CONTENTS
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1. INDESIGN UPDATE
2. THE FUTURE OF PAGEMAKER
3. PAGEMAKER AND WIN 2000
4. QUARK UPDATER SPEEDS 4.1
5. MORE ABOUT OPENTYPE FONTS
6. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
7. XTENSIONS/PLUGINS/SCRIPTS
9. HINTS
10. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
1. INDESIGN UPDATE
==================
Version 1.5 of InDesign is now being shipped in the US and will shortly ship in other areas as localised language editions are completed. The update will cost close to the equivalent of the US price of US$30 for those who bought the discounted initial release of version 1.0 while those few who paid the full price will get the update free.
At a recent demonstration it showed that it is considerably faster (though it still requires a pretty hefty spec machine to operate efficiently). The trade off is that you can now lose half a minute's work if there is a crash, as against little likelihood of any loss with the old way... the program stores keystrokes and mouse moves every 30 seconds instead of many times a second in order to recover the latest saved version.
Also impressive is the "Type on a path" function and there is now vertical justification with an option to control the spacing added between paragraphs relative to that between lines.
It was noticeable that in the presentation all comparisons were with the Q program -- not a single mention of PageMaker.
Details at <http://www.adobe.com/>
2. THE FUTURE OF PAGEMAKER
==========================
Adobe have a policy of "not commenting on unannounced software", but recent comments by David Evans of Adobe on the InDesign List comes as close to being such a statement as we have seen in a long time.
And it is an encouraging "non-statement" for PageMaker users.
He wrote: "I can tell that future versions of PageMaker will have features more focused toward the user that is not a professional graphic designer. The easiest way to think about this (without letting the cat out of the bag) is that future versions of PageMaker will likely be based around templates, have loads of clip art, offer some form of 'wizards' to help novices through the design process, etc."
He adds: "The vast majority of NEW PageMaker customers (people buying PageMaker for the first time), however, are typically frustrated Microsoft Publisher customers looking for a better alternative. These people will be served by future versions of PageMaker. And remember: there is a difference between the way PageMaker is now, and the way it will be in the future."
He concludes: "I look at it this way: If you look at a blank page and are scared to death by it, future versions of PageMaker are for you. If you look at a blank page and are excited by the possibilities it presents, InDesign is a far better choice."
3. PAGEMAKER AND WIN 2000
=========================
There are confusing reports on how PageMaker interacts with Windows 2000. According to one "media analyst" Adobe is advising people who call them that they'll need to change to InDesign, but there have also been reports from some users that they are having no problems. One problem, reported in Format 37, is that while existing printer ppd installations carry through with an upgrade to Win2000, there are problems installing a printer ppd once the operating system software is installed. We would like to hear from those using PM with Win2000.
4. QUARK UPDATER SPEEDS 4.1
===========================
A 4.11 Updater to QuarkXPress and QuarkXPress Passport is available on the Quark web site in the Downloads section <http://www.quark.com/>. QuarkXPress or Passport 4.10 must be installed in order to install the 4.11 update.
The update is said to fix the QXP contribution to the slowness problem when switching tools running under Mac OS 9 (and when running under Mac OS8.6 with the Font Manager Update 1.0 installed).
However, Quark's engineers claim the slowness problem is caused by three factors, with Mac OS 9 and some older fonts also being to blame. They say the QXP update fixes the portion of the problem contributed by QuarkXPress.
The fonts causing problems are said to be those with a FONT resource instead of the current NFNT resource. Removing these old fonts and/or updating them to recent versions with an NFNT resource apparently helps to cure the slowness problem.
Originally Quark said ATM was a portion of the problem, and while they now acknowledge that ATM is not actually a contributor to the problem, they add that "it is Adobe's decision whether or not ATM needs to be updated to address this problem.
Quark's TechNews email newsletter adds that many QXP users tell them that simply updating to version 4.11 corrects the problem for them.
The Win 4.11 update also fixes a color output problem to non-PostScript printers where some colour output was printed as black and white.
