1. NEWSPAPERS IN THE FUTURE
2. MORE ON FILM FROM LASER PRINTERS
3. TEXT REFLOWS
4. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
5. XTENSIONS/PLUGINS/SCRIPTS
6. UTILITIES/UPDATES
7. HINTS
8. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
9. LAST WORD
1. NEWSPAPERS IN THE FUTURE
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What kinds of equipment and services will be available to newspapers in three, five or more years? Nobody knows for certain, but Ifra have made a few predictions in their Trends 2000 booklet. Ifra describes itself as the world's leading association for newspaper and media technology.
The following comments are based on the Trends 2000 document.
Despite initial difficulties, which have not yet been overcome, PDF is increasingly taking over from BMP, PS, EPS, TIFF and TIFF-IT files in newspaper production. Just about every major application or system supplier is making every effort to offer full PDF support, be it in the area of data transmission, workflow, output or OPI.
"Image production", where each image is processed with a major investment of labour and time, is no longer efficient. Aids exist to make image processing simpler, faster and safer, i.e. to make the result predictable, but it is too soon to talk of widespread use. This does not mean total automation, as it will always be necessary to check and possibly improve the quality of the prepared images. For example, it would be conceivable to supply a calibration image on each film.
Reading-in of images will also change. The method of selecting individual images from film negatives and scanning them in on a relatively slow negative scanner will no longer be effective, at least not at main editorial offices. It is much faster and efficient to read-in the complete films with a high-speed scanner and subsequently make the selection on the display screen. This "100% scan, 95% throw-away" principle is already in use at some newspaper operations.
This concept can be recommended also for digital cameras.
It also makes no sense to have to repeatedly carry out routine jobs, such as image sharpening, setting of highlights and shadows, and having the operator wait several seconds for the task to be completed. A great deal can be automated. Software has long been available for this purpose, and it is being continually improved. But anyone expecting total automation of image processing from these solutions will be disappointed.
In the future, we will think and act less and less in CMYK. This is due quite simply to the fact that the images are destined to be used in different media (crossmedia). Similarly, archiving in CMYK is less than ideal, as the larger file means a smaller colour space and therefore a limited quality. Why not prepare an image in RGB or LAB and convert to CMYK only for the printing process by means of an automatic special software, or even have the conversion carried out in the RIP?
However, a problem is the absence of a useful RGB colour space. Although the agencies have agreed on sRGB, they have done so only half-heartedly because this colour space was designed for the Internet and not for print products. That is undoubtedly also the reason why, even today, sRGB is not in use.
The title of one article makes its point: "Colour management in newspaper production -- everybody talks about it but who uses it?"
The Swedish Newspaper Publishers Association developed and tested a standard colour profile for all Swedish newspapers that now gives advertising customers the possibility to produce and proof colour data corresponding to the specifications of newspaper printing. Eighty percent of all Swedish newspapers print balance control patches on their colour pages that enable the printer to visually check whether the colour balance is correct.
The main problem with consumer digital cameras is no longer image quality. The report forecasts that "pixel mania" will soon die down and the manufacturers will focus on photographic quality. At present many manufacturers continue to neglect factors such as the optical system, comfort of use and flexibility. But without any doubt these cameras can be used in branch offices, by journalists and for minor assignments that must be handled quickly and simply. The difference in price to an analogue camera is compensated by the elimination of film and development costs as well as the faster and simpler handling. "The future of press photography is undoubtedly digital".
One consequence of changes in advertising workflow is that some newspapers' entire outside contact is managed via call centres, for example, and that production-oriented advertising systems are being replaced by sales-oriented systems. The traditional manufacturers of advertising systems are attempting to get in-line with this trend by enhancing their software with distribution and marketing functions as well as contact management.
What is missing in most cases is the overall planning that covers all advertising -- on editorial pages as well as on the classified ad pages. It is desirable also to have an exact image of the printing possibilities, if possible with display of the costs involved, in order to show the planner whether accepting another ad is worthwhile.
The newspaper market today tends to full four-colour production (on every page -- with high quality) and the demand for more four-colour printing can be identified in nearly all countries. At the same time the demand to produce many editions or different products in the same press, with a very tight time schedule, using the press in two or three shifts every day, is increasing. This split into many editions and many commercial jobs, some of them relatively small, puts special demands on the press and its crew.
