Adobe InDesign automation book

Adobe InDesign Automation – Nonfiction Book Publishing via JavaScript Book

Welcome to the Adobe InDesign Automation of Nonfiction Books via JavaScript book page. This book, scheduled publication via Amazon August 218th, presents the know-how required to create InDesign plugins via JavaScript and pertinent source code, presented in Automation plugins. They fully automate tasks required to process a Word nonfiction book manuscript’s content. In a nutshell, two hours max of InDesign professional time suffice to get the book into a ready-to-publish state; a huge time-saving. Here is what the book does for you

  • Save buckets full of money by automating InDesign time-consuming tasks. This all-in-one book provides the programmer with the know-how to convert a nonfiction book manuscript into a practically ready-to-publish book via Adobe InDesign JavaScript automation.
  • Save hundreds of hours of InDesign time by automating indexes, cross-references, footnotes, image processing, top-of-page inserts, new chapter pages, drop-caps, blank pages and other repetitive time-consuming tasks. Source code provided with explanations to enable you roll your own scripts and plugins.
  • Discover InDesign plugins and how to create, run, and debug them. Profit from JavaScript’s dynamic programming features and future-proof your know-how.
  • Free the author from InDesign costs constraints when it comes to inserting images, cross-references, indexes and footnotes into his/her manuscript.
  • Learn how to use HTML-like tags to define indexes, cross-references, footnotes, image locations and captions. Use regular expressions to transform these into live InDesign items. A chapter dedicated to this useful technique will get you to using them in no time.
  • Learn how to use the Adobe InDesign specific JavaScript IDEs: ESTK (ExtendScript Toolkit) then migrate from the ESTK to modern JavaScript’s via the VS  Code/InDesign UDT (UXP Developer Tool) tandem.
  • Creating a nonfiction book with Word and importing it into InDesign is the most cost effective way to create a ready-to-publish non-fiction book; discover how to overcome the traps and pitfalls encountered upon importing a Word manuscript into InDesign.
  • Learn the five skills you’ll need to automate InDesign:
    1. Using InDesign,
    2. Learn JavaScript to program InDesign,
    3. Discover how find the InDesign DOM (Document Object Mode) classes you will need,
    4. Get a firm hold on the two InDesign tools ESTK and UDT
    5.  Master regular expressions.
  • A QuickStart tutorial on using InDesign gets you up and running enough to understand which InDesign JavaScript DOM (Document Object Model) classes to use.
  • Includes a learn what-you-need JavaScript-wise via the JavaScript basic primer provided. If you program in C++ or Python, or other, your learning curve will be gentle and short.
  • Source code and explanations on how to automate fourteen InDesign time-consuming tasks provided. Corresponding plugins are available via the Adobe Marketplace, or, you could roll your own via the code provided in my book cited above.

This book elaborates on the hows and whys of these automation tasks. The onus of content is on the author; the InDesign user concentrates on typography, layout and aesthetics. Automation, the How? of this book, alleviates the InDesign professional from the burden of repeated tedious tasks. The programmer provides the Automation plugins for InDesign to do so, as follows:.

  1.  DocStats plugin provides document metrics: number of characters, paragraphs, images, footnotes, swatches, index tags, etc.
  2.  UserData plugin – Some of the automation plugins rely on hard coded data contained in the UserData object.
  3.  BadTags plugin – Four of my automation tags rely on HTML-like tags. The BadTags plugin detects malformed tags thereby reducing significantly proofreading time.
  4.  Cross-References plugin – Cross-references redirect the reader to other places in the book.
  5.  Indexes plugin – My motto: If it is in the book, you should find it through the index table. Convert index tags into InDesign indexes.
  6.  Footnotes plugin – Footnotes via footnote tags ae easy to maintain and create.
  7.  ImageProcessing plugin – Importing images into InDesign is labor intensive. This plugin inserts captions under the plugin and alleviates the InDesign professional task.
  8.  TopOfPage Inserts plugin places text frames into the top of pages. They contain page number, chapter and last section seen.
  9.  BlankPages plugin –  Blank pages should not be anonymous empty pages. They should contain text informing the reader that the page is intentionally blank.
  10.  ChapterTitles plugin spreads numbered chapters titles into two lines, as follows:
          Chapter 10
          Image processing
     FirstParagraphs plugin – Automatically set new chapter first paragraphs with a leading drop-cap.
  11.  DoAll plugin –Run all ttasks sequentially with the click of a button.
  12. TagRemnants plugin – Detect left over HTML-like parts and pieces.
  13. PostProcess document plugin – Standardize font size of items in footnotes, sets colors on automation tags to blue, and relinks images.

In a nutshell, this book explains how to cost-effectively convert a Word manuscripts into a ready-to-publish nonfiction book via InDesign JavaScript automation. It provides in an all-in-one document the programmer with the required know-how to create InDesign automation plugin, namely:

  • Recognize InDesign tasks which are labor intensive.
  • Learn enough InDesign to understand what needs to be done to accomplish objectives.
  • Learn enough JavaScript to get the job done.
  • Master the DOM (Document Object Model) classes sufficiently to automate InDesign tasks.
  • Learn how to use the Adobe tools to manage scripts and/or plugins: the ESTK (ExtendScript Toolkit) and the UDT (UXP Developer Tool).
  • Learn why VS Code is probably the best tool to edit JavaScript code with.
  • Learn how to create regular expressions as these enable searching for HTML-like tags and selectively extract content.
  • Finally but not least, get the source code to create your own plugins.

These eight domains are covered in my Adobe InDesign Automation of Nonfiction Books via JavaScript book. My objective when defining the book’s content is that a programmer should find in this all-in-one book all he/she needs to know to automate InDesign within the context of nonfiction books. The result is a comprehensive book available in Kindle, paperback and hardcover formats.

Please note that THIS BOOK IS NEITHER AUTHORIZED NOR SPONSORED BY ADOBE, PUBLISHER OF ADOBE INDESIGN.