Instant InDesign: Designing Templates for Fast and Efficient Page Layout

Introduction

Beneath just about every publication is a template at work. From the time man began to record information as a series of symbols, written material has always required some sort of basic framework. The ancient Egyptian scribes utilized columns to compose hieroglyphs on sheets of papyrus. Later, the scribes of the Middle Ages set many of the standards—in terms of margins, columns, and spacing—which the Western world continues to use. The invention of printing with moveable type further established a regular system of control over lines and columns of type. And now, with the advent of computers and desktop publishing software, templates are being used in households and businesses worldwide to create all kinds of publications.

What makes ...