2. MORE ON FILM FROM LASER PRINTERS
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Ewald Wuschke wrote from Canada in reply to last issue's comments on Xante's film output from their laser printers:
"I was interested in this product also in the hopes it would reduce some of my service bureau costs.
"So sometime in early Summer I contacted the local representative. I was particularly interested in producing NEGATIVE film using Xante's patent pending Negative Enhanced Imaging Technology (NEIT) with the FilmStar Unit. (If you don't use the NEIT technology which is a proprietory method of imaging available for the Accelawriter 3G, your fine lines in type like Times at small point will fill in when making reverse prints (i.e. negatives) and you end up with broken type.)
"Anyway, the representative said they were having an open house and come over and look at the unit. When I arrived, they had not set up the unit, and once they did, only could show me output on a Screenwriter as they did not have an Accel-a-writer 3G. I could not see output with NEIT technology... and he did not have a Filmstar ready to show.
"So he had Xante contact me directly from the U.S. and they said they would send me samples. I said I was specifically interested in NEGATIVE film using the NEIT technology. In the mail I received positive samples, but not one NEGATIVE.
"Xante phone me to ask how I liked the samples. I told them that they did not send the correct samples. Also mentioned that I wanted to compare their output with imagesetting. They said they would send the correct samples right away. That was 2 or 3 months ago -- haven't seen any yet.
"Of the POSITIVE samples I saw, the type was indeed sharp, and halftones were not bad. BUT, depending on what other copy was on the page, areas that had an even screen tint would have an unevenness in shading (i.e. varying dot sizes)."
The Myriad Film and Plate material below is made by Agfa.
Ewald added: "I would be most interested in what other readers may have to say about the NEIT/Filmstar system for producing NEGATIVE films."
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Mac Townsend of Fairfield, California, wrote: "As one who tries to make a living selling film<BG>, here's another twist on laser-to-press.
"A darkroom technique called "reflex printing" can work quite well for making conventional negatives from laser prints, especially if the laser prints are on a translucent paper (often used for flysheets, etc). Doesn't work all that great for screened copy, but for linework it might suffice.
"Reflex printing is rather like duping a piece of film, placing the original and a piece of dupe film emulsion-to-emulsion, putting them in a vacuum frame, then exposing them to an overhead light after an appropriate drawdown period. Although in this case the original is the laser print and the film is conventional lith/RA film. Toner to emulsion, draw down, expose.
"One would have to tinker to determine proper exposure to get necessary Dmax as well as clean repro of the copy.
"But it can and does work. The film can then be handled conventionally.
"If there are problems with burn thru, sometimes a quick application of a fixitive spray can help. The spray dissolves the toner then resets it once dried. The result it usually denser optically. Too much spray will make a mess of the job."
3. TEXT REFLOWS
===============
A newspaper using the Quark Publishing System and Macs in South Africa reported that they tracked text reflow problems down to Microsoft installs it own TrueType fonts in preference to their postscript version during the Internet Explorer 4.5 installation process -- "without asking, never mind telling you". We tracked this one down when we began experiencing occasional reflow problems between machines which had the PostScript and TrueType versions of Times New Roman, shortly after users had upgraded or installed MS IE. A Washington publisher added that the same could happen again if Internet Explorer had reason to repair itself.
There are many reasons for text reflow, including those we have mentioned in previous issues of Format -- but there always appears to be yet another possibility to consider.
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One cause of text reflow can be that the style specifications between the two files are slightly different. One way to overcome this is by applying the setting "no style" to everything in the file you want to copy across.
For PageMaker, we've just put a script to do this on our PM scripts web page at <http://www.worsleypress.com/pubprod/scripts.html> called "Make no style". It is just a text file, so can be copied from the browser window and pasted into a new script window in PM.
However, PM also seems to have trouble with maintaining kerning with copy and paste, so, if you tightened or loosened the text slightly (for example, by using the keyboard kerning commands), this may not come across.
