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This may be a compelling upgrade based on added features, but not for $119 when I just bought CS5 a year ago (and it included the same version of Acrobat that I bought with CS4). And for "only" $349 I can upgrade my design suite with new versions of InDesign, Dreaweaver, Flash and Acrobat; Photoshop and Illustrator aren't even updated. Adobe is beginning to behave like Quark, and Lion compatibility issues won't help that reputation.

What I would like to know is why do InDesign and Photoshop require Java to launch? Or perhaps why do they require Java after launching?

I've kept Java turned off in Safari for years and was glad to not have to install it in Lion. But I was surprised to find that it seems I need to install many MB of Java just to use ID or PS. Can anyone tell me why I must install Java for these programs?

As this article shows, ID 5.5 added a very impressive set of ebook features. I'd skipped 5.0. Buying 5.5 was an obviously good move.

There's only one major deficiency with 5.5 that leaves me screaming in frustration. Digital books don't have fixed page sizes. They're more like a long scroll. And yet, while I'm working on creating one in ID, I have to deal with all the limitations of pages, particularly when placing graphics. "There are no fixed pages in this ebook," I keep telling myself. "Why to I have to work as if there were?" It was so frustrating, I decided to do one digital book entirely in Scrivener.

It'd be great if next year's ID 6.0 had a digital document display mode that dropped the page view and scrolled like a web browser. There might even be times in the early stages of a printed book's production process when that view would be helpful. That's precisely what Word does with its Draft and Page Layout view modes. It'd be a great addition to ID.

So, if your work focuses only on print, is there any reason to upgrade? And did the file format change any? I'd had to have to buy the 5.5 upgrade just because a client sent me a file that was made with that version.

@ MichaelWPerry0xuk

You might want to look into fixed page ePubs. Liz Castro has a great blog that talks about how you can create them. However, you will have to tweak the CSS when you export the ePub out of InDesign.
http://www.pigsgourdsandwikis.com/

@ flybynight

Yes, If you are only a print user of InDesign, and most people are, I would recommend people that are using CS5 to skip the CS5.5 upgrade. However, it is unfortunate that CS5 cannot natively open a CS5.5 file. Even though it seems like a .5 is a "minor" upgrade, a .indd file is a database which means whenever there are changes to the file structure, it will be unreadable by earlier versions. The work around is to have the CS5.5 user export their file as an IDML which can be read by CS4 and CS5 users. I always recommend people to export a copy of their layout as an IDML when they package their layout just in case users of earlier versions need to open it. The good news is that future versions (CS6, CS7, etc) that export IDML files can all be read by CS4 and above.

I sucked it up and upgraded, due to an existing project that shifted from a printed book to an interactive PDF. But what's galling about this, and not made clear here, is that this "feature", the Digital Publishing Suite, is a massively expensive gambit, out of reach for anyone but the LARGEST publishers (read: Conde Nast), not for ordinary users.

Adobe in their blog responded to my issue with this saying that they "hoped" to release something later this year that would make these features accessible to the rest of us, all but saying that indeed DPS Is too expensive for anybody outside of a magazine or newspaper.

I wish you'd make this clear in the article. Mostly because I tried, during my trial period for CS5.5 (I owned CS5), and failed to get anyone to answer what the benefits are. Most said "not much".

The only thing that will assuage me is that when CS6 comes out, that the price for upgrading from CS5.5 will be MUCH less than going from CS5 to 6. That is also something Adobe confirmed.

This new version of InDesign also brings with it some interesting but nontrivial extra costs if you actually want to use their Digital Publishing Suite. This involves Adobe using their kludge approach to deliver a badly implemented iPad version of your publication and distributing it from their "hosted fulfillment server".
For this they charge (in addition to the ID software cost) an annual access fee of $5,940 payable in advance PLUS a service fee that starts at a minimum of $5,500.
This sounds like the perfect strategy to start giving former Quark users a reason to go back where they started.

THGD, on 25 July 2011 - 08:09 PM, said:

Can anyone confirm that you are able to export a single portfolio file and make it work? I never actually got it to work, and concluded that I needed a Digital Publishing Suite account to actually make one. I think you can host a single file, but I'm not sure you can generate one.
MM

If you are interested in the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite (DPS) or tablet publishing, here are some points to consider.

1. You do not need InDesign CS5.5, you can use CS5 if you download the free plug-ins from Adobe.
2. It is possible to create a .folio for free to test on your local tablet (iPad, Android, etc). However, if you want to have it available to sell or give away for free on an app store, then you must sign up.
3. Yes, Quark's solution is cheaper, but they are using the 3rd party Aquafadas for their plug-is. InDesign users can download the same plug-ins for free from www.aquafadas.com and make apps just like you can with Quark 9.

Why was Adobe sitting on their hands?
Most of their applications are broken under Lion, where was the development team for the last 9 months?
When they have a fix—expect to pay for it.
I need these products to make a living, why are they behind the curve?
Adobe used to be one of the good guys, now they are just greedy and it seems incompetent.

Jay I thought that was a great job of hitting all the highlights of the InDesign CS5.5 update. For anyone who needs to create accessible PDFs, export to EPUB format (for iBooks, Kindle, and the Nook), or export to (horrors) HTML, the decision to upgrade is a no-brainer.

Or if you deal with a lot of inline/anchored objects, the new drag-and-drop is *sweet.* I'm completely spoiled.

For DPS, as Fritz says somewhere in the comments, the panels/tools are exactly the same on CS5 as CS5.5, for now at least. It's a separate download I believe. The idea is that you can create one .folio (an issue/pub with one or more articles) and preview it in a Content viewer at no cost, but to turn it into an app, you need to sign up for a Pro or Enterprise account, which assumably your client has already purchased.

Updating to CS5.5 (the full suite) also gets you Acrobat X, which is really nice. Otherwise you have pay full price for it, you can't upgrade from Acro 9 that was in CS5 to Acro X standalone. Check out/download Reader X if you can't upgrade to Acro X yet to see what I mean.

Oh one thing, you preview EPUBs in Adobe Digital Editions (free utility), not iTunes. Use iTunes to add it to your iPhone or iPad to view in iBooks.