CONTENTS
========
2. OUR BOOKS AT AMAZON
3. STRANGE TIFFS
4. HOW GOOD ARE CD-R DISCS?
5. MORE ON PAGEMAKER
6. ACCENTS ON MACS
7. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
9. HINTS
10. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
11. LAST WORD
2. OUR BOOKS AT AMAZON
======================
I'm pleased to say that two of our books, "How to Start and Produce a Magazine or Newsletter" and "Newspaper Production using PageMaker 6.5", are now available at Amazon.com
You can also order any of our books within the USA direct from our distributor FAP Books Inc on tollfree 888-511-5125 using most credit cards (and ask them for the 10% Format discount).
For the rest of the world, check our website <http://www.worsleypress.com>.
Past information from this Format newsletter is available at <http://www.worsleypress.com/format>.
You can always get the latest issue of Format via our autoresponder by sending a message to getformat at worsleypress.com This may be a useful way of telling others about this newsletter.
3. STRANGE TIFFS
================
Photoshop 6 seems to save some new versions of TIFF which PM6.5 and some other programs are not happy with -- so you may need to make sure that there are no unflattened layers (as TIFFs can now be saved with layer info) or strange settings of other kinds (such as grayscale profiles).
For example, there's now an option in Photoshop to "Save Image Pyramid". I read the explanation in the Help file and I'm no wiser.
Another format causing problems has been "indexed grayscale" from programs such as the SnagIt screen capture utility. They can cause problems with printing, and, if they print at all they can print with different grays to those you may expect. A way to overcome the problem with SnagIt can be to create the screenshots in color and batch convert to grayscale in Photoshop.
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This may be an opportunity to mention again that if a file refuses to print, and you are using a postscript printer, it can be useful to turn on the PostScript error handler, which is an option in most postscript printer drivers. This will print a page with an error description when a file fails to print.
There are several sources of information on these error codes, and one we have mentioned before is the PostScript Panic Page at <http://users.belgacom.net/prepresspanic/database/solveerror.htm>. If the error is there (most postscript errors are), click on it and you will get an explanation of the error and why that particular error occurs.
4. HOW GOOD ARE CD-R DISCS?
===========================
How good are CD-R discs? How long will they last? Will they be readable in three months, three years, 30 years?
When I read several reports of CD-R discs not being readable a few months after they were written, I thought it time to find out more.
It seemed scary: warnings from seemingly reputable sources. A lot depends on how you treat the CDs and even more on the quality of your initial recording, but there are discs around which are more likely to fail than to work - one survey showed that six out of 10 discs can fail if you select the wrong brands.
This is the introduction to an article I wrote for PC Update, the magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group, a 10,000+ member self-help group which is among the largest such groups in the world. The online version is at: <http://www.melbpc.org.au/pcupdate/2106/2106article14.htm>
5. MORE ON PAGEMAKER
====================
There's a new version (1.15) of Jonathan Bressel's CopyFile script on the PageMakr List website. Reach it from the PageMaker troubleshooting document at <http://www.makingpages.org/pagemaker/tspmdoc.html>. The script enables the creation of a new document from an old one by copying all the items over -- and hopefully not copying the cause of any problems. There's another script at the same place by Olav Kvern which goes a stage further in recreating the objects themselves from their properties.
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Adobe must be wondering what else they can do in the custom install dialog for PageMaker 7. There are scroll bars but a lot of users, including experienced ones, seem to be missing the fact that scroll bars mean there are other items to choose -- such as the Templates and Filters, though the installation process puts in a few filters whatever you choose.
If you find that things are missing, go back to the CD, choose Custom install, deselect the first item (the program itself) and then *scroll down* -- there's the usual option to make a detailed selection on Filters, avoiding installation of the one's you'll never use.
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MacFixIt <http://www.macfixit.com> website reports a problem when PageMaker 7.0 is used to create a PDF when Acrobat 5.0 is installed in that DCS and OPI errors can be reported and no file is created.
