Here's how to restore the old method of adding sides and changing star inset to the Polygon Tool in InDesign CS5.
I have previously used the Polygon Tool to create star shaped objects in InDesign, and I like the old way of changing the number of sides and the star inset of the shapes dynamically while drawing the shape.
In every version of InDesign until version 7 included in the CS5 package, you could change the number of sides by pressing the up- or down-arrows on the keyboard, and change the star inset by pressing the left- or right-arrows.
Adobe, however, in InDesign version 7 introduced the very clever option of drawing multiple shapes simultaneously by using the arrow keys while drawing a shape, and the only official way to change the polygon is to double click the Polygon Tool before drawing or with the polygon selected. While this is useful, you have no preview of the result before applying.
Today I got annoyed enough to start looking for a way to get the old behavior back, and finally stumbled on a solution. The trick, it turns out, is to press the Return or Enter key while you are still drawing the shape (without letting go of the mouse button). You can then use the arrow-keys just as in earlier versions to change the shape while drawing. It also turns out that the Return- and Enter-key work as toggles, and by pressing one of them again you return to the new multi-object mode and can add or remove shapes again.
I hope you find this as useful as I did.
[crarko adds: I haven't tested this one.]
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20110528014512463