I’ve finally figured this one out. Sometimes, when you select the “Export…” command in InDesign (2.0 or CS), which is most commonly used for exporting the InDesign document as a PDF file, InDesign selects the “Adobe InDesign Tagged Text” file format by default rather than the “Adobe PDF” file format — even if “Adobe PDF” […]
As someone who does a lot of text editing in various applications, I am always frustrated when one application fails to behave like all the other ones do. I’ve already mentioned the problem with apostrophes and word selection. Here is another one. In InDesign CS, when working on existing blocks of text, I often select […]
Here’s another example of how, in spite of its maturity and polished appearance, Adobe’s InDesign CS fails to meet some pretty basic user interface requirements. The other day, I was editing a document and needed to flip a placed object horizontally. (Flipping produces the mirror image of an object, while rotating by 180 degrees preserves […]
I always beat on Microsoft and Apple for not complying with basic UI guidelines (Apple’s own guidelines, as it happens). It doesn’t mean that software products by Adobe, that other software juggernaut, are exempt. It just means that I use Adobe’s software less frequently. Still, it’s rather frustrating to encounter interface components that break fundamental […]
This one is pretty strange… For some reason, I have been unable to use the usual keyboard shortcut (option-Spacebar) to enter a non-breaking space in InDesign CS. According to the on-line help, this is still the valid keyboard shortcut in InDesign CS: To create a nonbreaking space: 1. Using the Type tool, click where you […]
A couple of days ago, I was visited by someone who needed help putting together a book on the genealogy of Acadian families. He was personally a Mac user and was in charge of putting the book together, but needed help on how to actually do it in a way that didn’t require an enormous […]
A response to Marc Zeedar’s column on Computer Idiocy
Currently working hard — in addition to my regular translating job — on putting together the Spring issue (yeah, we’re late) of the academic review published by our local French-language university. (I am not involved in the web site.) There’s something immensely gratifying about designing such a document. It must have to do with the […]
Like many other professional Mac users, I suspect, I was quite relieved when Apple finally shared, in early April, with a select panel of writers who cover Apple news, their plans for the Mac Pro and, more generally speaking, for pro and “prosumer” users of Macintosh computers. When the new Mac Pro was announced in 2013, […]
Yesterday, Jason Snell’s Six Colors web site posted a tip about using OS X’s built-in keyboard customization features to create a universal shortcut for a command for pasting as plain text. While the tip is not useless, it neglected to mention the fact that the menu command labelled “Paste and Match Style” is not nearly as […]
I am ambivalent about the upcoming new Mac Pro unveiled by Apple yesterday at the WWDC. Of course, I am relieved that Apple has finally given us something tangible to look forward to. I am also glad that the new model is a radical rethink and that heavy emphasis has apparently been put on keeping […]
As a professional translator in Canada, I am constantly referring to the TERMIUM database, which became accessible free-of-charge a couple of years ago as part of the Language Portal of Canada. One thing I do not like when using on-line databases, however, is having to retype things. Whenever I have to look up a term, […]
It’s that time of the year again… Against my better judgment, I have opted, once again, to upgrade my current version of the Adobe Creative Suite (5.5) to the new version (6.0). I am not quite ready to embrace Adobe’s version of cloud-based computing, so I ordered the disk-based version, and it was delivered today. Regular […]
Here’s something about Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) that I don’t get: Yes, this InDesign file was downloaded from the Internet. But how does that make it an “application”? And I don’t get this just for InDesign files. I get it for all kinds of other media files, when they are downloaded as part of a Zip […]
Adobe’s applications have all kinds of quirks related to Adobe’s developers’ unwillingness or inability to follow appropriate standards and make sure their Mac applications behave like normal Mac OS X applications. The latest one I have encountered has to do with the Clipboard shortcuts (command-C, command-V) within “Save As” dialog boxes. If, for example, in a […]