Expert: InDesign Pro - 11/1/2007

Question
Hello,
I'm a beginner in InDesign, so i have some basic doubts.
I' creating a catalogue(less than 20 pages) with photos touching the page edges.I would like to know if i should create a "new document" or "book"; the values of bleed and slug; should i stretch the photos until they touch the page edges?
Thanks

Answer
Hi José, welcome to InDesign, good luck.

First I'll give you the basic difference between a Document and a Book. A Document is what you might expect; a single- or multi-page document. And an InDesign Book is made up of those InDesign Documents. So in your case, you'd need to start a New Document. The Book feature is great for multi-chapter books where each chapter is a section of the book.

The Bleed is the amount of print you'll need to extend outside the cuts so that when the printer makes the trim, there's enough so that if they're slightly off, you won't notice. I always go with one-eighth-of-an-inch unless the printer specifies different. The Slug is an area in which you could put document info or other instructions, that would appear outside the bleed but inside the Slug dimensions you choose. I personally don't use Slug for this. I've used it in the past to control where a document prints on a page, but that's a separate tip all together.

For the photos, if you want them to appear to go to the edge of the page on the finished catalogue, you would want them to extend to the Bleed margin. You'll know this margin because it will be a red outline around your document after you define it in the New Document dialog.

Hope this helps, have fun with InDesign and let me know if you have any further questions.