O’Reilly knows that it has a winner with anything from Deke McClelland. Adobe InDesign CS4 one-on-one  is no different. I like to use two different book series to learn my software: the Classroom in a Book series from rival publisher Peachpit, and these one-on-one guides from O’Reilly. However, if you put me on an island and I just had a computer, software, and some books. I would choose the one-on-ones to bring with me. Mainly, because they have always had a much better method of teaching practical application of the software’s functionality rather than just teaching the interface.  With books from Deke, you know you will leave with more than a handful of golden nuggets that will help you work with the software better, and faster.

This book has a wide audience target. Beginners will find it an invaluable text to help you get up and running to complete your first layouts. Intermediate and advanced users will also find it helpful because, as with any of Deke’s books, there are little tips in the book that teach things about the software that are just not that apparent. In other words, everyone can learn something.

In Deke's new book, you'll find:

• 12 self-paced tutorials that let you learn at your own speed
• Engaging practical projects that let you try out real techniques
• More than four hours of all new video instruction that show you how to do the work in real-time
• Over 850 full-color photos, diagrams, and screen shots that clearly illustrate every key step
• Multiple-choice quizzes in each chapter that help you test your knowledge

One thing that I really like about this series of books is the high quality files that you get to work with. These make completing the lessons very fun; and at the end when you look at your work you feel like a professional. Another very useful thing is the videos. Each lesson comes with a Deke narrated video of how to complete certain steps in the tutorial. They are broken down into smaller chunks and can be helpful if you just get lost in the software.

With the videos, and step-by-step tutorials you get the closest thing to working with a private instructor. And when Deke is your instructor, you know the results will be good. The only thing that I don’t like about the step-by-step tutorials is that they are text dense and it is easy to get lost in them. However, the added description is often necessary so it is only a minor flaw.