Any good (and preferably cheap) ways to learn InDesign?

[KateD]

I've fiddled around in it a bit. I'd love to use it to start building digi albums for my boys of their childhood for a HS graduation present. I have some time to put them together, my oldest is in the 8th grade this year and my youngest is in the 6th grade. However, I'd like to start now so that I can see what I have now that I want to include and can fill in the gaps to tell a complete story.

I was thinking that using InDesign to build the albums would be the easiest way to go - even if I'm just using the 700px layout previews instead of the full-size JPG's because of the size the album would become. I've poked around in it a bit, using the built-in help feature, but just don't seem to be "getting it". If anyone could point me to a resource for learning the basics of the software, I'd really appreciate it!

[Nettio]

My suggested would be to use lynda.com. It's a $25/month subscription but that gives you access to ALL of their classes. Plus they're video based which I find really helpful for this kind of learning. This is the InDesign one: InDesign CS6 Essential Training . They have a few sample videos as well as a 7-day trial so you can see how you like it.

ETA: There's also another class called Up & Running With InDesign which will give you a good overview as well.

With regards to file size, one of the major differences between InDesign and Photoshop is that with InDesign, files are essentially linked to the document rather than physically added to it.. This can be both good and bad. Good in that the file size stays really small - as an example the InDesign file for the Everyday Storyteller 80+page book is only 105 MB. But the downside with the files being linked is that if you move them or rename them after you've placed them into InDesign, you'll have to relink the image in the file, which is easy to do but if you inadvertantly move a bunch of files, it can get messy. So that's something you'll want to keep in mind.

I love using InDesign for designing albums though so if you have any questions, just let me know. I'm happy to help.

[KateD]

Thanks, Lynnette, I figured that you'd have some good advice!!

That's wonderful about InDesign linking to the files. And I'm not too concerned about broken links since I'm happy with my system of storing layout files and don't plan on changing it anytime soon. It's definitely something to keep in mind if I ever do decide to switch things up.