CONTENTS
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1. SEYBOLD -- SPACE AND THE "TABLET"
2. ACROBAT 5 ANNOUNCED
3. OS X ANSWERS ON WAY
4. END OF "TYPE ON CALL"
5. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
6. UTILITIES/UPDATES
7. HINTS
8. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
9. LAST WORD
1. SEYBOLD -- SPACE AND THE "TABLET"
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The first comments we have seen on Seybold Boston, which is still on as this is written, have been on the number of empty spaces in the exhibition hall. It seems some 26 booths were listed but not there. CreativePro's daily email also reported a lot of unhappy staff of recent takeover targets.
The real news seemed however to be in a sparsely attended seminar reported by CreativePro's Thomas Penberthy: Dick Brass, VP of Technology Development at Microsoft noted that most ePublishers are in trouble, that there is no example of an online publishing venture that does as well as a corresponding printed version, and with the exception of the venerable The Wall Street Journal nobody is breaking even yet. But he still predicted that the traditional broadsheet newspaper will be dead in less than 20 years (which I think we've heard before).
Dick Brass then showed "The Tablet PC", with touch-sensitive, crystal clear (122 dpi), 8.5-by-11-inch display, able to run the upcoming Windows XP and all Windows apps, and to connect wirelessly to the Internet, and via USB or FireWire to anything else. The prototype weighed two pounds but he promised that production models would be half that.
Microsoft hopes that the Tablet PC will supplant the laptop and provide a new medium for information delivery for publishers. The company contends that the Tablet PC will be more valuable to consumers than print publications because of its interactivity, better than current Web-based delivery because of its increased readability and portability, and more attractive to advertisers.
The target launch for the Tablet PC is 2003. Microsoft is working with Sony, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Compaq, and Acer to develop the hardware.
2. WOODWING PLUGINS FOR INDESIGN
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Smart Connection from WoodWing integrates InDesign and InCopy so that, for example, stories sent to InCopy for editing will be read-only within InDesign to prevent double editing; layout changes can be sent from InDesign to InCopy with automatic notification within InCopy.
InCopy is the text editor produced by Adobe but until now available only from "system integrators", the companies which sell complete high-end publication systems. Now it seems, Smart Connection and InCopy will be available to us mere mortals in the publishing industry. IDPLugIns.com is the first reseller ready to start selling InCopy together with Smart Connection for an introductory price of US$358 (plus shipping) on either platform.
For more info on Smart Connection have a look at <http://www.WoodWing.com/>.
WoodWing have also launched Smart Styles v1.5, which offers object styling to InDesign including the possibility to apply multiple text styles at once. This new version is enhanced with character based formatting. It allows complete styling to be applied to tables, advertisements, features etc, and is available to, usable by, affordable, and probably indispensable for smaller publishers using InDesign. See <http://www.WoodWing.com>. A 30-day demo is available for download (1.7MB Windows, 1.3MB Mac).
3. OS X ANSWERS ON WAY
======================
Modulo Systems who market and support Quark Publishing System say that while they don't currently recommend a change to Mac OS X operating system, they recognise that many people will want to begin at least limited deployment of the new OS. QPS applications CAN generally function under OS X, with a few caveats.
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Incidentally, it seems rather strange to us that while Microsoft is hiding the remnants of DOS which continue to exist under its latest operating systems, Apple is moving the other way. We are told that in the public beta versions of OS X, all that is necessary to reveal the underlying BSD version of Unix is to double-click on the Terminal icon. Doing so gives you a text-only system accepting Unix commands.
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PageMaker will work under Mac OS X but only in the "Classic" mode (which is effectively OS 9.1). Key issues known to Adobe include no ability to acquire images directly from scanners, nor is it possible to use a pressure-sensitive graphics tablet. Under some circumstances, Mac OS X will display the PageMaker application icon incorrectly and/or will fail to correctly associate files with the PageMaker. The screen may fail to refresh properly when an image is viewed in full-screen mode.
