The only way to customize zoom values is through scripting ( if you search, you should be able to find Dave Saunders' script to set the zoom for an accurate 100% view, which you can modify to have any percentage of your choosing). You can then assign a keyboard shortcut to the script, but you'd need a separate script/shortcut for each percentage you choose -- the Cmd (Ctrl) +/- shortcuts to zoom in or out won't use the custom values.

Everybody's right!

It's a one-line script to set the zoom percentage of the active window. If you want to bind them to discrete keys, i.e. Cmd-1, Cmd-2, Cmd-4, you'll need 3 or 4 different scripts, one for each percentage.

But yes, you could redefine the Cmd +/- shortcuts to a slightly more complicated script that checks the current value of the zoom for the active window and then increases or decreases it according to a rule of your own choosing.

It's not feasible to use these methods to change the behavior the actual zoom tool, though, only the keyboard shortcuts. Honestly, I usually just use the marquee zoom feature to drag a box around what I want. That way I get near perfect zooming every time.

Ariel: Something horrible horrible has happened to the arrays in your post. Did you use the email interface? [I hope so, because otherwise there's a very serious new bug in the new version of the forum]: All of your arrays, in brackets, turned into URLs, to which the base URL for this thread was prepended. Can you edit your post online to fix them?

Incidently, I would suggest that instead of listing "IMPORTANT: (1) Make sure your zoom percentages are in ascending order!" that you just use:

zooms = [20,40,60,100,160,260,420,680].sort();

so that it is a non-issue.

OK, I corresponded with Ariel offline, and s/he writes:

Oh dear, sorry about the arrays. I did send this in by email, and I won't

have access to the web until tomorrow to fix it. If you feel like

reposting a corrected version meanwhile go ahead.

 

I wonder if there's a way of adding tags to an email response to get the

forum to format something as javascript (similar to the online option)?

 

Good catch about using sort()!

 

Ariel

Upon request, I repost the revised script:

/*
Custom Zoom Percentages
An InDesign CS4 script (c) Ariel Walden, FreelanceBookDesign.com, 2011
To use: Add, remove or change the list of numbers between square brackets
(zooms = [x, y, z, etc.]) to whichever zoom percentages you like.
IMPORTANT: Make sure they are separated by a comma!
*/
  
try{
    zooms = [20,40,60,100,160,260,420,680].sort();
    theWindow = app.activeWindow;
    reset = true;
    currentZoom = theWindow.zoomPercentage;
    for (i=0; i<zooms.length; i++){
        if (currentZoom < zooms[i]){
            newZoom = zooms[i];
            reset = false;
            break;
        }   
    }   
    if (reset) newZoom = zooms[0];
    theWindow.zoomPercentage = newZoom;
}   
catch(e){}

Fritz:

The scripting route seems a bit much for my needs, but I may try it.

Since Ariel took the time to actually write the script for you, I strongly encourage you to try it! All the hard work is done, you just need to install it. (Save it as customZoomPercentages.jsx as a plain text file, not RTF, in a text editor, such as Notepad or TextEdit, and follow the instructions at http://www.danrodney.com/scripts/directions-installingscripts.html. Then bind it to a key in Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts under Scripts.

(I know if I wrote a script for someone, I'd be kind of bummed if they didn't even try it!)

Ariel, like former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, is a man, for future reference.