CONTENTS
========
1. QUARKXPRESS GETS A TEXT EDITOR
2. ACROBAT 5 ANNOUNCED
4. OS X ANSWERS ON WAY
5. HELP WITH INDEXING
6. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
7. UTILITIES/UPDATES
8. HINTS
9. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
10. LAST WORD
1. QUARKXPRESS GETS A TEXT EDITOR
==================================
QuarkCopyDesk Special Edition is a standalone text editor which contains most of the expected word processing features for writing, editing, formatting, and outputting copy for publication. But it uses the same text processing engine as QuarkXPress, so layouts created in QuarkXPress can be exported to QuarkCopyDesk with a click of the mouse, and all typographic attributes -- such as style sheets, article geometry, and hyphenation and justification rules -- are maintained in the export process.
Writers and editors open an exported article in QuarkCopyDesk SE and view the layout exactly as designed in QXP. Although they can view all the graphic elements (which are exported as page pictures), only the text is editable. This ensures the design will not be inadvertently altered as the article is passed among reviewers. See: <http://www.quark.com/products/copydesk/>
Because the article's typographic attributes and geometry are exported verbatim from QuarkXPress, writers and editors using QuarkCopyDesk SE know the exact article length, down to the line and word count. When they return the article to the designer, who imports it back into the master QuarkXPress layout, it should fit perfectly, with text reflow virtually eliminated.
QuarkCopyDesk was originally created as part of Quark Publishing System, but is now available as a standalone product. Requiring "modest amounts of RAM and disk space", QuarkCopyDesk SE was "designed to run on many older computers and operating systems." It is priced at US$299 and will work on Mac OS7.6.1 and a PowerPC, or, for Windows, a 486 with 12MB RAM.
-----
There has recently been much discussion on the InDesign Talk list about InDesign's lack of a text editor as has been for a long time a feature of PageMaker. The point was made by several contributors, including at least one on Adobe's staff, that QXP didn't have a text editor. Well, now it has.
InDesign's text editor, InCopy, is available only as part of integrated publishing systems.
However Olav Kvern of Adobe has written an Applescript which uses the Mac OS text editor Style, and which is based on using InDesign's tagged text format. It is available in the InDesign Scripting user-to-user forum at <http://www.adobeforums.com/>. Do a search for Kvern and EditStory script. You can log on as a guest to the forums without having to register, though we still find the process confusing and seem to have to do it at least twice to get anywhere.
-----
The trial version of InDesign 1.5 from Adobe gives 60 days of full use. Unlike some other Adobe trial versions, it allows full use of the Save and Print commands.
2. ACROBAT 5 ANNOUNCED
======================
Adobe Systems has announced version 5.0 of Acrobat. After reading the press release put out by Adobe, we were still wondering just what was new, and remained so after reading the 7-page new features PDF from the Adobe website.
However, it does seem to be aimed at allowing teams of people to work more efficiently with PDFs, and with improved capability for digitally signing and sending secure documents, as well as having better incorporation of the forms features to allow for electronic forms. It also allows easier maintenance of Acrobat software across large organisations.
It includes WebDistributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) and Open DataBase Connectivity (ODBC) allows teams to simultaneously share comments on Adobe PDF files from within a browser. Support for the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) "makes it simple for users to integrate data, such as metadata and forms data in Adobe PDF files, with back-end systems".
Acrobat 5.0 will be available for Win95 OSR2, Win98, NT4 with service pack 5 or 6, Windows ME and Windows 2000, and Macintosh 9.0.4 and 9.1 (it will work on 8.6 but with some limitations). It is expected to ship in the US and Canada in the second quarter of 2001 for an estimated US$249, upgrade US$99. French, German and Japanese versions are expected shortly after the initial release.
4. OS X ANSWERS ON WAY
======================
Adobe executives have confirmed that they are "in the process of "carbonating" all their major applications, to work within Apple's OS X operating system but they won't say when these are likely to be released.
