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• • January 26, 2010 at 12:02 pm #54647
    kc00799

    Member

    This is probably a very dumb question, since the books I have here on working with indesign doesn't answer it! So maybe it's obvious to everyone but me! But I spent hours searching for the answer and now once again, I am turning to the experts on this site. I am “trying” to create a book cover and do not have any idea on how to enter the text on the spine. I searched online for step by step instructions also. No luck. Could I get some help please and remember “spell it out”.

    Insecure newbie

    KC

  • January 26, 2010 at 1:18 pm #54650
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Set up a new document.

    If the book is 210 (w) x 297 (h) mm, for example.

    You want to insert the width for the new document to be 210 + 210 + Spine Width

    So if your spine width is 10 mm then your cover size is 210 + 210 + 10 = 430

    At this point I usually give the cover 2 columns and make the gutter 10mm (the width of the spine) and this gives me a visual grid using the guides.

    Front cover goes on the right

    Back cover goes ont he left

    Spine goes in the middle.

    For the spine Text, draw a text frame that is 10 mm in height.

    Insert your text.

    Rotate the frame so that the top of the letters face the front cover, and the bottom of the letters face the back cover.

    Place the text frame in the Spine Area – adjust the position so that the text is visually centered on the Spine (in CS4 you can rotate the page view via the Pages Panel to make it easier)

    Once you have this done, make sure your document bleeds the correct amount off all sides.

    Then you're done.

    If you have anything going on the inside of the cover, insert a new page, and

    put the Inside Front Cover to the left hand side

    put the inside back cover on the right hand side

    Leave the Spine Area on the inside free of ink, as if there is ink on the inside of the spine the glue won't stick to the book.

  • January 26, 2010 at 1:55 pm #54651
    Theunis De Jong

    Member

    Hey Hank, two (tiny!) addenda to your excellent step-by-step. First off, this is exactly how I taught myself to create covers!

    Rotate the frame so that the top of the letters face the front cover, and the bottom of the letters face the back cover.

    It's easier to explain the function rather than the form :-)

    The spine should be readable when the book is lying flat on its back, with the front up.

    Am I correctly remembering that the German style is the other way around? (And do they have a logical reason, other than “It's been done like this fur years”?)

    Place the text frame in the Spine Area – adjust the position so that the text is visually centered on the Spine.

    Simply set that frame's height to the spine width (remember, it's rotated) and set Vertically Centered in the text frame properties. If you have an all-caps (or Mostly Caps) title, you can set the Baseline Options to Cap Height. Otherwise use x-height, so lower case characters will be exactly in the center. Don't use Leading, it's of no use on a spine.

  • January 26, 2010 at 1:58 pm #54652
    kc00799

    Member

    Eugene Tyson said:

    Set up a new document.

    If the book is 210 (w) x 297 (h) mm, for example.

    You want to insert the width for the new document to be 210 + 210 + Spine Width

    So if your spine width is 10 mm then your cover size is 210 + 210 + 10 = 430

    At this point I usually give the cover 2 columns and make the gutter 10mm (the width of the spine) and this gives me a visual grid using the guides.

    Front cover goes on the right

    Back cover goes ont he left

    Spine goes in the middle.

    For the spine Text, draw a text frame that is 10 mm in height.

    Insert your text.

    Rotate the frame so that the top of the letters face the front cover, and the bottom of the letters face the back cover.

    Place the text frame in the Spine Area – adjust the position so that the text is visually centered on the Spine (in CS4 you can rotate the page view via the Pages Panel to make it easier)

    Once you have this done, make sure your document bleeds the correct amount off all sides.

    Then you're done.

    If you have anything going on the inside of the cover, insert a new page, and

    put the Inside Front Cover to the left hand side

    put the inside back cover on the right hand side

    Leave the Spine Area on the inside free of ink, as if there is ink on the inside of the spine the glue won't stick to the book.

    ---

  • January 26, 2010 at 2:02 pm #54653
    kc00799

    Member

    Ok! Thanks… But… In the pages panel I only see rotate spreads in CS4. Do I type horizontally across the spine and then rotate and if so, where is the rotation tab located? I only see rotate spreads….

    KC

  • January 26, 2010 at 2:20 pm #54654
    Firedog

    Member

    Jongware said:

    The spine should be readable when the book is lying flat on its back, with the front up.

