Interactive Shortcuts Guide for InDesign CS5

Keyboard shortcuts are a big time saver! And when I say big, I mean BIG! I love shortcuts, and by time, they become part of you, and your everyday workflow! But! It’s becoming difficult to remember all shortcuts when you use more than one program, and I know you do! So, I decided to create nice little interactive shortcuts guide and to be even better, I wanted to use just InDesign‘s interactive features!

It was quite a challenge for me even though I knew how to use InDesign and InDesign‘s interactive features. I know, it sounds crazy, but InDesign is really awesome for creating interactive content too! To be honest, I was quite skeptic about interactivity inside such awesome typographic software, but I’m really blown away! Flash is powerful, and you can do a way more and have much more control, but InDesign is just simple and effective! Here are few screen shots that were made from finished InDesign layout before exporting.

So, you might be wondering how this is really created. Here is short outline of workflow I’ve used to create this interactive guide. Remember, I’ve used just InDesign!

• Collect all shortcuts PC and Mac
• Create InDesign Keyboard Layout
• Create Object Styles for Normal/Over/Click keys
• Input all shortcuts to tables (every key to separate page)
• Merge shortcuts page to Multi-State Object with script
• Assign every key to Multi-State Object state
• Export to SWF

I think there is no need to explain how to use this guide. Simply start it and explore! In case you still need some help, there is short Quick Start Guide.

That’s it! I hope that you will find this guide useful and helpful! Please, if you have any suggestions, feedback, and even if you find errors, do not hesitate to send me an email!

Launch Interactive Shortcuts Guide! [NEW]

Download this guide as AIR app! [NEW]