As usual, if you have topics you’d like to see presented, please don’t be shy and do let us know your ideas. If you’d like to be a presenter, we’d love to discuss that with you, too.

So, join us for some great InDesign discussion, learn something new, and mingle with fellow InDesign users. We’d love to have you!

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Agenda
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6:00-6:30 – Networking, Mixing and Mingling
6:30-6:45 – Chapter Business
6:45-7:45 – Print and Output Practices
7:45-8:00 – Break and More Networking
8:00-8:15 – Auction
8:15-8:55 – Design and Learning Community
8:55-9:00 – Wrap Up

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Auction
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We hold a live auction every meeting and the proceeds fund our chapter’s activities. Check out the items available just prior to the meeting at: auction.idugdenver.net.

-Erica Gamet, IDUG Denver

Tue, December 6, 2011, 6:00 PM
Front Range Community College: Westminster Campus

3645 West 112th Ave.
Snowy Peaks Room (enter left of Rotunda)
Westminster, CO 80031

The first half of the meeting will be an informal discussion of all things InDesign…And a fun version of our JeopID! gameshow. Bring your thinking caps…

We’ll then follow up with our silent auction and holiday food and mingling.

This year we’re doing a potluck, so please bring something to share. If you cook or bake and want to share your favorite holiday dish with us, please do. Since that’s not everyone’s thing, please feel free to bring your favorite store-bought item, as well!

We look forward to talking about how InDesign has fit into our life and work over the past year, and discussing what we hope to see in the near future. We also look forward to getting to know each of you a little better and spending some time discussing InDesign, graphics, and other topics that come up.

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Agenda
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6:00 Networking
6:30 Chapter Business
6:45 JeopID! InDesign Gameshow
7:45 Silent Auction Opens
7:45 Potluck and Holiday Cheer!

Please remember to register for the meeting on the Adobe site…see you there!

Chapter Business:

1. The December meeting will be a holiday party with food and a gameshow. Erica will post a poll on this website to help with planning.
2. A meeting comment form will be posted on this website in the future to help gather feedback and ideas about meetings.
3. Erica found a nifty script for converting buttons in InDesign to fillable PDF fields: TOMAXXI Forms.
4. The idea of having an informal networking get-together on the month between IDUG meetings was discussed, but not finalized.
5. The possibility of having a job opportunities and Q&A page on this website was discussed again. That will require getting Buddy Press up and running first.

Highlights from “Don’t Re-invent the Wheel” – presenter, Erica Gamet

1. Preferences: Set them with no document open to make them “stick” for all new documents (units, fonts, frame fitting, eyedropper, etc.).
2. Keyboard shortcuts: Make your own if there isn’t one, or change an existing one.
3. Presets: For document set-up, PDF output, printing, etc.
4. Libraries: Use this for symbols, logos, crop marks, and other things that you use a lot that are created in InDesign.
5. Layers: Did you know that there is a setting for “paste remembers layers” on the layers panel menu?
6. Templates: Once you finish a document that you will update in the future, but with new content, save it as a template (.indt) and remove the text and photos, but leave the frames.
7. Graphic Standards Files: Create them for each client, so you can always start with (import) the right colors, fonts and styles.
8. Swatch exchange files: Make them to reuse your favorite color palettes across the Creative Suite.

Tips & Tricks – presenter, Erica Gamet

Erica showed us lots of little productivity tricks and fun tips for working smarter. She showed us how to close and save all windows at once, quick switching between color panel modes, CS5′s rounded corners and CS5.5′s new anchored objects…among many others.

While we can’t list them all here, you should try using the grid mode (Gridify feature) as well as making different size pages in one document and exporting them all to one spread in a PDF (nice for presentations).

Our next meeting (party!) will be on December 6, 2011. Stay tuned here for a poll and more info.

The second half – after the auction – will be a less formal presentation of tips and tricks, as well as a “talkback” open discussion with the group. Bring your InDesign questions!

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Agenda
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6:00 – 6:30 Networking
6:30 – 6:45 Chapter Business
6:45 – 7:45 Don’t Re-Invent the Wheel: Using Existing Elements and Presets
7:45 – 8:00 Break and More Networking
8:00 – 8:15 Auction
8:15 – 8:55 Tips and Tricks / Open Discussion
8:55 – 9:00 Wrap-Up

Please register – and join the group if you haven’t, yet – at the Adobe site so we have a good idea of how many people to expect.

As we don’t have the printed evaluation forms anymore, please let us know if there are topics you’d like to see presented. This is YOUR group and we’d like to present topics you’re interested in. Also, if you want to let us know what you liked or what you thought could be improved, we’d appreciate the feedback. And, as always, if you’d like to present a topic, or know someone else who would be a great speaker for our group, please talk to Erica at the meeting or e-mail here at: admin@idugdenver.net.

See you all there!

When: Tuesday, October 4, 2011 at 6:00 pm

Where: Front Range Community College, Westminster Campus
3645 West 112th Ave
Snowy Peaks Room (enter left of Rotunda)
Westminister, CO 80031

Meeting Details: We are still planning the meeting and coming up with great topics! Topics will be announced later!

