to create a selection based on sampled colors...
Change the Preview Background Color
Published By: Quark VS InDesign January 2007
Not a fan of the light gray preview background? Change it...
Drag N’ Drop Table Cell Colors
Published By: Quark VS InDesign January 2007
Selecting individual table cells can be a challenge for even the most nimble-wristed “Halo” master...
Align or Distribute Relative to the Key Object
Published By: Quark VS InDesign January 2007
The Align palette has an array of buttons to align and distribute a group of objects...
Ugh! I Should Have Done That on a Master Page!
Published By: Quark VS InDesign December 2006
One of the really nice things about InDesign is its liberal policy of undo/redo. It invites experimentation...
Matching Portrait Head Sizes
Published By: InDesignSecrets December 2006
When laying out portraits or headshots close together, such as in a newspaper or magazine article or publications like membership directories and yearbooks, the golden rule is that all photo subjects’ heads should be the same size. In most cases regardless of background and pose, Fred’s head should be the same size as Themla’s, Daphne’s, [...]
Stop Runaround by Layers
Published By: Quark VS InDesign December 2006
When runaround is set on boxes, it will, by default, push around overlapping text on any layers below the current. Often, that’s the way we want it...
Combine Multiple InDesign Documents
Published By: Quark VS InDesign November 2006
A frequent question is: How do I import or place one InDesign document into another to combine them?
Excellent question, but you don’t start from import or place...
Layer Blending Mode Shortcut
Published By: Quark VS InDesign November 2006
Changing layer blending modes is common. So common, in fact, that there’s a shortcut to jump straight to it from your keyboard...
Removing Parentheses from the Font Size Field
Published By: Quark VS InDesign November 2006
Yesterday we learned that, when a text frame is grouped with other objects and scaled, InDesign reflects both the original and scaled size of the type in the Font Size field...
Parentheses! In the Font Size Field?
Published By: Quark VS InDesign November 2006
Have you ever seen two values in the Font Size field—one embraced by parentheses? It could read something like “50 pt(24.85)”...
Undo Linking and Unlinking
Published By: Quark VS InDesign November 2006
Between QuarkXPress 6 and 7, numerous improvements were made over previous versions. Some, like the innovation of projects, OpenType support, and, of course, transparency, are huge...
Quick Typeface Changes
Published By: Quark VS InDesign November 2006
When you first show the Character palette, the Font Family field is selected, with its contents highlighted...
Join and Average: What’s the Difference?
Published By: Quark VS InDesign November 2006
I’m often asked: What’s the difference between Join and Average?
To set the stage, Join and Average commands are on the Object > Path menu...
Asymmetrical Column Guides
Published By: Quark VS InDesign November 2006
When you create column guides in either the New Document or Margins and Columns dialogs, InDesign evenly distributes the columns between the left and right or inside and outside margins, resulting in symmetrical columns...
Measurement Field Secrets
Published By: InDesignSecrets November 2006
A trio of (occasionally useful) tips for working with measurement fields to resize and transform type, frames, and other objects.
Resize, Move, and Transform by Percentage
Ever find yourself in need of cutting something down to half, doubling the size of type, or blowing up an image frame 319.2678%? (No, I don’t think I’ve done the last [...]
Too Many Acrobat Windows
Published By: Quark VS InDesign November 2006
Like Microsoft Word, Acrobat likes to create a new window instance and taskbar entry for every document opened...
Rapidly Apply Sampled Colors
Published By: Quark VS InDesign November 2006
Everyone knows that the Eyedropper Tool picks up or samples color, but did you also know it will apply color...
Reselect
Published By: Quark VS InDesign October 2006
Masking—selecting parts of an image to isolate changes—is a constant part of any Photoshop work...
On the Fly Layer Thumbnail Resizing
Published By: Quark VS InDesign October 2006
Photoshop pros differ in their choice of thumbnail size on the Layers, Paths, and Channels palettes. Some usually run with small thumbnails, some with none, others with medium or large...
Appearance Drag Apply
Published By: Quark VS InDesign October 2006
Want to quickly copy an appearance, no matter how complicated, from one object to others?
Select the source object, the one with the appearance you want to share with the rest...
Guides Help Find the Center of an Image
Published By: Quark VS InDesign October 2006
Once in a while it’s useful to find the center of a Photoshop document—either the horizontal center, vertical center, or both...
Phantom Missing Fonts
Published By: Quark VS InDesign October 2006
If you’ve ever been greeted by the Missing Fonts dialog upon opening a QuarkXPress document and been unable to find where the missing fonts are used, this tip is for you...
Share Swatches Between CS2 Applications Without Recreating Them
Published By: InDesignSecrets October 2006
In Creative Suite 2 Adobe introduced the Adobe Swatch Exchange (.ASE) file format. With it, you can create custom swatch colors in InDesign, Illustrator, or Photoshop, and import them into the rest without having to manually recreate them. Among several ramifications, that means for print output pros fewer instances of the common problem of the [...]
Embed Fonts in Save Page As EPS
Published By: Quark VS InDesign October 2006
One feature of QuarkXPress around since the early days is Save Page As EPS, located on the File menu. The major drawback to using this feature, though, has always been that fonts aren’t embedded...