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If you are about to install Mac OS X take the time to read the "Read Before You Install" document on the Mac OS X CD. It is a PDF file (How many times have I only found Read Me files with hints about possible installation problems after having run into those problems?) Hints include making sure you install OS 9.1 first and making sure you have a note of any iTools and any TCP/IP, web, email and dialup (PPP) settings before you start. If you already have Mac OS X Public Beta installed, you need to insert the Mac OS X CD and restart your Macintosh while holding down the "c" key.
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A "Carbonized" version of InDesign was shown at Seybold with new features including SVG export, XML import/export for network publishing, a new print interface, long document features (index, TOC, etc) and hyperlinks. Indications are that it will still run correctly under OS 9.1, and faster than the previous versions under either OS.
4. END OF "TYPE ON CALL"
========================
"Type on Call", the CD with a huge selection of individual fonts which you could unlock individually by giving a credit card number by phone or fax, is no longer available in North America as a change has been made to the purchase and download of fonts online from the Adobe Type Library. However, there is an unfortunate byproduct of this for people who have used Type on Call in the past. As of June 4, 2001, Adobe will no longer provide unlocking codes for Type On Call fonts previously purchased in North America, so if you lose your existing unlocking codes, Adobe will not provide replacements. In a statement on their web site Adobe "recommend that you protect your unlocked Type On Call fonts by creating backup copies now." No dates have been given for the ending of the Type on Call system in other places but we could find no reference to it at all on the Pacific site.
5. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
========================
John Ranck, of Harvard, wrote with a question on PageMaker: "I'm running into a problem with the templates. All of them seem to use fonts that aren't available on the CD. I'm looking in the Fonts folder of the Content CD. For example I was trying to use one of the card templates and couldn't find Bodoni Poster, VAG Rounded Bold and VAG Rounded Thin used in the template."
We replied: These are in the fonts folder installed from the PageMaker Plus application CD so should be under the Extras>Fonts folder on your hard drive -- the Bodoni poster fonts files start with bdps and the VAG rounded with vr.
However, they aren't in the fonts folder for an earlier install of PM6.5. I believe the earlier CD came with an extra CD of something like 220 fonts.
The PageMaker Plus version has the templates as separate files. The earlier 6.5 versions had the templates as scripts and I seem to remember that the only fonts in the Extras folder on the earlier CD were the ones used in the scripts -- a whole lot of Garamond varieties plus Officina and a few others (including VAG Rounded).
If you have the scripted versions of the templates, which means you can't create the templates because of error messages, an answer is to open the scripts in a text editor and do a search and replace for fonts named, replacing them with fonts you have.
In the templates included with PM Plus, it is much easier; replace the required fonts in the Styles.
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Chris Bressi wrote: "I am attempting to print a book to file (postscript). However, whenever I go to print to my postscript printer, only one file in the whole book will print. Any ideas? It is very troubling. So I can print the book in whole on a regular printer, but can only print one file of the whole book when I try to print to postscript."
We replied: We can't see any simple reason for what is happening. If it prints to a local printer, it should normally print to a postscript printer (though the reverse isn't always true). Also it may be worth printing to file and then copying that to the printer, or making a PDF from it. If you can make a PDF then it probably means a printer memory problem. Also make sure there aren't temporary files left from previous attempts to print.
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K C Troise wrote: "I came across your very informative web site while trying to track down a solution to my problem and voila . . . there it was. I have a file with about 120 pages that I need to separate into individual files so that I can create pdfs to load to the web. "
This referred to an item in an early issue of Format which mentioned the script, which is now on our web site at <http://www.worsleypress.com/pubprod/scripts.html>. Just click on the SeparatePages hyperlink to view it on screen (and copy and paste), or right-click (or option-click) to save to disk. It is a 2kb file.
Another thought, which might be quicker if the aim is PDFs: print to EPS files (which will do the file breaking), making these in an Acrobat watched folder so the whole process is automatic?
