Last year I bought Adobe InDesign and a book on how to use it (InDesign CS4: Classroom in a book). My plan was to learn the basics so that I could make small changes to a designed document, without having to go back to a designer.
In reality, over the past year, only one client has asked me to undertake the design of a document, and for that job the designer used a program other than InDesign. Also, I’ve been pretty busy, so Classroom in a book has just sat on my bookshelf. However, I like learning new things, and this weekend I found time to work my way through the first three lessons.
I’ve dabbled in FrameMaker in the past, but found it very clunky; Indesign seems much easier. Since I don’t have a design bone in my body, I won’t be moving into graphic design any time soon. However, I think I could manage some basic layout of technical documents if I got someone professional to prepare a template.