More Often Than Not, Changing InDesign Defaults
Published By: InDesignSecrets October 2006
While collaborating on the book Adobe InDesign CS/CS2 Breakthroughs, Anne-Marie wrote the following in an edition of her “DesignGeek” enewsletter: “To see ‘Blatner, David’ appear on my caller ID…was like seeing ‘Einstein, Albert’ was calling me…well if you’re a Quark or Adobe geek, that’s how it felt!”
Man, can I relate to that feeling! Here I [...]
Fixing Ruler Offset
Published By: Quark VS InDesign October 2006
Changing the document size in Illustrator via File > Document Setup does not update the rulers to accommodate the new document size...
Change Guide Colors
Published By: Quark VS InDesign September 2006
Need to adjust the color of your guides on the fly...
Update All Images At Once
Published By: Quark VS InDesign September 2006
Updating linked images can be tedious, especially if the XPress document has traveled across systems and every image must be updated...
Revise Paths with the Pencil Tool
Published By: Quark VS InDesign September 2006
Need to change the shape of a path? Click somewhere on the path with the Pencil tool, and begin drawing. The path will incorporate your revision.
This is also a gotcha...
Multiple Undos In Photoshop
Published By: Quark VS InDesign September 2006
CMD+Z (CTRL+Z on Windows) has ever been the universal keyboard shortcut that undoes the last action...
Collaborating without Assignments, Part 3 of 3
Published By: Quark VS InDesign September 2006
If assignments have kept you from incorporating InCopy into your publishing workflow, don’t let them intimidate you. You don’t have to use assignments to benefit from using InCopy...
Collaborating without Assignments, Part 2 of 3
Published By: Quark VS InDesign September 2006
If assignments have kept you from incorporating InCopy into your publishing workflow, don’t let them intimidate you. You don’t have to use assignments to benefit from using InCopy...
Collaborating without Assignments, Part 1 of 3
Published By: Quark VS InDesign September 2006
If assignments have kept you from incorporating InCopy into your publishing workflow, don’t let them intimidate you. You don’t have to use assignments to benefit from using InCopy...
SoftCare K2: From the makers of K4
Published By: Quark VS InDesign September 2006
This new publishing solution combines the security and stability of large editorial systems with the requirements of small publishing houses and corporate publishers.
Why Won’t This Clipping Path Work?
Published By: Quark VS InDesign September 2006
Here’s the scenario: You place into a picture box a non-rectangular EPS or a raster image with a clipping path...
Interview: Let’s Talk InCopy with Chad Siegel
Published By: Quark VS InDesign September 2006
In an exclusive interview, Quark VS InDesign.com's resident InCopy Workflow specialist Pariah Burke talks to Adobe's InCopy Senior Product Manager Chad Siegel about InCopy--who needs it, who will have it, where it's going, and whether Microsoft should be nervous.
Quick Mask Channel Selection
Published By: Quark VS InDesign September 2006
When selecting large areas with the magic wand it’s common to leave a few pixels here and there throughout the areas unselected...
KnowledgeView Launches the RAPIDPublish.info Hosted Publishing Service
Published By: Quark VS InDesign March 2006
RapidPublish.Info is powered by RAPID Browser from KnowledgeView, the real-time news browser that lets you share and publish...
Quark Versus InDesign In Newspapers
Published By: Quark VS InDesign January 2006
Despite the hype, neither InDesign nor QuarkXPress fully answers the needs of newspapers.
Quark vs...
Adobe Releases InDesign CS2 4.02, InCopy CS2 4.02
Published By: Quark VS InDesign December 2005
New patches fix leftover 4.0.1 issues.
Today Adobe released updates to Mac and Windows versions of InDesign CS2 and InCopy CS2, bringing the current versions to 4.0.2 each...
Gift Guide 2005
Published By: Creativepro.com December 2005
Ah, the holidays. Time for love, laughter, friends, family, and the frantic search for a present that pleases the recipient while it shows how cool you are. Relax! In this, part 1 of our annual gift guide, we recommend gifts every creative pro (even you!) will love.
Gift Guide 2005, Part II
Published By: Creativepro.com December 2005
Still searching for that perfect gift? Then check out this, the second installment of our annual parade of presents.
How-To: InDesign/InCopy Collaboration: the Designer
Published By: Quark VS InDesign November 2005
Step-by-step, how the creative team initiates, controls, and concludes a typical InDesign/InCopy workflow.
Bring up InCopy and “what is it” is always the first question...
Members of Newspaper Industry Rally Around Adobe InDesign CS2 and InCopy CS2 Software
Published By: Quark VS InDesign November 2005
Top Integrators, ISVs, and Newspapers Adopt Adobe Solutions to Speed Production, Enhance Quality, and Streamline Cross-Media Publishing
PRESS RELEASE
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Nov...
Proposing Efficiency with InCopy CS2
Published By: Quark VS InDesign October 2005
Optimizing a $200 million workflow with InCopy CS2 in 7 days.
InCopy CS2, the World; World, InCopy CS2
Published By: Quark VS InDesign October 2005
Go in deep for a long overdue examination of InCopy, the features new to version CS2, how InCopy cut one major publisher’s 60-day book production schedule down to 9 days, and how it will save you time, man-power, and money over Microsoft Word in a collaborative creative and editorial workflow...