Incidentally -- no prize, but can anyone else spot the useless loop in this script? There's a large section which doesn;t do any harm, but doesn't really do anything either. My thanks to Jonathan Bressel for pointing this out (and for doing it in such a gentle way).
4. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
========================
Rober in Ohio wrote: "I just bought the rights to produce an alternative news weekly.Unfortunately I didn't get any format or templates to use. I'm looking for a script or template for a newspaper; where each pages is 13.5" tall and 11.5" inches wide. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated."
We replied: The main problem with prepared templates for newspapers is that the initial size is dictated by the press you are printing on -- with the cutoff fixed and the reel width defining tabloid depth within very definite limits.
The margins are variable but most newspaper printers like to work to their own standards here too, as it enables simple stripping in to a ready made mask if film has to be imposed by hand.
An overall template should be fairly easy to construct using these specifications from the printer. Where it gets more complicated is in the styles, but again, there are so many variations.
This is the reason that in our book, Newspaper Production using PageMaker 6.5, we detail the system of preparing templates and styles rather than offering many templates. The templates we do provide are intended only as examples of how they should be set up rather than being actual templates to use.
For example, styles for crossheads, bylines etc need to be directly related to the leading size of the body text if pages are to be composed quickly -- and especially if the next step is taken of do some of this production using scripts.
The first step is probably taking an example of the publication, along with the closest equivalent which can be printed on the press to be used, and, with a typegauge, deciding on the page and column specifications and the details for the styles which will be needed.
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Commenting on our hints on using a web site for transfer of files, Massimo Mezzini comments from Italy: "One thing comes to my mind: depending on the server's configuration, any visitor could obtain the site structure, including a list of available files on the root directory. To make things (a little bit) safer, it would probably be better creating a specific directory, deeper in the site structure, with nonassuming names -- something like mysite/old/feb96/files.html."
We agree, and we will add that thought when we update the file.
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Richard Hunt of Calcaria Software Services, Tadcaster, UK, comments on our mention last issue of the "Babylon Translator": "It might well do for the odd word or simple phrase which has to be translated, but please resist the temptation to use it for anything longer than a few words, especially if the subject matter is complex, or technical. The results will be less than optimal, and the damage done to your company's reputation could be considerable [c'mon, who has't sniggered at the 'Japlish' with cheap electrical products] and result in a loss greater than the money saved by not using a human translator."
We couldn't agree more -- though automatic translation systems have improved dramatically, they are only really useful for finding out if the subject matter of an article (such as on a web site) is likely to be of interest. Never rely on them for something which is going outside your own office, and treat them with caution anyway.
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Ewald Wuschke replied to our comments on laserprinters, and particularly HP printers, in our previous issue: "My experience with HP 5MP printers is that you can leave all the settings as is. When printing from PageMaker (Mac version), make sure CUSTOM is selected (not DEFAULT) under the Optimized Screen setting in the Print>Colour dialog box.
"CUSTOM overrides the printer's default linescreen (106 lpi at 600 dpi, 53 lpi at 300 dpi) and will print the line screen frequency that is specified in the Print>Colour dialog box.
"It took me days to figure that out when I got my printer. I wanted output at 60 lpi or 85 lpi for the printing press, and all I could get was 106 lpi or 53 lpi.
"I sometimes adjust my Resolution Enhancement from Printer's default depending on how new or worn my toner cartridge is, so I can keep the output of type fairly consistent over time."
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Washington Aris writes from Chile: "Have you ever handled a formula about break even point, managing variables like advertising, circulation revenues, classified revenues plus the usual fixed and variable costs? I have not found this formula in newspaper management literature."
A critical part of planning a publication -- perhaps the more important part -- is setting up a spreadsheet to consider all the variables. By coincidence a specific problem of knowing when to stop accepting ads is mentioned in the Trends PDF which we mention in our first item this issue. But there doesn't seem to be a lot of help available. Any suggestions?
5. XTENSIONS/PLUGINS/SCRIPTS
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NoteMaker, a PageMaker 6.5 script for footnote and endnote production in PageMaker, is now available on both PC and Mac platforms. Anyone interested can obtain a copy from Jonathan G. Bressel <bressel@sefer.org>
6. UTILITIES/UPDATES
====================
The first new driver for Adobe's PressReady is now available -- for the Epson 900 -- and there are indications that other drivers should come fairly rapidly in the new year, including some for USB ports.
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There have been some problems with the StylusRip 4.00 driver for the Mac with Epson ink jet printers when using custom paper sizes. Epson are reported to be making StylusRip 4.10 available as a no-charge upgrade to those who ask.
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Alsoft <http://www.alsoft.com/MasterJuggler/> has released MasterJuggler Pro 2.0.3, a free 426K update that provides Mac OS 9 compatibility. If you want to be able to use more that 348 open items, however, you will need to buy MasterJuggler Pro 2.1, which supports 1200 open font suitcases, for US$18.
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Extensis say that Suitcase is compatible with OS9, but that MenuFonts isn't, so, until they get a new version out, you'll have to disable that control panel. There is a new updater at the Extensis site. The installer was "fixed" so that MenuFonts doesn't get installed with OS9. It also installs a compatible MenuFonts for 8.5.1/8.6.
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Apple have an upgrade for USB software and systems from 8.6 upwards. It is not for computers with built-in USB support. You'll find details at:
<http://www.info.apple.com/support/downloads.html>
7. HINTS
========
If you export as a PDF from InDesign, you can't bring that PDF into PageMaker or Quark XPress -- because it's a later version of the PDF file specification, so, if you want to do this, you have to revert to the two-stage file creation and set choose Acrobat 3.0 compatibility within Acrobat Distiller's Job Options. Print to disk from InDesign as PostScript, then process the file using the Distiller, rather than exporting directly from ID. This can also be a method of creating separations from an Acrobat 4.0 PDF; take the PDF into InDesign and create a new PDF.
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In InDesign, you can't directly centre text vertically in a frame. However you can create your text in one text block and then make the border element a separate rectangle. Use the Align palette to centre the text frame horizontally and vertically in the rectangle.
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In PageMaker, if your cursor gets to the end of a column, press Control-E (Command-E) to switch to the story editor, move the cursor on, then use the same command to go back to the layout with the cursor in the next text block -- even if that continuation is on a different page.
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There's been much comment about InDesign not being able to create tables of content or indexes -- but there are scripts to do both these jobs at an elementary level included on the InDesign CD, even if Olav Kvern, who wrote the scripts, comments that the indexer is "very slow".
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Using "Collect for Output" in QuarkXPress for Windows version 4.04 can result in a General Protection Fault if the document contains multiple instances of a graphic and the graphic is located in a folder with a long path name. The workaround is to move the graphics to a folder closer to the root of the network drive, so it shortens the path. Then update the graphics in the document and save it.
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On networks, particularly Novell networks, avoid mixing methods of opening and saving documents in Windows versions of programs. If a document is opened from a mapped network drive and needs to be saved to the same location, it should be saved by choosing the drive letter for that same network drive in the Save As dialog box. Likewise, if the document is originally accessed through Network Neighborhood, it should be saved by navigating to that location using Network Neighborhood. Mixing methods can produce "File already open" messages when you try to reopen the file. Similar problems may cause "unable to write to disk" errors when saving a file under the same name.
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To speed up working in QuarkXPress, turn on Greek Pictures (Document Preferences -> General tab). This causes all pictures to be displayed as a grey box until you click on one to select it. The grey boxes allow faster screen redraw, which means faster scrolling through pages -- especially if they contain a lot of pictures.
8. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
=========================
The PageMakr List web site is being substantially updated (with all the work being done by co-owner of the list Peter Adams, though it does give me a credit line as well). The site is at <http://www.makingpages.org/>
9. LAST WORD
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We liked the comment in an off topic comment on an email list: To reply to this message, just hit the "Delete" button.
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Apple have abandoned their "British" English version of the operating system from OS 9, in favor of the International English version. So no longer will the Trash be the Wastebasket on Macs in the UK. However, Apple have said they have ensured that if you type in "colour" in the help search boxes, you'll be referred to the entries for "color" and not just told to search again. The announcement was made by Peter Lowe, the director of Mac OS worldwide product marketing, who was born in England, though he is now a Canadian working in the US.
Gordon Woolf
The Worsley Press
Hastings, Australia.
====================