Well the honeymoon is over. This program is not all it’s cracked up to be, specifically with regards to the text editing tools. The hotkeys for adjusting font size, kerning and tracking leave a lot to be desired, with increments of adjustment not nearly as fine as I need. Argh. So after losing about half a day yesterday struggling with the program, here I am at work. At least it’s not Sunday evening–if there’s one thing I hate it’s working on a Sunday evening.
I stopped by the grocery store on the way here to pick up a snack. That done, I took a right out onto 54 from Friday Center Drive. Nearing the corner I noticed two cars sitting next to each other in the two left turn lanes, immobile, preparing to turn left from 54 onto the road I had just turned from. This wouldn’t have aroused any interest at all from me except for the fact that their light was green. As I turned I looked to see why neither of them were moving, and I saw the drivers in the midst of a conversation, windows rolled down. Whether they knew each other or not I’ve no idea (probably so), and they ended their conversation within a second or two and drove through the still-green light. But what I ruminated on for a few minutes during the remainder of my drive here to work (during which I have to pass through about a dozen stoplights) was how we as a society would most likely find that odd–the act of not driving through a green stoplight. It’s almost as if we consider the allowing of an act the compulsion to carry out that act, and we forget that the freedom not to do something is just as significant as the freedom to do something. To use another automotive example, take the speed limit. Yes, we get upset at those drivers ahead of us driving more slowly than the speed limit, but unless there’s a minimum speed limit on a particular road, they’re well within their rights to do so, much more than those drivers who push the limit by 5-10 mph (or more), who by and large we consider much less of a nuisance on our commute home from work. Of course that doesn’t mean we should all go out and sit at green lights and tool along at 5 mph on the interstate, indulging the full extent of our freedom–we’d get pulled over and given a ticket, for one thing–after all, there is a degree of social acceptability on either side of the rule, but it did give me pause for a few minutes. It’s a metaphor for a concept that I haven’t been able to marry to a more relevant example.
actually, in most states you can also be ticketed for driving more than X mph under the speed limit without your hazard lights on. in NJ i know it’s 15 under…it’s not safe for people to go putzing along when the rest of the traffic is zipping along :p
Gotta say, I still think InDesign beats Quark. Quark is like, AHHH!
Oh I know…and that point was made. But the larger observation was how social acceptability extends farther in the direction of less freedom (i.e. speeding).
Overall, you’re right; it does. I guess I just miss a lot of the fine manipulation I could achieve by using hotkeys with the text editing tools, as opposed to clicking on the arrows in the palettes, something that gets very tedious after a few minutes. I’m big on hotkeys and shortcuts.