1. ACROBAT 4 UPDATE FOR ALL
2. ONE VIEW ON INDESIGN
3. A BOOK TO WAIT FOR
4. NEW PHOTOSHOP VIDEO
5. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
6. XTENSIONS/PLUGINS/SCRIPTS
7. UTILITIES/UPDATES
8. HINTS
9. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
10. LAST WORD
1. ACROBAT 4 UPDATE FOR ALL
===========================
A new version of Acrobat 4 -- version 4.05a -- is being distributed as a CD to all registered users.
Adobe staffer Dov Isaacs reported on the InDesign mailing list: "There were printing bugs in Acrobat 4 and Acrobat 4 Reader that cause printing errors from a number of complex PDF files, particularly those from InDesign (including some PDF files created from InDesign via PostScript and distillation!). These problems have been resolved with Acrobat 4.05a and Acrobat 4.05a Reader!"
He added that InDesign files also "use CID-format PostScript fonts which are not supported (either properly or at all) by some 'emulations' of PostScript. Supposedly, there is a new version of Harlequin's RIP software that addresses this problem with their products."
It was due to start shipping in mid-January, with international distribution to be completed within 6 weeks according to a note on the Adobe website.
Details on the new version of Acrobat Reader are at: <http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html>
2. ONE VIEW ON INDESIGN
=======================
We've had several questions in recent months on the lines of "What's your unadulterated opinion of Adobe InDesign?"
To be honest, I haven't made up my mind yet -- I like a lot, and loathe some things. So far each attempt to use it on a live job has sent me back to PM to get it done in time, but I'm currently working on two books in Indy, and despite all the comments about it not being suitable for books, I'm sticking with it because the output looks so much better. I have yet to try Olav Kvern's indexing script but have no doubts that if he said it works, then it will (and only the second book has an index).
However, we've deferred my announced "Newspaper Production" book on InDesign because it can't just be a rewrite. The whole approach has to be different -- and I think that is the overall problem: InDesign is substantially different to PM and QXP and users will have to rethink the whole process. For example, newspapers may need a VB or Applescript program to take a page, convert it to PDF and print from that -- making it a one keystroke action again, but with a lot going on behind the scenes.
It will also take a year or two before the normal equipment at many publications catches up with ID requirements.
3. A BOOK TO WAIT FOR
=====================
We have been asked again about books on InDesign, and while we have been using "Mastering Adobe InDesign" by Mike Cuenca and Renee LeWinter from Sybex, we are desperately waiting for Real World InDesign by Olav Kvern. The delay in this book is for the best of reasons -- Olav is writing the book using InDesign.
Olav Kvern's "Real World Freehand 8" has 784 pages all created in FreeHand.
Commenting on it himself, Olav stated: "One reviewer said of RWFH -- 'Kvern makes no claims of omniscience; he simply seems to have made every mistake it's possible to make using the program! Luckily for us, he's learned from those mistakes.'"
Olav adds: "I'm a little worried about 'Real World InDesign' --I havn't made nearly enough mistakes yet. We'll see."
One correspondent on an email group commented "I'm waiting for the day he announces he's writing a Photoshop book".
Incidentally, we did print a list of InDesign books in Format 31, available at <http://www.worsleypress.com/format31.htm>
5. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
========================
One question we haven't got an answer to is from Humberto Hernandez in Puerto Rico who has just installed a G4 Mac and has PageMaker 6.5 running too well. When it comes to choosing a font: "it drive me crazy when I use PageMaker and other programs where we had a lot of fonts to choose from. The scrolling goes so fast, that my blood pressure rise as fast as they scroll... you have to slow down your pace, otherwise whatever is on the screen moves at the speed of light, out of sight."
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George Trask from Beaufort, SC, USA, didn't have a question but wrote: "I express my appreciation for the newsletter. It always contains information that is immediately useful to me and my associates in our publishing business. It is a miracle to us that it comes from all the way on the other side of the world and that you are so generous as to produce it. We purchased from you several years ago your PageMaker book on newspaper production, and I send this email as an additional expression of my thanks."
6. XTENSIONS/PLUGINS/SCRIPTS
============================
We received a report from a PageMaker Plus user that the "Column breaker" script originally written by Vladimir Samarskiy isn't included with the latest version of that program. This is one of the most useful scripts, which effectively gives the program the ability change column numbers in a text block. You drag a text block over the area you want the total text to occupy and run the script which brings up a dialog asking how many columns to divide the block into, and what gutter between the columns. To try another format, just drag the first column over the full width and run the script again. Any PM Plus users confirm that it isn't on the current PM Plus CD, either platform?
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Format subscriber Ricardo Montiel reports that there is a "Year 2000" bug with the GetTime command in PageMaker scripting. After tests by a number of people on the PageMakr List using various operating systems he reports that the GetTime bug does not affect PC which always returns the year as "2000".
However, on the Mac under OS versions from 7 to 9, the current year is always return a weird "100", regardless of settings under the Date & Time Control Panel.
You can get around this my using a GetPlatform sequence whenever a script use the getTime query.
To get the four digits year in a Mac (so both scripting versions return the same result) it is pretty simple. Example:
getTime >> year, ...
getplatform >> xPlatform
if xPlatform = MACINTOSH
year = 1900 + year
endif
If you need to deal with only the last two digits of the year, you could use a line such as:
set SubStr(quote(year),2,2) >> year
Someone else suggested using the single modulo command line:
year = year % 1900 + 1900
Ricardo points out on the PM List that this will work until the year 3800, which will be returned as "1900", possibly giving rise to the Y3.8K Bug!
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Several people have reported problems with understanding InDesign scripting and this may be in part due to an error in the very first script on the PC side of the scripting guide from the InDesign CD.
There's a line there which reads:
Set myFrame = myPub.Spreads.Items(1).TextFrames.Add
Change Items to Item
7. UTILITIES/UPDATES
====================
PagePlus 6.04 the maintenance release for PagePlus 6.0 and PagePlus 6.02 is now available from http://www.serif.com/ The file (pp604.zip) is 1.75MB in size. This is a replacement pp.exe file only. It fixes a text import bug, a mail merge bug and some other things.
Serif also addressed a colour management issue, a Web page sizing issue, a Gallery/PagePlus mode issue, a shift-click issue and made PagePlus capable of handling a smaller minimum font size.
We have said before that PagePlus is well worth investigation by those who are seeking a genuine publication production program rather than a word processor -- and the price is *very* attractive. We have at least one subscriber to Format who uses the program for a weekly newspaper.
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ImagePort lets you import native Photoshop images directly into QuarkXPress with channels and layers. You can combine channels with QuarkXPress colors allowing for control over spot colors, varnishes, even multi-inks.
Introductory price for ImagePort is US$99.99. More details at <http://www.alap.com/>
You can send a free ImagePort Print-Only XTension along with your files, to allow a service bureau to print the files.
8. HINTS
========
If you are on a Mac and having trouble placing files in PageMaker, then the advice has always been to disable Mac Easy Open. With later operating systems, this has been moved, so the advice is now to turn off File Translation in the File Exchange Control Panel. Another source of text placement problems may be MacLink Plus.
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In InDesign, to scale using the horizontal/vertical scale or width/height fields and preserve the object's proportions, press Cmd/Ctrl+Enter. The other dimension's value changes accordingly.
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Many DTP programs have trouble writing to fax software. Among problems are reverses, tints and any rotated objects. The answer is usually to export or print to a PDF and then print to the fax software from Acrobat. You may also need to experiment with any "lightness" settings in the fax software to see halftones reproducing reasonably well.
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If you use QuarkXPress and are likely to receive files saved in the Passport international version of QXP, make sure they are saved in that version as a "single language" document.
9. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
=========================
Mainly for users of Panther RIPs, but covering general prepress topics as well is a new email list started by John Mitchell Henry of Oswego, New York. Details at <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pantherrip/>
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Postscript and PDF expert Aandi Inston writes a fortnightly column for the Planet PDF site; you can enjoy his wit and wisdom (lots of each) at: <http://www.planetpdf.com/mainpage.asp?WebPageID=291>
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"Another new graphics format -- just what we need!" That was the comment from a publisher on one of the newsgroups. The new format has a file extension of .mix and is a creation of Microsoft for Office 2000. It is a new internal format for PhotoDraw (as PSD is for Photoshop); the problem is that people are likely to send files in this format. You can tell PhotoDraw users that there is an item "Save for use in..." under the File menu which will help them choose a format.
10. LAST WORD
============
With Worsley Press about to publish two books, maybe we shouldn't throw stones, but we couldn't resist repeating the following email list reply to a criticism of the index in "InDesign Classroom in a Book": "The following formula may work: For page numbers given in index that are 184 or less, add 10. For page numbers given in index that are 185 or more, add 36."
Gordon Woolf
The Worsley Press
Hastings, Australia.
====================