1. A PLUG FOR OURSELVES
2. A NEWSLETTER WORKFLOW QUESTION
3. YET MORE ABOUT INDESIGN
4. PDF ON THE WEB -- A NEW WAY
5. MAC OS 8.6 WITH PAGEMAKER OR QXP
6. THE ONLINE COMMUNITY RIDES TO THE RESCUE
7. MORE PHOTOSHOP VIDEOS
8. UTILITIES/UPDATES
9. HINTS
10. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
11. LAST WORD
1. A PLUG FOR OURSELVES
=======================
New items on our site include a brief text file on using a web page for file transfer, and we've also added a very rudimentary index to the Format newsletters -- just a drop down box of major contents where you can click on the item and go directly to that issue. We've also made a few small changes to our TWP floating palette scripts (and extended the free use period); if you downloaded an earlier version you need only download the core file. Sorry, but this is still PC only.
2. A NEWSLETTER WORKFLOW QUESTION
=================================
Costa Bugg wrote from Washington DC: "What would you suggest to be a more productive way to do something like a newsletter that more then one person is working on? We have three people working on our newsletter at the same time. One is responsible for the overall layout while the other two create ads in separate PageMaker 6.5 documents. When the ads are ready they are put on the network, pulled, copied and pasted by the final layout person. As you have probably guessed by now this causes all types of problems."
We replied: There are several ways you can look at this:
1. Make sure that Styles in the templates for the editorial sections and for the production of the ads are identical, and that settings for tracking, hyphenation etc are also identical. This will help ensure that when ads are copied into the master file, there is no rerunning of copy.
2. After typesetting the ads in the files created from the ad templates, select every item of text and apply "No Style" from the Styles palette. This will enable you to copy and paste the ad into another file even with conflicting style specs.
3. From the ad typesetting, create EPS or PDF files which are then placed in the master file as graphics.
We have created customised scripts for publications here and in the US, but there are public domain scripts which will make many steps easier, no matter which system you choose,
For example, one of the items in our floating palette program on our website offers a way of making all the text "No Style". There are also, on other sites, scripts which will resize a page to the size of the copy on it -- for use before turning ads into EPS or PDF files.
We have also created fairly simple scripts (well within the capabilities of someone just learning scripting), which will enable you to create a frame where the ad is to go, and with the name of the ad in it. The script will find and open this file, group it, copy it, and paste it in the original file in the position of the frame.
Such scripts help save many hours in the production of publications.
3. MORE ABOUT INDESIGN
======================
I met Adobe's "InDesign evangelist" Tim Cole while he was in Australia, and also managed to have a brief chat with Adobe Pacific managing director, Mark Pieper, who mentioned that Adobe had been a little surprised by the early newspaper interest in InDesign. They set out to capture the magazine market, and have found the newspaper market coming to them.
This interest includes some of the XTension producers for that other program, so it seems several of the high-end publishing production plug-ins currently available for Quark XPress will be available for InDesign before too long.
My reaction for our newspaper clients at present tends to be "wait and see". But I don't think they'll have to wait long. I know, for example, that one of the companies I do some PageMaker scripting work for is keen to have their ad-booking and classified system work with InDesign as it does with QXP and, now, PM65. Whether that's done by someone like me who has written their PM scripts or by someone who knows more about Applescript and/or Visual Basic remains to be seen.
One of the major points is that such plug-ins and extensions need to be created under the control of people who know what is involved in the actual production of a publication -- and while, for PageMaker users, the notion of having to pay for plug-ins may take a little time to get used to, Tim Cole made the legitimate point that this is the successful sales model for Quark, which, really, only produces the core program.
I keep getting asked by people I've written scripts for, can you rewrite our scripts to use with Indy, and the answer has changed from "I don't know" to "Yes, it'll be possible, but I'll let you know later when, and what it might cost..."
Any publication that makes great use of scripts will find some things in InDesign that make some of those scripts redundant -- but there are others they will not be prepared to do without. So they'll want the supporting programs/scripts available before they switch.
Incidentally, I did ask some of the questions about the printing aspect of InDesign which have been raised elsewhere, and while I can't say I got answers, it was obvious that Adobe are well aware of the criticism. (They mainly concern the lack of "printer styles" and that, apparently, some printer settings such as the ppd choice are separate from the main print dialog).
4. PDF ON THE WEB
=================
One of the arguments against using PDF files on the web has been that users either have to download files for separate viewing in Acrobat Reader or have to download, install and configure a helper application (Reader, Acrobat or the PDFViewer plugin) to display PDFs inside a Web browser.
