Boston InDesign User Group Home Meeting Summary Archive

Meeting Summary

Graphing/Charting, Long Documents, and Plug-ins, oh my!
Tue, May 12th, 2009 at 6:30 PM
Mass College of Art -11th floor
Event Details

Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting of the Boston chapter of IDUG and presentations held on May 12, 2009. It was a great meeting.
97 people registered.
57 people attended.

The meeting had 4 agenda items:
• Introduction of the new leadership
• Presentation on scripting for InDesign by Hanaan Rosenthal
• Presentation of FOLDRite plug-in by Trish Witkowski
• Presentation by Noha Edell – InDesign CS4 capabilities and tips for long document creation and automation of associated processes


INTRODUCTION OF NEW LEADERSHIP
Noha Edell officiated the transfer of leadership from Meg Young to the chapter’s new steering committee. The new steering committee is as follows:
• Andrew Fintzel and Charles Linskey – Co-Chairpeople
• Russell Brough – Finance and Fundraising
• Fran Cloonan – Event Set-up Committee
• Bonnie McCormick – Promotion Committee
• Annie Smidt – Speakers and Topics Committee

It was pointed out during the chapter meeting that the steering committee welcomes people to participate and to maximize networking opportunities. That said, there are spots open on the committee and many opportunities coming for participation. If you are interested, please contact either of the co-chairpeople at: IDUGboston@gmail.com


PRESENTATION ON SCRIPTING BY HANAAN ROSENTHAL
Hanaan Rosenthal, author, business owner and scripting expert for the Boston Globe, presented the concept of scripting for InDesign. Scripting offers designers the ability to perform repetitive processes in an efficient manner. He showed several uses of scripting to create data tables and charts—he essentially uses scripting to generate the entire financial section of the Globe. For those who are interested in finding out more about scripting or Mr. Rosenthal’s consultation, visit www.customflowsolutions.com.

PRESENTATION OF FOLDRITE BY TRISH WITKOWSKI
Trish Witkowski demonstrated FOLDRite Template Master. The InDesign plug-in makes a variety of folding patterns easy—a designer selects a fold pattern and the application automatically prepares a template complete with guides and layers. Ms. Witkowski demonstrated several of the 80 fold styles available as well as the customization of the fold templates.

Visit foldfactory.com for more information and for new ideas and resources, and for information about Template Master customization offerings. Contact the site for more information about Bookbuilder customization offerings as well.

NOTE: Trish announced a special “Folding Stimulus Plan”: Save $200 on FOLDRite Template Master - for a limited time they're offering the award-winning template building software for only $99! Fold and prosper.

PRESENTATION ON LONG DOCUMENT CREATION BY NOHA EDELL
Our favorite Adobe presenter, Noha Edell, rounded out the meeting with a presentation of InDesign’s long document creation capabilities. She demonstrated several InDesign features:
• How to create long documents using the Book feature
• Setting up a Table of Contents
• How to apply styles throughout a book
• And more…

For a version of her presentation, you can check Noha’s recorded session: http://my.adobe.com/p38082740

Also, the same subject matter is covered by Michael Murphy’s 5 video podcasts on long documents at www.theindesigner.com/blog/category/long-documents.

Reminder: take advantage of your member benefits, which include discounts on books, magazines, seminars and workshops.

Thank you

To our gracious speakers:
Hanaan Rosenthal, Trish Witkowski, and Noha Edell

A warm thank you to MassArt for its continued support and the use of its facilities for meetings! Kudos!

And a heart-felt thank you to Meg Young, the outgoing IDUG Boston chairperson. Your hard work and years of guidance is the bedrock upon which this organization is built! Our appreciation for all you have done!

Job Opportunities

If anyone is interested in participating in the IDUG Boston Steering Committee, don't hesitate to contact us. Contact one of the chairpeople (Andrew or Charles) or email: IDUGboston@gmail.com.

Comments from attendees

ON SCRIPTING:

"Interesting and powerful program."

"I never thought of scripting it - enlightening!"


ON FOLDRite:

"Very useful plug-in."

"Great program. Good presentation. Looking forward for BookBuilder!"


ON LONG DOCUMENT CREATION:

"Awesome! Learned a lot of useful tips. Very effective presentation!"

"Noha is always great!"

"Excellent, Noha, as always!"