    Am I correctly remembering that the German style is the other way around? (And do they have a logical reason, other than “It's been done like this fur years”?)

    ---

    There are only three German books on the shelf in here, and they all have the spine text upside down, so you're probably right. I did the same on the first book I ever laid out, and got all kinds of abuse for it. While the idea that the spine text should be the right way up when the book is lying face-up on the table has much to commend it, the German fashion has, too. If you're browsing a long bookshelf, reading the spines from top to bottom* (the way we normally read) involves reading from left to right, as normal. If the books have their spines printed non-German-wise, you have to either read bottom up or right to left, both of which feel uncomfortable to me.

    *This is not easy to put in words. I imagine a very tall pile of books on its side, because I have my head tilted while browsing. And it seems most natural to read from the top of that pile to the bottom rather than vice versa.

  • January 26, 2010 at 3:49 pm #54656
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Don't worry about the Rotate Spread View – that's not important right now. Just make sure you setup the document, post a screen shot of your work if you like. Always best to have it double checked I suppose.

    I did not know about the German way of setting the spine – that is fascinating.

  • January 26, 2010 at 5:05 pm #54659
    Tom Pardy

    Member

    I may have misunderstood you, kc00799, but are you looking for a way to rotate a text frame as distinct from rotating the spread? Even if that is not your concern, it may be helpful to other readers to read this.

    As usual in InDesign, there are several ways. Here are the three that are obvious to me; there may well be others. In each case, the selected object (text frame) will rotate around the selected axis point as indicated by the dots in the little nine-point matrix at the left-hand end of the control panel. Click on a dot in that matrix to select it; the selected dot is larger than the other eight:

    • Under the Object Menu, the first item, Transform, has a sub-category, Rotate…, which gives you the Rotate dialog box.
    • In the control panel at the top of your screen, there are two curved arrows, one rotating the object clockwise and the other (logically) counterclockwise. Beside the arrows is a little representation of the direction text will appear in the rotated object. Obviously, if you want a 180° rotation, click either of the curved arrows twice.
    • Less accurately, once the text frame is selected, pressing the R key selects the rotation tool – or manually select it from the toolbox. Click and drag with the rotation tool somewhere outside the text frame to rotate to whatever extent you want.

    Hope that helps someone.

  • January 26, 2010 at 6:58 pm #54664
    kc00799

    Member

    Furry,

    I have a cover template from LSI with all the printer dimensions already set. Do I rotate the whole cover frame and enter text for the spine and then rotate back? Do I rotate the spine frame only (if possible) then enter the text and then rotate back??? Am I not being clear? Just want to know how to enter text on the spine of my book. I want to be careful not to disrupt the printer's set guides & bleeds. As always, I appreciate everyone's help!

    KC

  • January 26, 2010 at 7:33 pm #54666
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Draw a Text Frame.

    Type the name of the spine into the frame.

    Then use the Rotate Tool to rotate the frame to the correct angle

    Place the text frame in the spine area of the layout.

    (the arrows and measurements are for illustrative purposes only)

    The red highlighted areas show you the where to input your angles.

    

  • January 27, 2010 at 11:41 am #54672
    kc00799

    Member

    Thanks Eugene!

    That helps a lot. I am fully armored and I'm going back in!

    KC :)

  • January 27, 2010 at 4:56 pm #54676
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    There's also a script for easy creation of spines, covers and dust jackets using our Page Control plug-in here: https://www.dtptools.com/produc…..=downloads

    JM

  • January 27, 2010 at 8:14 pm #54698
    kc00799

    Member

    Hello Again!

    I finally got my text on spine! However the background of the text on the spine is pink? Don't know how that happened, and I tried the fill/none option, but still cannot delete the pink background. I checked both the color & swatches panels and do not even see the pink color. I can change the text color but not the background color. I keep trying the fill/none, but it changes nothing! Help!! It's basicallly the last thing I have to do!!

    KC

  • January 27, 2010 at 8:31 pm #54699
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Pink Highlighting indicates missing fonts.

    Go to the character panel and check to see what font is enclosed in square brackets, i.e.,

    Times Roman

    [extra bold]

    Or

    [MetaPlusNormalBold]

    Roman

    Or go to Type>Find font and look for the warning symbol

  • January 28, 2010 at 7:42 pm #54714
    kc00799

    Member

    Thanks Eugene!!

    You are a life saver!

    KC

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