We got a sneak peek at InDesign CS3 today in a private press briefing. InDesign CS3 is not slated for release until Q2 of 2007, and it is extremely unusual for Adobe to discuss features this far in advance.
However, while it was made clear that we saw only a small sampling of InDesign CS3’s feature set, what we saw proved that Adobe is not resting on any laurels. They are clearly committed to innovating and helping design professionals engage their audience.
Adobe showed us four cool features of CS3:
- Object Effects: We’re already familiar with applying drop shadows or feathering objects. Now, object effects will let us apply Photoshop-like effects such as bevel and emboss and inner shadow to any InDesign object (including text).
- Universal Binary: The demo was run on a MacBook Pro and was clearly running as a Universal Binary program, showing that Adobe is indeed hard at work converting their programs to this new platform.
- Finer transparency control: Following the lead of “ol’ man” Illustrator, transparency effects could be applied to an object’s fill, stroke, or contents individually.
- Selecting Multiple Files: You will be able to select more than one graphic or text file in the Place dialog box, and when you click OK, you’ll see a small thumbnail of each image next to the Place cursor. You can then quickly place each image or text file into a frame with a “click, click, click.” Even better, you can cycle through the images “loaded” in the Place cursor with the arrow keys before clicking.
Adobe pointed out that adoption of InDesign CS2 is extremely strong, especially in the magazine market.
While none of these features are life-changing, seeing this level of “completeness” almost a full year before shipping leads us to expect that the final version of CS3 will be well worth the wait. More than anything, we’re pleased that Adobe is keeping up their momentum in making InDesign the clear leader in the page-layout space.
Update on 3/27/07: CS3 Information has now been released and posted here.
This article was last modified on January 18, 2023
This article was first published on May 17, 2006
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