Auto layout of photographs and 3 related questions

Question

using mac 10.5 and id cs4
new to indesign but have  some exp with other software
i have 200 photos to place on pages 11 by 17 inches--
i have 3 other questions
1. i create a page--now i want to add another page is there a way to do this  or do i have to create another page?---save as preset maybe?
2. now i want to add to these pages automatically 200 photographs 4 by 6 inches
if i need to create boxes for the  photos how do i create a preset box?
sorry for the number of questions but they are all related and i assume this has been addresss before but net homework lead nowhere
i incidently tried ps elements but would not install on my mac version
i have a copy of ps cs4 also
really frustrated at this point
tia
peter
i looked into creating a book but could not find way to increase the size of the book pages

Answer 1

Bustaroo wrote:
problem with tutorials for me ( more that 40 years of using various
software) is that they all do the basics its only in the finer points that
they differ!!!
I hope this doesn't come across the wrong way; I mean it positively, from my own experience as a user and trainer: The "finer points" of difference between software products that seem to do similar things, are not trivial! My French teacher told us that there are some important rules, like, "All nouns that end in 'e' are feminine! (pause) EXCEPT..." and then he gave some of the many common exceptions.
X-number of years doing <whatever> usually means X-number of years doing what I've learned to do and what behaves as I've learned to expect to behave. Those solid lessons and habits sometimes interfere with seeing other possible approaches, techniques, and outcomes for the same starting points. It's terribly frustrating to find that your reliable tools aren't effective. If you ever were comfortable with driving a stick-shift car, then changed to an automatic-transmission car, think of how many times you were surprised and frustrated when you stomped your left foot onto a non-existent clutch, until you adjusted to your new environment.
P Spier wrote:
A Document is a single file, which can contain one or many pages. Pages appear in "spreads" that can contain from one to ten pages. To save a document, use the File > Save or Save As... commands -- nothing odd about that.
Are you familiar with the concept of the Master Page? Master pages are like templates for pages. Put stuff on the master page, then any document page based on that master page will have those elements in place (but they will not be selectable without overriding). You can hover a loaded "Place Gun" over an empty master frame and click, and the ID will automatically override that frame and put the content into it.
Some people are comfortable thinking of a master page as a background that "shows through" on the document pages that the master is applied to.
By default, every new document starts with two master pages, [None], which is used when you have other masters and you need a page with no master items, and A-Master which is the default name for the default master page applied to any pages when you first create the document. It starts out blank, unless you've checked the box for automatic text frame in the document setup, then it will have a single text frame that fills the are inside your margin guides. If you've selected "Facing pages" in Document setup, A-Master will actually be a two-page spread (with the spine in the center) and any automatic text frames will be "threaded" from left to right across the spread so that you can "autoflow" text. Automatic text frames are NOT required in most cases and are often a hindrance rather than a help. Page setup, including dimensions, margins, columns, and bleeds, is all together in the document setup dialog when you first create a file (you are creating the margins and columns for A-Master), but not all pages need to have the same margins or column setup (nor even the same size as of CS5), so once a document is created, you'll find margin and column adjustments under the Layout Menu. Changing the basic page size is still found under the Document Setup command in the file menu, but adjusting the size of an individual page in CS5 is done with the Page tool.
A Book, in InDesign parlance, is a container for a group of document files that allows you to work on sections without having to scroll through one huge file and also allows for synchronizing colors, styles and even master pages across all the files in the Book. Individual documents may be included in more than one book, if you like, which allows you to multi-purpose documents.
For some users, the idea of a book as a container for a group of files, thinking of the book as a folder, is fine. But other users may be more comfortable thinking of a book as a list of file names that should be treated as a single group, and the instructions for paginating, and applying other properties to them.
Trust me, InDesign is a VERY complex bit of software, and you'll benefit immensely form buying Sandee's book or getting a subscription to Lynda,com.
I like to think of InDesign as a pretty straightforward software application, and that its sheer number - several hundred - of specialized "core" plug-in components is what makes it complicated. There's at least a bit of learning necessary to take advangage of each  of these "building blocks."
Please keep returning with your questions as you progress.
HTH
Regards,
Peter
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices