Section / Section #

Question

Hello,
I'm trying to do something I thought would be fairly simple:
I'm using CS2 (i know, i know, its not my fault.  I swear).  I'm trying to place a section title and a section number in the same document.  I would like them to be different fonts, so I need to somehow specify when I'm using a section title and when I'm using a section number.  I thought that this could be done using the section prefix vs. heading distinction but soon discovered that the section prefix could only be inserted as part of the page numbering.  I was wondering if there was a way to tell inDesign that every time I use a specific text, it adds another piece of text in a different front right next to it.  For example, using section markers, i could have indesign recognize that every time it reads section number 10.2, it would place the section title right next to it.  Or vice versa, if it reads a title, it would put the correct section number next to it.
Of course, I would love this to be automated and dynamic, but maybe that's asking for to much.  In short, is there any way to get a section prefix without a page number next to it?  Or give sections two different section headings?

Answer 1

Consider upgrading to CS5 if you are doing a lot of this sort of thing. The introduction of variables makes a lot of this very simple in later versions, but a lot of what you are trying to do in CS2 can really only be accomplished by making many master pages, each taylored to a particular section or chapter.
CS2 is the earliest version eligible for upgrade pricing to CS5, and if current policy holds it will not be eleigible for CS6 when that is released (probably in a littel over a year from now if the current cycle continues). Suites can only be upgraded as a unit, which is not cheap untill you compare it to the full retail cost of  a suite pacakge, and then it starts to look very good, but if you InDesign is a stand-alone it can be upgraded for around $200. The difference between working with CS2 and CS5 in terms of productivity enhancements and new features will be somthing like switching from your old electric typewriter to a real word processor, and you'll make up the cost of the upgrade, even for a full suite, in little or no time on increaed prodcutivity alone if you work with the programs daily. (plus there's the failure-to-upgrade-now penalty  if you decide you want CS6 when it comes out -- you'll probably still save money by upgraing to both CS5 and CS6, you spread the cost over a longer period, and you get to use CS5 in the meantime.)