I know that virtually everything in InDesign is a plug-in, and therefore virtually everything inside InDesign could theoretically be changed. But DTPtools’ release of a public beta of their Page Control plug-in pushes that limit to a degree that literally made me gasp. The plug-in lets you create custom page sizes inside an InDesign document — yes, more than one page size inside a document! Page 1 could be Letter and page 2 could be A3, page 3 could be the size of an envelope. Wow.
This wouldn’t seem like a big deal except that it’s something that I’ve heard users want in a page-layout program since the early 1990s. QuarkXPress 6 and 7 offer a solution based on merging multiple documents (“layouts”) inside a single XPress document. But this plug-in goes farther and lets you create a three-page spread in which the third page is slightly narrower than the others (so that it will fold into the other two properly when printed).
Now, I need to say that I have only barely used this plug-in, and it’s only a public beta right now… so I am not ready to really review how well it works. But the fact that it works at all is shocking enough to be news to all InDesign users. Take a look and let us know what you think.
[By the way, Page Control was produced with the help of one of our contributors, Pariah S. Burke. Way to go, Pariah!]
This article was last modified on January 18, 2023
This article was first published on October 16, 2006
Commenting is easier and faster when you're logged in!
Recommended for you
Now available: JavaScript for InDesign, 2nd Edition
Learn how to harness the power of scripting in InDesign. And take advantage of a...
Data Merge SuperGuide
Master InDesign’s Data Merge features with this collection of articles covering...
Getting Accurate Colors When Printing Proofs from InDesign
J.K. wrote: I am in the process of printing a postcard out of InDesign CS3. The...