Adobe InDesign 1.5

Version 1.5 includes numerous fixes and enhancements. A major under-the-hood improvement is the official support of MacOS 9. Since OS 9 is a bridge to the anticipated OS X, this update paves the way for an OS X native version. Some important and more obvious features were added as well: text on a curved path, built-in trapping, vertical justification, a free-transformation tool, precise numerical transformation options, and a pencil and erase tool for creating and editing paths, to name a few.

Adobe spent several years developing InDesign, incorporating the best features from its own application, PageMaker, and those of the competition (namely, Quark). In fact, InDesign is built to go head-to-head with the firmly entrenched Quark, something PageMaker could never quite pull off. Toward that end, InDesign boasts many Quark-like features, including an easy way to toggle many of the keyboard shortcuts into Quark shortcuts. This goes a long way toward easing the transition for an experienced operator, and a quick transition means less downtime and faster turnaround for projects.

In a further effort to ease the learning curve, every word from the manuals is included in the software's online help, in addition to a list of keyboard shortcuts and tips.

However, there are still some missing features for what is supposed to be a comprehensive application. Notably, InDesign has no facility for creating a table of contents or an index. This is a critical flaw for any designer working on a large, multipage document such as a book or manual. For lovers of Adobe software, the ray of hope is InDesign's flexible plug-in architecture. There is bound to be a third-party developer who will fill this feature gap, if Adobe doesn't get to it first.

While it falls short for long form documents like manuals and books, InDesign is quickly becoming the tool of choice for shorter documents. It's control over text kerning and path-based text is wonderful, and its integration with Photoshop and Illustrator makes it an important part of a powerful software trilogy. --Mike Caputo

Amazon.com Product Description
Page layout and design for the future of professional publishing, Adobe InDesign 1.5 software is redefining professional publishing for graphic designers, production artists, and prepress professionals and delivering a level of Adobe integration, creative freedom, productivity, and precision that no other page layout program can touch. It works seamlessly with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, providing a single, integrated design environment that doesn't interrupt your creative process. InDesign even opens QuarkXPress and Adobe PageMaker Plus files, so you can bring your work with you as you enter a new world of design possibilities.

This is software where Adobe really listened to the pros and made us an application that we can really use. I think it blows Quark out of the water. It contains almost all of Illustrator, so you can really just add FreeHand for vector necessities that are not covered in InDesign like blends, Flash exports, attaching blends to paths, and the path combination filters like Union, Punch, divide, and transparency.

It is still missing such necessities as a story editor, table of contents, tables, and indexing. But they are available as plug-ins now and hopefully Adobe will listen to its customers and add a lot of these things in version 2.

You need to buy it now, get it under your belt, so you are not left in the dust as Adobe pulls out in front.

...multi-line justification, gradient strokes, customizable shortcuts, four justified options (quad left, right, centered and full), flush spaces, parent/child master pages, hanging punctuation (including letters like A and V), drag'n'drop color, and the list goes on...