Now there comes news of Adobe Document Server (ADS) which will allow PDF files to be displayed within most browsers and on almost all platforms... even including WebTV and portable, hand-held devices for which no version of Acrobat Reader exists. You can see and test ADS at <http://www.PDFzone.com>. While you're there, have a look at Aandi Inston's forecast of coming Acrobat products, an expanded version of a talk given at the Seybold Seminars in Boston on March 3, 1999. We were amazed at its appearance within a non-PDF-enabled IE3 browser.
5. MAC OS 8.6 WITH PAGEMAKER OR QXP
===================================
If you are a Mac user, check out the MacFixit website <http://www.macfixit.com/>. This applies particularly if you use PageMaker or Quark XPress and are planning to upgrade to Mac OS 8.6.
The MacFixit site reports the following quote from Adobe:
"Adobe is aware of the problems with PageMaker 6.5x and OS 8.6. We have recreated the Type 1 & 2 errors when Printing EPS's, placing AI, PDF or ASCII text files and when attempting to set indents. We are working with Apple to attempt to isolate the source of these problems.
"Please be assured that we will post solution(s) when they are available. In the meantime, we recommend that PageMaker customers do not upgrade to OS 8.6 at this time."
The site also reports:
"Several readers report problems launching QuarkXPress after updating to Mac OS 8.6. A Type 2 error is the most commonly reported symptom. It appears to be an extension conflict, as yet unidentified."
6. THE ONLINE COMMUNITY RIDES TO THE RESCUE
===========================================
A file we received had a tif extension but neither PageMaker nor Photoshop would import it. In Photoshop it brought up a message of "unsupported color space" while PM said it was an unsupported "photometricinterpretation" -- a word which, as someone else suggested, could have come from Mary Poppins.
My thanks go to Jim Dornbos and Anne Smith from the PageMakr List who both came up with the same answer. The file opened in Imaging, the little graphics viewer program by Wang which comes with Win95/98.
They each did it slightly different ways and both held lessons for me on what to try in future:
Anne: "I was able to open the TIF file you sent me by simply double-clicking on it, and it opened in Imaging for Windows. I then did a copy/paste to Photoshop, setting the DPI to 300. Then saved the file as a photoshop TIF for a PC."
Jim: "The little image app that microsoft shoves on systems with Windows 98 was able to open the file. From there, I printed it to a 300 dpi PS printer and turned it into a PDF with compression turned off. Opened the PDF in Photoshop as a 300 dpi greyscale, cropped it and saved it."
From the image it was obviously an amateur production in the first place, but I was able to use it *very* small.
It again shows how helpful the online community can be. You can get details of the PageMakr list at <http://www.makingpages.org/pagemaker>.
8. UTILITIES/UPDATES
====================
"Whatever happened to Ready,Set,Go!?" is a question we've heard a few times recently. Well, it still exists, and can be found at Diwan Software <http://www.diwan.com/>. There's a 30-day demo, and the Internet-supplied price is US$150. A patch for OS8.6 is available. (Mac only).
-----
Bob Mallet asked us: Have you heard of PageMaker plugins called Starz, Arrowz or Fraemz? They were available in the U.S. but I am looking for U.K. reseller/distributor. The web site to check is <http://www.borderguys.com> -- which is where we bought our copy of Fraemz, with immediate supply by email and a follow up by mail of the printed manual and catalogue. Incidentally, Fraemz is also available for XPress.
9. HINTS
========
A common problem with swapping PageMaker files between NT and Win95 computers is that you are told that PM can't find the printer and is therefore composing "for ?display on none" -- which not only takes time but is likely to cause reruns of text lines. The solution is to make sure there is a printer available with the identical name of that on the other computer. It doesn't actually have to be a printer you print to; you can create a dummy printer as a copy of a genuinely installed printer and rename it in Control Panel> Printers. As long as the resolution is defined correctly, your layout will remain in order.
11. LAST WORD
=============
"What is the principle difference between the two?". We mentioned last time that few editors in a US university survey had seen anything wrong with that phrase, and we received several emails confirming that the principal/principle adjective/noun difference is blurring.
But we thank Anne Smith, organiser of G.A.S.P. (the Grammar and Spelling Patrol) for sending us some cards from that organisation which enabled us to point out in a lighthearted fashion to Apple that one of their mailing shots assured that their extended warranty would give me "piece of mind". It doesn't make my mind from peaceful at all. (You'll find the G-A-S-P email list via the web site at <http://groups.yahoo.com>
Gordon Woolf
The Worsley Press
Hastings, Australia.
====================