CreativePro Forum

Return to Member Forum

• Author
  Posts
• • December 1, 2014 at 12:35 pm #71943
    Gilley Estes

    Member

    I have been using InDesign for quite a while now and am working on a white paper with quite a bit of text and many graphics. As I am attempting to finalize the layout (checking pagination, bullet lists, etc.), I am wondering if using a single long text box (threaded of course) is the best solution.

    Items to note:
    • Two column layout
    • Anchoring the graphics so they move with their text counterparts. The only time this is an issue is when the text/graphic flows from one column to the next.
    • Numbered figure captions (finally figured out the nuances with these:)).

    As of now, the white paper is about 30 pages. I typically attempt to utilize a single threaded text box. This layout really has me wondering if that is a good practice or should you attempt to ‘chunk’ the text into multiple threaded text boxes on larger documents.

    I am asking the experts here so I can make my InDesign life a bit easier in the future.

    Thank you in advance for any advice and wisdom you may have.

    Regards,
    Gilley Estes

  • December 1, 2014 at 1:40 pm #71946
    Allan Shearer

    Participant

    Hi Gilley

    I’m very much a fan of using as few text files to flow out as long as possible – perhaps my Ventura history has taught me to do it that way.

    I’ve just completed two books in InDesign CC 2014, both were in the 100’s of pages (e.g., 4-500), and one of them had over 2,700 anchored images. Granted, both books were broken into individual ‘chunks’ – not because I didn’t think InDesign could handle it all at once, but, because it didn’t NEED to handle it all at once. So, I went with what makes practical sense and chose to work on smaller files and then glued them together in Acrobat when I was done.

    Some of the files are well over 100 pages long.

    All, with using a single text frame (story) flowing from page to page to page. One book was 2-columns per page, the other book was 3-columns per page.

    Had NO problems! Anchoring was BEAUTIFUL and behaved really, really well.

    My NEXT project I’m looking at taking 3 magazines (Buy & Sell magazines) which also contain hundreds of anchored images, intermixed with MANY adverts in frames, flowing through 4-columns per page … and running anywhere between 100 to 190 pages per magazine. In THESE cases it will be a SINGLE INDD file. And … I am quite confident with the testing that I’ve done so far that it’s going to be ‘no sweat’.

    So . . . I’d say, Stick with a single (or few) stories and feel free to flow out as many pages as you feel comfortable with.

    Hope this helps. :)

    Allan

  • December 1, 2014 at 4:01 pm #71953
    Dwayne Harris

    Member

    I normally try to use single text frames that flow as well.

    However, for things like cookbooks with multiple columns, I will use separate text frames on each page (all said text boxes on master pages). This is mainly because I have the recipe head at the top of the page that goes full measure, on the left side is a 10 pica measure box for the ingredients, and the 20 pica box on the left (separated by a two pica gutter). While it would probably be possible to do such a thing in one text frame, it would be a nightmare to do so.

    For some double-column boxes with spanners, I will try to use a single text frame that is set for 2 columns. But if it has a lot of heads that stay in the single columns, I will instead set up the job for each column to be separate boxes. This is because of having to sink heads at the top of the page for even lines.

    I guess all my jobs vary. The majority of the time it’s a single text frame that flows, other times it’s separate text boxes.

    But no matter what–the text always flows and is linked.

    EDIT: Our clients always insist on a single InDesign document. I’ve had a document with hundreds of images and over 1,200 pages. I dislike it, but we have to follow the client’s rules.

  • December 1, 2014 at 4:42 pm #71954
    Allan Shearer

    Participant

    Hi Dwayne

    >> I’ve had a document with hundreds of images and over 1,200 pages. I dislike it, but we have to follow the client’s rules.

    I’m looking forward to this NEXT year with a currently-always-done-in-Ventura project which consists of 2x volumes of print, each approximately 1,000 pages (or more) … and, then repurposed layout of the same into an EPUB(like) format (actually, a PDF … but … we’ll see about changing that to EPUB) which is approximately 5,500 pages.

    I don’t think I’ll make ID do it all in a single file … or … will I? <evil laugh>

    Allan

  • December 2, 2014 at 11:16 am #71985
    Gilley Estes

    Member

    Thank you for your replies. I have been following the ‘minimalist’ approach. My thought was that the fewer the elements (text boxes, styles, etc.) the easier it is to work with the document. I am happy to know that my thinking wasn’t completely off in left field.

    Thank you again for your answers. I really appreciate it!

    Gilley

  • December 2, 2014 at 12:14 pm #71988
    Dwayne Harris

    Member

    Good luck with your project, Allan. And I’m glad we could help, Gilley.

• Author
  Posts