When the Postscript file is created by printing to a file Acrobat Distiller will create the PDF (if you turn off preserve OPI comments) but it will make any image a solid block. When the same file is built in PageMaker 6.5 the problem does not occur.
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The complex method of getting most of PageTools to work in the Windows version of PageMaker 7 has now been reduced to three steps -- about the same as in a workaround to get PageTools working on a Mac. See <http://HelpfulCenter.com> for methods on both platforms.
Incidentally, Harry Ewell who developed the Windows workaround, comments: "Most of the 200+ visitors have mentioned that they read about the conversion from your newsletter--thanks!!". He adds that "Limeleaf Publications, who figured out how to get PageTools to work with the Mac PageMaker 7.0, inspired me to shorten my previous multi-step process to only 3 steps."
On the same subject of PageTools and PM7, Don Brichta reports that he tracked down the "crash on closure" in Windows which brings up a warning dialog after PM seems to have closed to a conflict with PM's library plugin. If you don't depend on having the library palette active, you can try removing or deleting the file libpal.add from the Plugin directory.
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A bug in PM7 for Windows which didn't exist in PM6.5: Apply Text Wrap to an object and then move it with the arrow keys. As soon as it comes up against another object you can move it once more, then it stops. You can still move it from the Control palette but not from the arrow keys.
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You can install PM7 alongside PM6.5, but you can't do the same with PM7 alongside PM6. There's a note about it in the Readme file on the CD, but of course most people only read that, if at all, after installing the program. However, we successfully reinstalled PM6 after PM7 to save back a file to version 5 to send it to a class of students at an Australian regional university.
6. ACCENTS ON MACS
==================
Bruce Alsobrook wrote: "Format No. 53 included the question from Don Drozdenko in California, who asked: 'How can an accent be placed over a letter? Like the French 'acute' symbol over an e or other letter? Or the two dots over certain letters in German, the umlaut?'
"A control panel for the Mac called PopChar <http://www.unisoft.co.at/products/popchar.html> makes selecting any character in a font a breeze. A appears in the menu bar and works with every program I use. Demos are available at several mac download sites. Registration is US$29, but if you use a lot of special characters it can pay for itself in the time you will save."
Fred Meredith wrote from Texas: "First of all, I really do appreciate your Format newsletter. It is the best ongoing education and update of the craft around.
"In issue #53 you had a question about accent marks and other special characters. Your answer made it obvious that the PC platform is much more complicated and less intuitive than the Mac platform. I seldom refer to the "Key Caps" desk accessory when needing a special character because it will USUALLY be an intuitive option (pun intended).
"For example: Accent marks are most often over vowels and the most commonly accented vowel is 'e' so the accent mark itself is the combination of the Option key and the 'e' key, then the letter key that you wish to accent which will most often be 'e', but can be any other vowel. If you try to accent a consonant, the accent mark will fall in front of the letter much like an apostrophe.
"Of course all of this is based on using the American English language option. Another example is the tilde used in Spanish. The letter it applies to (except in URL addresses where the Mac tilde key is used -- far upper left key with Shift key) is 'n' as in the word 'manana.'
"So, of course, the tilde is formed with an Option key plus 'n' key followed by the 'n' key. Spanish punctuation is also pretty intuitive. Questions start with an upside down question mark. Since a question mark is a Shift key '/' key combination, the upside down mark is Shift plus Option plus '/' keys on the Mac. As for American money, the dollar sign is Shift key plus '4' key and the sign for cents is the Option key plus '4' key.
"Macs are just more intuitive thanks to the hard work of the programmers making the rest much easier for the users.
"Keep up the good work."
7. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
========================
Keith Spears wrote: "I just received your book, 'How to start and produce a Magazine or Newsletter' and find it wonderful. My question is more business related. I'm in the process of writing a business plan to start a Real Estate Magazine and wondered if you have any information relative to pricing ad for such a magazine? Also, do you now if the new PageMaker Data Merge feature will be helpful for automating such a magazine?"