-----
One of the problems with OS X is that the drivers needed to make the QuarkXPress hardware keys ("dongles") function don't work. These dongles are mostly unknown to US users but are a part of using the program for many in the rest of the world. Strangely Quark say to watch the web sites of the firms which make the dongles for news of updates.
The Rainbow Sentinel Eve3 driver, which allows the USB hardware keys to function, is not compatible with Mac OS X and will not function in the "Classic" mode (which emulates OS 9.1 within OS X). Rainbow Technologies expect to have an updated, fully-tested Eve3 driver within a few weeks (check their web site at <http://www.rainbow.com/> for updates.
The same problem seems to apply to the iMate Adapter driver (needed to connect an older ADB hardware key to the USB ports on a newer Macintosh computer). In this case watch Griffin Technology's site at <http://www.griffintechnology.com/>
Quark recommend that anyone who uses any version of QuarkXPress that requires a hardware key (including QuarkXPress Passport, the International English version and all East Asian versions of the program) may want to delay upgrading to Mac OS X until updated drivers have been released.
-----
Adobe founder John Warnock is joining co-founder Charles Geschke in retirement, though he will remain as Chairman of the Board. The two began the company in 1982 based on their invention of the PostScript language.
5. HELP WITH INDEXING
=====================
Indexing is a problem which faces most of us at some stage, and a useful site for information is <http://www.wrightinformation.com> run by indexer Jan Wright. The site includes guides for indexing in PageMaker and Word that are available for around US$10 but there is also a lot of free information on indexing tools. If you click on the link to an example of on-line indexing, you will find a lot more information in an example of what can be achieved within a web browser. It was certainly an eye-opener for me -- and well worth the wait while a substantial javascript loads. The site was built with eHelp's WebHelp utility for HTMLHelp files <http://www.eHelp.com>
6. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
========================
Jane Inman wrote: "I do the layout design for a small monthly newsletter (8 pages) and am curious about the accepted way of continuing articles. For example, I might begin article one on page 1, then continue and finish it on page 5. Then begin article two on page 2, continue it on page 4, and finish it on page 6 with a few fillers."
We replied: There isn't really a best way of doing this. The more learned journals will never break an article -- the newsletters which want to make sure they catch a reader with something on page one will start a bunch of articles there, even if they only have half a dozen paragraphs and all will be continued inside.
Most fall somewhere in between, and it is a policy on most newspapers that an item is never turned to less than 6 to 10 paragraphs (anything less can make the reader feel it wasn't worth the effort). Also many have a policy of turning no more than a specific number of stories, while at the other extreme are the publications which have just a headline and one paragraph for as many stories as can be placed on page one -- almost a contents list. Many publications of both kinds will have a policy of only having one jump in a story.
It is generally accepted that you lose some readers at every jump.
On some publications jumps are forced because of colour (even just spot colour) being available on certain pages only -- and they don't want to waste such a page on continuing text.
So, it is really up to you. Spend some time looking at how other newsletters do it, and decide what you like and what seems annoying to you.
-----
Nadine Glanville wrote to ask: "I have been printing from PM6.5 to a Xerox DocuPrint C410 for some time with no major hassles except for double printing of some fonts, not all. I can get away with the smaller sizes but it does tend to be extremely noticable in larger fonts and can almost be passed off as my artistic intentions."
We replied: "Have you noticed whether the problem occurs only with certain fonts, or types of fonts? Also worth checking is that if this occurs, as I would expect, only with bold versions of fonts, check that the actual bold version of the font is properly installed.
"It may also be worth checking if the same thing happens if you create a PDF from the file. If it doesn't happen in the PDF, then I would suspect the print driver."
Any other suggestions?
7. UTILITIES/UPDATES
====================
New Free XTensions on the Quark Web Site include:
NotesXT v4.0 which includes notes in a form which are invisible characters within text, but which can be opened to look like adhesive notes you might stick to hard copy. (Mac and Win) Can be used with QuarkXPress 4.04 and later, or QuarkXPress Passport 4.04 and later.
