Denver InDesign User GroupMeeting Summary
Denver InDesign User Group: Interactive PDFs and Acrobat 9
Tue, Aug 5th, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Front Range Community College: Westminster Campus
Event Details A. Meeting Business
A great big thank you to all the members for getting the word out about our chapter...we had 52 people in attendance! Since we achieved our goal of getting over 50 people, we gave away a copy of Creative Suite CS3 Premium. Now that we've set an attendance record, let's keep the momentum going...if we can do this well in summer, we should have to move to a bigger room by the end of the year. Great job, everyone!
Don't forget about the IDUG Denver website at http://www.idugdenver.net for announcements, a community forum, upcoming meeting info, and more. The website is where you can get the most up-to-date information about anything going on in our group.
Bring a friend and get $5 in Auction Bucks to use on any of the wonderful books, software, and products available at each meeting's auction. They can even be applied to the full version of InDesign CS3.
The product auction this time around was a little different. The chairman of the New York chapter of the InDesign User group, Scott Citron, was in a very serious car accident. He recently woke up and he is going to have a long road of recovery ahead of him. So, the proceeds from the auction will all be donated to Scott. We had all types of products and software available for bid. There was everything from books to software to trade magazine subscriptions and we raised over $500!! A big THANK YOU to everyone who bid and just donated money! You can check out Scott's progress here: http://getwellscottcitron.blogspot.com. You can still help by buying a "Sandee Cohen original" product at http://www.cafepress.com/get_well_scott.
We are carrying over all the fun after the meeting to the Exchange Tavern, a locally owned and operated Irish pub in Westminster. The Exchange is located in Westminster between Federal and Sheridan Blvds. and serves great Irish fare and is equipped with Wi-Fi throughout. Come join us to continue the great conversation and networking!
If you have a job you need to fill, are looking for a job or have training or freelance to offer, be sure to post the info at our user forum: http://www.idugdenver.net/forum.
Do you have a meeting topic that you are dying to know about or would you like to do a presentation? Please send an e-mail to: admin@idugdenver.net.
B. Presentations:
1. Using InDesign to Create Interactive PDFs
Presenter Information: Erica Gamet
Erica is co-owner of Digital Dimensions in Westminster and conducts InDesign and pre-press training nationwide. She is a contributor to InDesign Magazine and Design Tools Monthly and is the author of The InDesigner's Workbook series. Erica is co-chair of the Denver InDesign User Group.
Presentation Summary:
What is an interactive PDF? It's just a PDF document with interactive elements such as hyperlinks, buttons, rollovers, movies, sounds, etc. These PDFs are used for ebooks, creating dynamic portfolios, brochures, magazines, product catalogs, and complementary items to printed pieces. It's easy to set up these interactive elements in InDesign before making your PDF. Erica showed us how to add movie and sound files, create a button with a rollover, and how to make bookmarks and hyperlinks to make navigating the PDF much easier.
2. What's New with Acrobat 9
Presenter Information: Jeff Gamet
Jeff is the Managing Editor of The Mac Observer and iPodObserver.com. He is also a contributing editor for Design Tools Monthly, and contributing writer for Layers Magazine and Photoshop User. He writes the InBrief column for InDesign Magazine, and is the author of The Designer's Guide to Mac OS X, from Peachpit Press. Jeff trains, lectures, and consults on techniques for more efficiently using Mac OS X in creative environments throughout the country.
Presentation Summary:
Adobe Acrobat 9 has some great new features. One of the best is its ability to work with Flash. There's a website dedicated to Acrobat, www.acrobat.com, that everyone should check out. It's a central hub where you can convert documents to PDF, set up a meeting, share your work with people or clients, and collaborate remotely.
Jeff highlighted one really fun feature from Acrobat 9: PDF Portfolios. It creates a PDF container for whatever items you want to include. It can include other PDFs, documents from other Creative Suite components, and graphics formats. This feature can be used to show prospective employers or clients samples of your work in an interactive format with the click of a button. You can edit the layout, set a Welcome/Header, select a color theme, specify file details, and then you can publish to disk or to email, or on adobe.com. If you don't already have Acrobat 9, try downloading a demo version at www.adobe.com/products/acrobatpro/tryout.html. Thank YouThanks to our members and to our volunteers, as always, for helping out with the welcome table, food setup, and after-meeting cleanup. Comments from the evaluation sheets"The interactive PDF presentation was very helpful and the new Acrobat 9 looks awesome. Thanks!"
"This was my first meeting and the first 50-person meeting. I found the information useful and gave me food for thought."
"The auction and giveaway itself makes this worthwhile. The interactive PDF demonstration was very informative." Next MeetingThe next meeting is set for Tuesday, October 7th. If anyone has meeting feedback, questions, or just wants to pass along information benefitting the group, go to our chapter website at: www.idugdenver.net. | 
