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Best way to "dumb down" InDesign?

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    • April 21, 2016 at 1:26 am #84167
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      What is the best way to go about “dumbing down” the InDesign UI for beginners that only have experience with word processors and are not intending to become professional layout designers?

      Beyond custom Workspaces, what are best practices for restricting functionality to what would essentially be a Lite Edition of InDesign?

      The context is a WoodWing Enterprise installation in which the Smart Connection plugin can restrict a certain level of functionality, but it isn’t comprehensive.

    • April 21, 2016 at 8:11 am #84172
      David Blatner
      Keymaster

      Hi Joel! A pleasure to see you here. One option is to avoid InDesign entirely and give them InCopy (see https://incopysecrets.com).

      I’m not sure there are any “best practices” for this beyond:

      • Open just the panels you want visible
      • Use Edit > Menus to hide the menu items you don’t want visible
      • Then save the Workspace and show them how they can Reset back to it if things get messy
      • If they’re mostly editorial folks, teach them Edit > Edit in Story Editor (and use the Story Editor Preferences to choose a better font, cursor, and layout, so it’s easier to read in Story Editor)
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