Type Tricks v1.4 features Custom Underline, Make Fraction, Make Price, Remove Manual Kerning, Word Space Tracking and Line Check. Can be used with QuarkXPress 4.0 and later, or QuarkXPress Passport 4.0 and later. This is a new version of TypeTricks version 1.3 that has been available for some time.
QuarkCopyDesk Filter v2.09 lets you import text from QuarkCopyDesk or QuarkCopyDesk Special Edition articles into QuarkXPress or QuarkXPress Passport documents. It also lets you save QuarkXPress or QuarkXPress Passport text in QuarkCopyDesk format. This module can be used with QuarkXPress 4.1 and later, or QuarkXPress Passport 4.1 and later.
All are for Mac or Windows and can be downloaded from <http://www.quark.com/>
-----
Badia Software have released a QuarkXPress XTension that is a powerful replacement for the Quark's colors palette. Mac or PC. <http://www.badiaxt.com/fullcolor.html> US$59.99, and there's a demo to download.
8. HINTS
========
My thanks to Frank Fisher on the PageMakr List for advising that Windows 2000 has a feature which could help overcome backup problems for those working on networks.
Put your files in a folder on the network volume. Right-click on the folder in Explorer and choose "Make available offline." You'll then get a wizard asking whether you want to have auto-synch when you log off and if you want a shortcut to the offline files on your desktop -- definitely check this one.
Windows 2000 will mirror all the files in that folder somewhere in your profile on the local drive. Get to them buy clicking on that desktop shortcut and edit all you want.
Then synch (effectively making a backup on the network volume) when you want to using the options you'll see when you clicked on the desktop shortcut, or just let it all synch when you log off.
-----
An Illustrator hint: Converting fonts to outlines sometimes doesn't convert text lines that contain no characters. These may have been created by inadvertently clicking on the Illustrator window with the text tool. It may have nothing in it or just a space, but it still has the font attributes. You think you've converted all the text blocks to outlines, but when you try to print in another application, you can have problems.
One fix is to use Find Font in the Type menu to find these invisible text blocks and delete them until there are no longer any fonts appearing in the Find Font window. Another suggested fix is to "Select > stray points", then delete them before saving to EPS. This catches all sorts of stray points in the image, including those text blocks that are empty. It has also been suggested that you may need to do a "Save As" to remove all vestiges of font info.
Stray fonts seem to particularly cause problems with Illy EPS files brought into PageMaker on Macs, but it may apply to other programs, other platforms.
-----
In the QuarkXPress' Place dialog box, if you import an EPS file while holding the Command key, all the spot colors of this EPS file are converted to process.
-----
A Mac PageMaker hint which comes in the "this shouldn't work" category but has been confirmed by several users: If you find that the Save for Service Provider plugin saves your system fonts as well as the ones you want, then try changing your default Story Editor font from Geneva to Times. Of course you can just toss the system folder out of the stuff you are preparing for a service bureau or printer.
9. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
=========================
The PageMakr List has a new web site: <http://www.makingpages.org>. This includes a new PageMakr FAQ <http://www.makingpages.org/pagemaker/pm-faq.html>, and the "Troubleshooting PageMaker Documents" help file which is at <http://www.makingpages.org/pagemaker/tspmdoc.html>
-----
There are two main ways to leave PageMaker's Story Editor: Command-E/Ctrl-E, returns you to layout view at the current location of the text cursor. Command-W/Ctrl-W returns you to the page/view you were at when you opened the Story Editor.
-----
The Assignment Editor web site at <http://www.assignmenteditor.com/> has a range of online papers, experts, media gossip etc. Basically just lots of links but with a newsroom angle.
10. LAST WORD
=============
There have been reports on the Macscript list of an Applescript "Trojan horse" -- an email attachment which appears to be a text file but which is in fact a compiled Applescript that will run if double-clicked. In this instance it was called "mylistofstuff" and appeared from its icon to be a Simpletext document. So, those Windows users who have received VisualBasic scripts disguised as text files are no longer alone. We repeat the advice of not opening attachments from unknown sources and of not opening attachments even from known sources if you are not expecting them.
Gordon Woolf
The Worsley Press
Hastings, Australia.
====================