1. WHAT INDESIGN IS DOING WHILE YOU WAIT
2. "THAT FILE YOU EMAILED ME WON'T OPEN"
4. ADOBE MAGAZINE GOES TO PHOTOSHOP
5. ISBN AND BARCODES TO CHANGE
6. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
7. UTILITIES/UPDATES
8. HINTS
9. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
10. LAST WORD
1. WHAT INDESIGN IS DOING WHILE YOU WAIT
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Well what is InDesign doing in all that time it takes for some functions. Adobe's Dov Isaacs clarified recently on the InDesign Talk list on the time it takes to bring in an EPS:
"The 'scan' is required for much more than just the preview. If all InDesign did was to pass EPS through to the printer, then the scan wouldn't be necessary. But it is necessary to reconcile font usage, color definitions, and color management with the rest of the InDesign document. This avoids the typical problems encountered when placing EPS in 'other' programs."
He added that it is in effect pre-flighting these EPS files as it places them, and the pre-flight function even looks for missing fonts in placed graphics. However he did confirm that they are working on speeding things up.
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The InDesign roadshow which Adobe is currently taking round the US and soon will show around the world demonstrates ID as the core of a work system for all kinds of publication output, but some who have seen it have come away with the impression that the Adobe programs are becoming more like each other:
InDesign was shown with a transparency feature (with reservations that there is no guarantee this will come in the next version). However it seems ID2 will have transparency like Illustrator 9 giving transparency effects for live, editable drop shadows and feathering that works on text and objects.
Adobe has created a new web site just for InDesign: <http://www.adobeindesign.com>
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If you are one of those very few people who want to get an InDesign 1.5 document into the Japanese version of InDesign (which is version 1.0J), then script expert Olav Kvern has created a Visual Basic script that will create a Visual Basic script that then recreates that document in the Japanese version. I know Ole likes these kinds of solutions -- he wrote the script to recreate a corrupted PageMaker document as a new document that has saved the professional life of a number of PM users.
However, if you want the US-to-Japanese InDesign script, or maybe a way of getting ID files back a version, you'll have to contact someone in Adobe, as it isn't going to be for general distribution just yet. However we can confirm that it doesn't translate the text!
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Incidentally, the "Total Inspiration" tour has given a few PageMaker users the chance to ask more questions of Adobe staff about the future of PageMaker. We've now seen comments from two who have been answered on the lines of "PM will be getting an update" but that's where the information stops.
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It may also be worth noting that the InDesign tryout available on the Adobe site, and perhaps best, in view of its size, on some of the free CDs distributed at Adobe seminars, is fully featured for 60 days.
2. "THAT FILE YOU EMAILED ME WON'T OPEN"
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How often have you sent a substantial file as an email attachment and had a response that they got the message, but not the file, or that the file you sent won't open?
It generally happens only when people are in a hurry for the file, and seems to be caused by some mail servers which list the mail as soon as it is received without checking if there are attachments, and if they have been received.
So, the recipient can get the covering message but not the attachment and makes a hurried call to you to say you forgot the attachment. In most cases the mail server corrects itself and relists the mail when it is complete.
It is also possible that the attachment may take longer to arrive at the mail server than the recipient takes to download it. The result is that the recipient thinks they've got the whole file when in fact they only have part of it. Again, most mail servers seem to cope with this by again listing the message as soon as it finally arrives, even if the attempt to download it sent back an instruction to delete the message on the mail server.
It seems to happens most when both ends are on dial-up connections or if the sender is on a dial-up connection but the recipient is on a permanent link. We now put the size of the file in any accompanying message and ask that the person we are sending it to check the size of the file they receive.
4. ADOBE MAGAZINE GOES TO PHOTOSHOP
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If you paid for a subscription to the US edition of Adobe Magazine you will instead receive Photoshop User Magazine, published bimonthly by the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. Subscribers outside the US and Canada will receive a prorata refund and US subscribers can ask for the same after receiving their first issue.
5. ISBN AND BARCODES TO CHANGE
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A warning has been given by the international ISBN Agency that the ISBN system (the numbers allocated for books) is to change in 2005 from 10 digits to 13 "alpha-numeric" characters. This will also change the present system under which the 978 prefix is added to the ISBN number to create a 13-digit product barcode (the last number of the ISBN is omitted because it is a check digit and a new final check digit created for the barcode).
The warning is mainly to ensure that database systems can cope with 13-digit entries by the beginning of 2005. The ISBN system derives from the system developed in 1967 by W H Smith, the leading UK book retailer, and is based in Germany, though the link to <http://www.isbn.org> takes you to the Bowker site in the US, which has details of ISBN agents around the world as well as on the system's history.
There does not appear to be any corresponding change proposed for the ISSN system for periodicals including newspapers, which uses the 977 prefix before the first 9 digits of an ISSN number to create a barcode. More info on ISSN at <http://www.issn.org>
We have avoided referring to this type of barcode by terms such as EAN or UPC because they now have a new term: GTIN (Global Trade Item Numbers).
6. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
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Betty Morgan in Honolulu wrote: "I don't know how I got on your mailing list, but Thank YOU! The tidbits of information were great and I applaud all the work you put into this. Congratulations."
While we are pleased Betty likes Format, we hope that most subscribers get here deliberately. It is possible for someone to sign someone else on via our web site but we hope to start a confirmation email system in the very near future. As part of this all our subscribers may get a "please confirm" mailing in the next few weeks.