Agenda:
6:00 – 6:30 Networking
6:30 – 6:45 Chapter Business
6:45 – 7:45 First Topic/Discussion
7:45 – 8:00 Break and More Networking
8:00 – 8:15 Auction
8:15 – 8:55 Second Topic
8:55 – 9:00 Wrap-Up

Check out our auction website for this meeting’s auction items!
(See Auction Items)

Erica showed us the magic of GREP, aka Unicorns and Rainbows or UAR. GREP actually stands for global regular expression printing and isn’t nearly as scary as it sounds. It looks for patterns in text with find/change or styles and allows you to easily format those similar patterns in the same way.

Here are some sources to learn more about GREP and find helpful code:
ericagamet.com/tips-and-tricks/
kahrel.plus.com/indesignscripts.html
indesignsecrets.com/grep (especially the Cheat Sheet towards the bottom of the web page)
The digital version of GREP in InDesign CS3/CS4, 1Ed is only $5 through oreilly.com, with your IDUG membership discount code (found in your “Member Benefits.”). Refresh your memory about your member benefits at indesignusergroup.com. Just login and find “Member Benefits” under your name.

Jeff Gamet, Managing Editor of The Mac Observer, explained the pros and cons of updating to OS X Lion. It is only available via download from Apple.com (no more physical media!). One download is good for all of your computers. To install on other computers, don’t click on the “install button,” but first copy the install application (option-drag) to your desktop or flash drive first (for later use), then go ahead and click on install.

Advantages of upgrading: better performance, better security, track pad gesture recognition, and stability.

Cons are primarily incompatibility with software and backup systems. Check roaringapps.com to see what’s working and what’s not. Any software for Macs pre-Intel processor, needs Rosetta to run. Lion doesn’t support Rosetta. To see what needs Rosetta on your computer, go to About this Mac, More Info, Software, Applications, wait for the list to appear, expand the window to show the Kind column, and look for PowerPC. Those that have PowerPC need Rosetta to run. Check software websites for updates that allow the software to run on Lion. Software with Universal or Intel in the kind column, may have issues, but are less likely to.

Other news:

We have a new group of volunteers busy working on the auction site, photographing and videotaping meetings, writing meeting wrap-up notes, handling the welcome desk and beverages, and possibly putting together a member directory. If you would like to manage these volunteers in the role of “volunteer coordinator,” please contact Erica at admin@idugdenver.net.

A couple of auction items were sold, including a new item: 1Password software. Be sure to check the auction site to bid on items that weren’t taken during the meeting soon…and check back there just before the next meeting to check out newly-listed items. If you are interested in buying 1Password for Windows or Mac at a 25% IDUG discount, click on this link: agilebits.com. Thanks Agile Bits!

Next Meeting:

Our next meeting will be on October 4, 2011. Join us!

Get ready to learn best practices, discover hidden features, and extend your abilities from Adobe Evangelists and seasoned trainers. You’ll come away with a new bag of tricks and inspired to get creative with CS 5.5.

RMAC is the best deal around for hands-on Photoshop training! Your ticket includes three hours of Bring Your Own Laptop (BYOL) Photoshop with Certified Adobe Trainer, Barb Binder. Stick around for the whole day to get even more tips and tricks from Adobe Evangelists and broaden your skillset with other Adobe creative tools.

Register now for the 2011 edition of Rocky Mountain Adobe Camp. Space is limited and Early Bird pricing ends August 4.
Plus IDUG member received a discount with code “didug”

To register or learn more go to http://camp.rmaug.com/

*Content gathered from RMAUG website.

When: Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 6:00 pm

Where: Front Range Community College, Westminster Campus
3645 West 112th Ave
Snowy Peaks Room (enter left of Rotunda)
Westminister, CO 80031

Meeting Details: We are still planning the meeting and coming up with great topics! We will probably have an informal discussion on how the new Mac OS X Lion affects designers. More topics announced later!

Agenda:
6:00 – 6:30 Networking
6:30 – 6:45 Chapter Business
6:45 – 7:45 First Topic/Discussion
7:45 – 8:00 Break and More Networking
8:00 – 8:15 Auction
8:15 – 8:55 Second Topic
8:55 – 9:00 Wrap-Up

Auction: Remember to check out items up for auction at auction.idugdenver.net. We have a team together for getting those items up before the meeting for you to check out ahead of time. We’ll try to have as many items up before the meeting!

SESSION DESCRIPTION:
As an InDesign user, you’ve probably heard a lot about ePUB and how easy it is to create an ePUB file from InDesign. While InDesign is the best tool in your toolbox for creating an ePUB file, there’s more to it than opening your print file and exporting to ePUB. This full-day in-depth seminar will look at what processes you need to master in InDesign to create an ePUB file and what tools and skills you’ll need to turn that file into a well-crafted final product that’s ready to share with the world.