We replied: The two ways of pricing ads are really "what the market will bear" and "the costs of producing the magazine divided by the space for ads". It is advisable to try both ways as, if you find the figures are coming out in a similar range, you're probably OK. If the second way comes out ahead of the first, you're in trouble. Compare rates to those of other places to advertise real estate, bearing in mind what you see as your advantages.
The DataMerge plugin could be useful, and there is a PDF file which we prepared for those who have bought our "Newspaper Production using PageMaker 6.5" book that shows one idea. You can get this from: <http://www.worsleypress.com/download/DMadbookings.pdf>
Adobe are also using an example of a car catalogue in some of their current presentations -- bringing pics and text from a database into a one-page layout to create a multi-page catalogue.
The one problem with the plugin is that it would need to produce ads or edit descriptions on separate pages -- but you can then move the completed items to another page layout file.
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Nadine Glanville wrote from the Queensland Police: "I am in desperate need of help for the following problem: Using PM6.5 on a Mac OS8, I am having troubles printing with linked charts included in the document. An 'error type 2' keeps occurring (what is this?) and no matter what I try, nothing seems to work. I've narrowed it down to the charts as the 'proof' prints out OK.
"The links work fine and do the job but when it comes to printing, it just crashes PM. I've tried just a straight copy and paste and insert new object directly from PM but find the same problem. I've also increased the memory, reloaded PM and saved the Excel files to a lower format."
We replied: It may be worth trying the chart in a different format. For example, if you can create a PDF of the chart from Excel. You may also like to try creating a PDF of a problem page from PageMaker.
These may not be ideal solutions but they may help to isolate the cause of the problem -- PageMaker, Excel, or the printer.
Also, it could be worth making sure that the version of PM you have is 6.52 as the free update of some time ago was supposed to cure some printing problems. The version number should show in small type in the About PageMaker box.
9. HINTS
========
There are some reported conflicts between InDesign and Norton Utilities under the Win2000 operating system. The symptom is the screen flickering when InDesign is active.
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There is a small arrow in the upper right-hand corner of Acrobat 5 Reader which when clicked on will show you a short drop-down list that includes "fonts". Selecting fonts will show you what's embedded (or not) and the type of font.
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In InDesign, hold down Command key (Mac) or Ctrl (Windows) as you drag a corner handle to scale the contents of a frame. Add Shift to make the scaling proportional.
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I was annoyed by the way InDesign handles the pasteboard, until I realised that this is when InDesign's ability to show two views of the same file comes into play. Open a page, or a pasteboard to a page, as a second view of the file, and drag to and from that.
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If you use small caps in InDesign and they are formed by scaling the normal cap (other than by using an OpenType or other font with specific small caps characters) you may experience characters dropping out if the full-size cap has not been used in the text. It is a known bug.
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If you put an illegal email address as the first entry in your Outlook address book you may just find that you get a message that an email could not be sent rather than having a virus or worm send emails to everyone you know.
10. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
=========================
There is an article on OpenType by Terri Stone at MacWorld: <http://www.macworld.com/2001/08/20/adobe_opentype.html>. It has a nice example of what is possible.
11. LAST WORD
=============
Bill wrote to us to say: "Suggest you run your (informative) articles through a spell checker before publishing them. You spelled aging as ageing. Thought you'd want to know."
Thanks Bill, but we meant to spell ageing that way. We do make mistakes, but our general policy is to leave spelling the way it is if it is correct for the place it originates. So, if someone in the USA writes "aging", then that is how it will stay. On the other hand, if we write about getting older, it will be "ageing", which is the preferred spelling here. In this case it was an article about the UK, where the word also has that "e" more often than not.
Gordon Woolf
The Worsley Press
Hastings, Australia.
====================