Picture
Judith McConville

Adobe InDesign CS6

By Laura A. Ewald
Spring 2012

By now, most indexers will have heard of InDesign and embedded indexing.  But if you are like I was, you don’t know enough to consider whether or not it is something you should attempt.  Now, thanks to Judith McConville’s presentation at the Spring Heartland Chapter meeting, I know a lot more than I did and have a much better idea of what it would take to pursue embedded indexing with InDesign.

Issues to consider

InDesign is Adobe’s latest and greatest professional design and layout tool for producing high quality documents for print and on-screen delivery.  It seems to be moving quickly through the publishing world, replacing Adobe’s PageMaker and Quark Software’s QuarkXpress as the program of choice for e-books and e-book indexes.

The good:
  • InDesign does have an indexing module that places index markers directly in the production files, a real advantage in that when edits occur which cause text reflow, the correct page numbers will be reassigned by the program. This function will continue even when the book is translated into other languages.
  • InDesign does work across platforms, Mac to Windows, though there are some problems, such as Mac fonts not being available in Windows.
  • You do have the option of doing an index in your regular indexing program, putting it into page number order then doing a cut-and-paste of entries into InDesign later.

The bad:
  • Exporting files to ePub format strips the indexing tags.  (This is a bug they’re working on with the Digital Trends Task Force.)
  • You must continually purchase the software updates; the interface generally does not change, but some versions will not open older and/or newer files, so you always need to ask the client which version they have to make sure you are compatible.
  • You need all chapters up front, and you need control of the entire content while working; the client should not be working on it or make any changes to it but rather must preserve the one single file as is.
  • Spell check does not work that well yet, and Judith recommended saving indexes as RTF files to open in Word for the spell check.

What you’ll need:
  • InDesign software (for either Mac or Windows).  Price is around $650 with upgrades (essential) around $150.
  • A powerful computer.  The program itself does not use that much space or memory, but working with the production files can, because they are very large files (most too big to e-mail).  You cannot start without the complete book, so you need enough memory to have all content files open plus run the program.
  • A lot of patience, according to Judith, both for the learning curve and the program’s less-than-ideal indexing functionality.

Bottom line:
  • Get training in this program before you try it on your own.  Judith recommended taking a 4- or 8-hour seminar that covers the entire program, so you have a better idea of how it all works before you tackle the indexing module. 
  • Learn the program well enough that you know what to discuss with the client before you start the index.  Does the client really need an embedded index, or will an RTF copy you normally produce suffice?  What version of InDesign is the client using?  (If it is different than yours, make sure they are compatible!)
  • From an indexing standpoint, InDesign is still really rough, but more and more publishers are demanding embedded indexes, and InDesign seems to be the current program of choice.
  • The good news is you can charge higher fees because of the complexity of the process (especially the editing process). With the rise in e-book publishing, it may be something to think about adding to your indexing resume. 

Potential for indexing in InDesign

Judith McConville described InDesign as a good product, but one that is, in terms of indexing, best suited for catalogs.  It is not really good for what indexers usually do with indexing software: complex headings and subheadings, bold or italicized locators, conceptual indexing, multiple-authored books, etc.  Judith did a demonstration of the software using a sample book file, and it was clear to me that this is a very complex software that is very good at its main function—design and layout—but very confusing to use for indexing.  Still, the publishing industry is changing rapidly, and embedded indexing seems to be the wave of the future, so InDesign is a valuable tool to know.  Here’s hoping the Digital Trends Task Force can help make it more fully functional for indexing.




© 2012 by Heartland Chapter of ASI. All rights reserved.