6. UTILITIES/UPDATES
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Bryan Hanssen, Production Manager of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society writes: "I just want to thank you for writing and posting the PageMaker script that allows you to save 2 copies of a file at once. Although simple and necessary, making backup copies can seem like a burden, which I think this script will help ease." The script, called "Savetwice", is one of those recently posted on our web site at <http://www.worsleypress.com/pubprod/scripts.html>
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With version 5 of QuarkXPress on the way, though maybe not till next year, and many users not having upgraded to version 4, Quark are making a US$125 discount offer on upgrades in the US and Canada via their web site and say that discounts may also be available in other parts of the world.
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While on the subject of discounts we came across a strange one in Australia on Adobe's "Collection" packages. A dealer is offering the Design Collection, of Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign and Acrobat, for A$1700, whereas the Publishing Collection, which has PageMaker Plus in place of InDesign costs A$2499 -- almost A$800 (or US$400) extra to get PageMaker instead of InDesign!
7. HINTS
========
In both QuarkXPress and PageMaker, if you double-click tools in the Toolbox palette you will open the preferences dialog for that tool if such a dialog exists.
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To switch between any tool and the Pointer tool in PageMaker, use F9. In QXP switch between the Content and Item tools, with Shift F8.
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To change the rulers' zero point in PageMaker or QXP, click in the ruler origin box (the point where both rulers meet) and drag to any point in your document. This will also determine where you begin printing when you use Manual Tiling in both programs. To reset the zero point to the default, simply click in the ruler origin box in QXP and double-click in PageMaker.
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In both QXP and PageMaker, holding down the Option key (Mac) or ALT (Win) will give you a Page Grabber Hand as your mouse pointer, that you can use to slide the page around on your screen.
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But one nice point only in QXP: To apply the style sheet of one paragraph to another paragraph, place the text insertion cursor in the destination paragraph and then Option-Shift Click (Mac) or ALT-Shift Click (Win) in the paragraph whose style you wish to copy. Local formatting is preserved.
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Word's search and replace function can be made to do things you never thought it could:
<http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/FindingSpecialCharacters.htm>
8. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
=========================
There are now tutorials in using ALAP's ShadowCaster plugin for QXP or InDesign at their website: <http://www.alap.com/>. ALAP is also bundling groups of its plugins for InDesign: NudgeIt, InPrint, ItemMarks, and StarBurst in a MiniBundle and with the addition of ShadowCaster, and InBooklet in a "Power Bundle".
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Dave Mainwaring, managing director of PrintPlanet, tells us that WhatTheyThink and PrintPlanet.com have joined forces to become what they claim to be the "World's Largest On-line Information Source in the Print and Graphic Arts Industry". The new website is at: <http://www.whattheythink.com/index.html>
9. LAST WORD
============
We read in the "MediaFlash" newsletter <http://www.mediaflash.com.au> that a chief executive of a major newspaper company got a little upset by a journalist "hacking" into his email file within the company's network. Apparently his password was the word "Password".
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According to "Graphic Design USA", audio and visual effects on packages are expected to begin by the end of this year. Power Paper, a small Israeli company, has developed an ultra thin flexible battery that can be rolled off a press like ink onto paper. Claimed to be environmentally friendly, it can be thrown out with the package. One potential use is flashing a product's logo on a package in multiple colors... or maybe a publication could tell you the contents when you pick it up from the newsstand. <http://www.howstuffworks.com/power-paper.htm>
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An issue or two ago we offered a discount on some of our books to Format subscribers. Well the booming US dollar and diving Australian dollar mean that for US clients, the exchange rate is now giving an even bigger discount: Our Newspaper Production using PageMaker 6.5 used to convert to US$44 including airmail postage. Today (April 12) it converts to US$34. Halve the A$ prices on our web site to get a close estimate to today's US$ prices.
Gordon Woolf
The Worsley Press
Hastings, Australia.
====================