The Mac 4.11 update fixes a "Save Document Position" problem (Application Preferences -> Save tab) which caused the document's main window to shrink a little bit every time it is re-opened.
5. MORE ABOUT OPENTYPE FONTS
============================
OpenType fonts are coming, and the biggest advantage would seem to be that they will cross the platform divide. No more problems with sending fonts from PC to Mac or vice-versa!
However, some users have expressed concern that they will have to replace all their existing libraries of fonts. Fortunately it seems this won't be necessary, though there are some advantages which will encourage many to buy the new fonts, and we can expect that software packages which make use of the new font technology will include many of the new fonts, as InDesign includes Tekton Pro, Adobe's first font in this format.
Adobe will be offering a simple conversion program and expect that other companies will produce utilities which will do a lot more.
Thomas Phinney of Adobe commented on the InDesign List: "There are some advantages to just converting a Type 1 font to .OTF. Notably, the next versions of ATM on Mac and Windows will handle OpenType fonts as well as your old-fashioned Type 1 fonts. Unlike your Type 1 fonts, you can use a .OTF font file as is on either platform. Also, it's smaller (about 45% smaller on average compared to a PC Type 1, with even more savings on the Mac thanks to the elimination of the bitmaps)."
He adds: "However, this doesn't really get you all the coolest features of OpenType. For that, you really need fonts that have been designed from the ground up as OpenType fonts, which can roll the equivalent of expert sets and more into a single font. Check out the Tekton Pro fonts that ship with InDesign to get some of the basics: real small caps, oldstyle figures, auto ligatures, all built right into the single font. And many of the fonts we have in development are just *way* more cool."
6. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
========================
Bernard at Northern Pen in Canada writes that he is looking for some advice on buying a new laser printer: "We operate a small commercial print shop. We recently purchased a Heidelberg GTO press to do colour work. Our old 600 dpi QMS 860 11 X 17 has done its duty since 1994, but its distribution of toner is streaky and 600 dpi doesn't cut it when it comes to producing separations for photographs. Work which includes photographs is being sent to a service bureau for negs (using PageMaker 6.52 and Acrobat to make PDFs), but we want a good quality laser printer for everything else. Who has advice on possible purchases? Servicing is an issue because we're located in Northern Newfoundland, Canada."
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Carlos Vidal wrote from Spain that he wonders if there is any way to drive a Linotype CRTronic 300 series film typesetter from a PC or Mac. He has a CRTronic 340, and says it is a pity to see it abandoned.
This is the kind of problem commented on by many people when off-the-shelf computers first started to replace specific typesetting systems. In theory it is possible, but we haven't seen that theory turned into practice.
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And another question we couldn't answer. Martin in Sweden asked: "I want to distribute pdf-files on the Windows CE platform. I don't know any reader for the handheld computers. Can someone help me?"
An intriguing question. We don't think there is an "Acrobat for CE". Any other suggestions?
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John Nurick wrote in reply to a question in Format 37: Kirk asked about means of included complex graphs in dtp files adding that the graphs will include financial as well as other types of information He asked what sort of graphing software newspaper publishers use.
"I'm using PageMaker 6.52 on Win 98 with a Pentium 450 and 128 of RAM. I have Photoshop 5.5, but not Illustrator. There must be some sort of other software that produces custom graphs. Can you point me in the right direction or know somebody who could?
"I'm not a newspaper publisher but often want to print complex charts.
"One route that works for me is Excel - copy - paste WMF into CorelDraw - tart up - export to appropriate format. Excel allows you to create a custom chart gallery with all your favourite chart types with the lines and colours and fonts you want. Current versions of Excel can do quite a lot in the way of charting in the hands of a skilled user, but on a couple of recent jobs I've hit its limits (for instance, it's easy to plot points in 2D or 3D space, but very hard to use the colours, size and shapes of the data markers to add a few more dimensions).
