InDesign Schmendesign
I have several graphic novels to layout for CreateSpace. The sizes ranges from 56 pages to 168 to 250 pages.
I can't adjust the margins one page at a time like in the past.
I'm not even sure where to start. Create a document? how do the trim & bleed sizes work? It's different from the template I'm used to. How do I import a bunch of TIFF files?
Really. I don't even know where to begin. Totally fsckd at this point.
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Once you've got your document with the correct number of correctly sized pages, you need to grapple with your master pages…
This will take you to your Master Pages — anything applied here will apply to all your document pages. You can add automatic page numbers and the like here…
When you go back to your main document, the elements you've added via the Master Page will all be locked. If you think about it, this how you want it because you don't want page numbers and other 'furniture' to be getting in the way when you're trying to design a page. However, you do want to select the boxes you've just created so you can put your TIFFs in them… you can select Master Page elements on the document page by CMD-SHIFT-clicking them. Once you've done this once, the element will behave like a normal one and can be selected normally hereafter.
Select your first page to insert a TIFF, select the frame, hit CMD-D to import. Navigate to the TIFF and select. If your TIFF isn't the full size of the page and you need it to float in the space, CMD-SHIFT-E will center it in the frame.
If you're feeling really bold, you can select multiple TIFFs when you use CMD-D. Just shift-click the files you want in the 'Import' dialogue and instead of importing, you'll get a cursor with a thumbnail of the first TIFF. Click on a frame to insert that TIFF into the frame and the thumbnail will change to the next TIFF; click on the next frame and the TIFF will insert and the thumbnail will change… repeat until done…!