Washington, D.C. InDesign User Group Home Meeting Summary Archive

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Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Nearly 90 people showed up for our pre-Thanksgiving meeting, which featured Part 1 of the “Quark-to-InDesign Conversion Road Show.”

Prior to the start of the meeting, people feasted on pizza from the Manhattan Deli across the courtyard from the auditorium. After washing the pizza down with sodas and water, folks made their way into the auditorium.

Noha Edell presented the first half of the “Quark-to-InDesign Conversion Road Show,” which highlighted the reasons why people should make the switch to InDesign. Download a copy of Noha’s slides below.

Transitioning from Quark to InDesign: Seminar Slides InDesign opens QuarkXPress 3.3 and 4.x files. These slides cover some conversion tips and point out where to find preferences that affect what you expect from the conversion process. Download PDF file 1.6 Mb download

The above document and many others can be found on our Conversion Information page. There you will also find the guides for converting from Quark and PageMaker®, as well as other handy tips and techniques.

Noha expanded on this list and showed us — on the huge screen in the U.S. Navy Memorial Auditorium what these mean to users.

About one third of the attendees were first-timers, and a number were primarily Quark users. The feedback received showed that people came away impressed with what they learned. Also, most InDesign users picked up tips and learned new features of InDesign they didn’t know existed.

Our guest plug-in presenter was Rudi Warttmann of i.t.i.p., creators of InMath. This advanced but simple-to-use plug-in makes easy work of the most complex math equations. What really sets it apart is that it works within InDesign creating formatted text strings that one could create manually — if one had the days and weeks to do it. Even people without the plug-in can make limited changes to the equation.

i.t.i.p For more information, visit the site. http://www.itip.biz/

After the festive drawings for prizes, the meeting was adjourned at about 9:00pm.

Here are a few quotes from the attendees’ survey sheets:

"I am fascinated by the power of InDesign."

"Awesome, as usual."

"Full of tips. Wish I had this earlier!"

"Extremely pertinent and useful."

"Great. Always learn something new. Just bought a Mac, and can't wait to purchase the Creative Suite (if I don't win tonight).”

"Cool. I learn more each meeting."

"Very enthusiastic presentation for InDesign and interesting math equation plug-in."

"Helpful and insightful. Entertaining, as usual. Thanks."

"Informative, even for a beginner."

"Such a breath of fresh air. You can read the documentation, but to see someone using the product is so helpful."

"Fast, but very informative. This is my second meeting, and I already feel more comfortable using InDesign."

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