"For graphing beyond Excel's capabilities, several people have recommended Deltagraph to me <http://www.spss.com/software/deltagraph/> but I haven't got round to trying it yet. (Note: There are demo versions for Mac and Windows on this site) For data visualisation other than normal graphs and charts, it's worth thinking about Visio, because you can link any property of its objects (size, shape, lines, colours, and all) to data from elsewhere.
"Finally, can I put in a small plug for Edward Tufte's superb book on charts and graphs, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. I recommend it very strongly to anyone who's interested in presenting complex data simply and effectively on paper."
7. XTENSIONS/PLUGINS/SCRIPTS
============================
Mediasystemen recently announced the foundation of WoodWing Software.to "further develop the generic Adobe InDesign plug-ins" and to sell them worldwide via resellers.
More information is at <http://www.woodwing.com>
MediaSystemen is one of the largest newspaper system integrators in the world, based in The Netherlands.
The first products from WoodWing are:
Smart Styles, which makes repetitive formatting more efficient. (Windows version will be shipping in April, Mac version early May).
The Smart Styles features include Paragraph Style Sequences to allow specific styles for the first number of paragraphs, the last number of paragraphs and repeating styles for the paragraphs in between. Smart Styles are stored in Style Libraries with drag and drop and multiple view modes including list and thumbnail views. Smart Styles are defined by creating an example page item and dropping it into a Style Library.
Smart Layout allows multiple elements to be formatted as one, such as head,intro,body and images, structured text with support for XML, automatic body frames, column based resizing, flow around existing page items during creation, and shortcuts to change the number of columns quickly.
9. HINTS
========
If you are having trouble getting a replacement scanner bulb quickly through computer suppliers, try the local hardware or lighting store. Most bulbs are standard, and may be cheaper through this source. However, you do need to watch the colour spectrum. Though the store should be able to get the spectrum specification you need, you can use a different fluorescent colour if you realise that you will have to recalibrate the scanner or perhaps setup a temporary action in Photoshop to cope with the differences.
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"Hard drives are the things we need to back up, not things you back up to." So stated a printer in an online discussion group, adding "Guess we sometimes can't see the forest - those damn trees get in the way!" This was the response to a suggestion, after a lengthy discussion on various means of backup that, at present prices, a removable hard disk is the most cost effective backup answer.
How long is it since you checked that you can in fact restore from your backup system?
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Need to install or reinstall QuarkXPress to an iMac with no floppy? According to advice we've received you can do it with Disk Copy from the Apple OS. Mount the floppy on a Mac with a floppy and make an .img file out of it. You can then copied this via a server to the Mac in question. Double click on the .img file and it creates a disk icon; you double click on that, and launch the Quark installer from there.
We haven't checks this, but have been assured it "worked like a charm".
10. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
==========================
VTC Online University <http://www.vtc.com/> has developed over 12,000 software tutorials on various topics, including InDesign, Acrobat, PageMaker, QXP, Freehand, Photoshop and general subjects such as scanning and design, and offers them all free over the internet in Streaming QuickTime format (ad supported). You have to fill in a form with name and address details the first time and instantly get a username and password to continue into the site. If you pay you can get the tutorials without the ads and on CD-ROMs, but we didn't find the ads offputting, and certainly learned a few things from the couple we checked out on aspects such as trapping. Currently the InDesign series includes 8 hours of movies, QXP over 13 hours and the PageMaker tutorials 19 hours. If you are confused on any aspect of such programs this is one place to go, and for introductions to the programs the CDs look to be reasonable value.
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We have reorganised the Worsley Press site, so some links from favourites folders and other sites may be broken, though we have created some automatic forwarding pages to overcome the main problems. Specifically, many of the print production information pages are one level down, with "pubprod" being inserted as an extra level. Format has also been given its own level, so the back issues of Format are now at: <http://www.worsleypress.com/format> and there is no longer a need to type ".htm" after "format".
Gordon Woolf
The Worsley Press
Hastings, Australia.
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