Milwaukee InDesign User Group

Meeting Notes Archive

April 13, 2005

The April meeting of the Milwaukee InDesign user group was actually held in Madison this month, in response to requests from designers in the area. The topic of TABLES was presented by Cathy Palmer, Adobe Certified Expert in InDesign CS and software trainer for C2GPS Madison, showing the native InDesign capabilities as well as using several plug-ins that streamline the table formatting process.

While demonstrating the WoodWing SmartStyles plug-in which is invaluable for formatting complex tables, audience questions turned to other SmartStyles capabilities like formatting sequences of character styling (similar to nested styles) and formatting sequences of text paragraphs. Even though the presenter emphasized that named-and-saved type styling is almost ALWAYS better than just local formatting, the SmartStyles nesting capability is an exception to her rule. WoodWing SmartStyles is a great mimic, so if you get a formatted text example to look right, it’s easy to capture the formatting and re-apply elsewhere with a single click. Of course you have to be sure that the changes happen at recognizeable delimiters in the text, but building by example is SO MUCH EASIER AND QUICKER than the cumbersome step-by-step process of defining a nested style. Designers like using visual examples so much better than coding that this feature of SmartStyles got a big thumbs-up from the group.

Then finally, back to tables. The new plug-ins from Teacup Software were shown to work together to easily control Table Styles and Cell Styles. The plug-in’s interface was extremely similar to the Paragraph and Character Styles that are built into InDesign… down to the little familiar details. Capture a style by highlighting a formatted example; make local overrides at will, handle the familiar “plus sign” [+] with the same strategies in tables as in text: an Option-Click on the named style to override, or a Redefine to make your local adjustments apply to the style throughout. Benefit: almost no learning curve! This powerful pair of plug-ins was listed as an essential tool for anyone working with tables.

Then we put the two together… WoodWing SmartStyles and Teacup Table & Cell Styles working in combination! These plug-ins from different manufacturers work to get quick table formatting results in very different ways. Table Styles and Cell Styles work as a global application of any formatting controlled in the Table Options and Cell Options dialog boxes, almost as if you had a preset button there. On the other hand, SmartStyles will replicate whatever crazy complex sequence of formatting that you setup; if you use styles it will paint on styles, use local formatting and it will paint on local formatting. AhHah! The two methods fully complement each other, using Teacup for the global defining of cell styles and WoodWing for the complex sequence of applying those styles results in a perfect workflow for pain-free tables.

There was a small turnout (probably due to the venue change) which meant that attendees had a much greater chance of winning a doorprize! Teacup Software generously donated a copy of their Table Styles and Cell Styles plug-ins (which was taken for a test drive during the presentation) as well as a copy of their PatternMaker plug-in for InDesign.

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