We'd also like to thank those people who bought one or more of our books following the mention in Format 46. It really is those sales which keep Format going, though we don't like to emphasise the advertising aspect too often (that's two plugs in one issue; we'll stop now, we promise).
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We received a rebuke from several readers when we commented in answer to a question in Format46 that we didn't see any sign of Adobe having a view that Windows was "a third-rate operating system, used by third rate desktop publishers".
Jack Gregory wrote: "Au contraire! You aren't looking very hard. As a Windows user trying to integrate content from Mac users, and then get it to a printer that uses Macs, the feeling of being a second-class citizen is overwhelming. Why on earth does an .eps file I get from a Mac guy from Adobe Illustrator, put into Adobe PM on Windows, doesn't even show up right in a Windows proof printed from Adobe PDF on Windows, then prints beautifully on at the (Mac-based) press? Then I try to do the same thing in Illustrator on Windows, and it fails to print correctly (but looks great in proof)? And these aren't just font problems.
"Why can't even the same company's identical product work identically enough to make this seamless? Because they develop on Macs, have a second-class port (with second-class employees, no doubt) to Windows."
We can only repeat that we use Windows ourselves, out of choice, though I also have a Mac, and that we have seen at least one recent instance (Acrobat 4) when features available under Windows took some time to be available on the Mac version.
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Julie wrote to us: "Whenever I try to place pdf's from one particular client in PM6.52 I get the message: Incompatible Remote Adapter 8601-0060. I've been to the adobe site and could not get a specific diagnosis."
We haven't seen that message but the most likely answer is that the PDFs are in Acrobat 4 format. PDFs can be created in Acrobat 4 but have to be saved with Acrobat 3 compatibility to be able to open in PageMaker. One possible workaround is to export to a postscript or EPS file from Acrobat and use that, or redistill with Acrobat 3 as the chosen format.
7. UTILITIES/UPDATES
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MacWeek reports that Quark has started distributing pre-release versions of XPress 5.0 and plans a wider pre-release distribution shortly to those in Quark's ServicePlus member program. A full beta program is expected in the northern spring. Quark won't be exhibiting at Seybold Boston in April but Quark CEO Fred Ebrahimi is scheduled to give a keynote address on April 12.
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Gluon makes a Quark XTension called XPressImage that can output each page os a file as an EPS but with the fonts embedded, which doesn't happen straight from QXP. XPressImage can also export from Quark in many other file formats. There's a demo <http://www.gluon.com>
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A screen ruler -- floats around ready to measure things on screen ... even DIAGONALS. Windows and Mac. $15 shareware. <http://www.kagi.com/microfox/>
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Clydene Nee of a lowly apprentice production, inc. wrote to thank us for our description of ImagePort 1.0 and to say that they now have an improved version, 1.1, which supports adjustment layers and Photoshop 6: <http://www.alap.com/products/imgp.html>
8. HINTS
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In PageMaker you've properly set up all your styles with specific leading values... but then you need to apply autoleading just to a few words, or an inline graphic... The shortcut is Ctrl-Alt-Shift-A (Command-Opt-Shift-A on a Mac). Remember it as All the modifier keys plus A for autoleading (well all but Control on a Mac)
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Because of file format changes in Illustrator 9.0, PageMaker 6.5 cannot create previews of EPS graphics saved in Illustrator 9.0 EPS format. If you use the Create Preview If None Exists option, PageMaker does not attempt to create a preview for the EPS graphic but instead uses the one created in Illustrator.
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In QuarkXPress, choose File > Open and select the document. Hold down the Command key, and click Open. QuarkXPress will reimport every imported (not pasted) picture in the document, thus re-creating any PICT previews that may be damaged and reimporting new EPS previews from the original EPS files.
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Almost all page layout programs have a keyboard shortcut to change between typographer's quotes and typewriter quotes -- from curly to straight -- and back. However, while typewriter quotes are commonly used for foot and inch marks, or degrees and seconds, they aren't really the correct marks -- which should be the prime and double primes.
Italicising the "typewriter" marks will produce a passable result in most typefaces, but to be correct, you really need to use a symbol typeface for them. If you use them often, it is a perfect job for a script.
9. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
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The January "tips" feature on "The User Friendly Manuals' Website" <http://www.prc.dk/user-friendly-manuals/> covers "Current trends in technical communication", with info on Preferred software for technical writers, HTML help is still gaining ground, Monitors and screen resolution, Possibilities with colour laser printers and photocopiers, Using camcorders and ScreenCams for technical documentation, Increased interest in interactive multimedia manuals, Electronic still and video cameras are gaining use, and Electronic file transfer to the printshop.
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Hans Hansen's PageMaker Scripting book became available as a free PDF from his web site, but that site is now offline. The book, published by Adobe Press, had been out of print for some time. It is 4.4MB. It may be possible to find the book in used bookstores or by seeking the PDF version on PageMaker newsgroups.
10. LAST WORD
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Have you read about the new operating system that combines Windows CE, Millennium, and NT into Windows CEMeNT...
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Intriguingly, the spellcheck in our email program, Pegasus, doesn't recognise Troubleshooting, and offers the suggestion Trinitrotoluene.
Gordon Woolf
The Worsley Press
Hastings, Australia.
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