CONTENTS
========
1. WHAT TO GIVE AWAY
2. OUR PAGEMAKER 7 BOOK
3. DUTCH PUBLISHING PROVIDERS WORK TOGETHER
4. THE PLATFORM/PROGRAM DIVIDE
5. FEEL THE WEIGHT
6. PANTONE'S NEW COLOR SYSTEM
7. PRINTING AND PAGEMAKER 7
8. UTILITIES/UPDATES
9. HINTS
10. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
11. LAST WORD
1. WHAT TO GIVE AWAY
====================
Russ Dollinger wrote: "I got your book on starting a magazine. I'm still working my way through it; however, it does not seem to cover a strategy problem that I have. My initial research indicates that there is a lot of interest, and good advertising potential. On my webpage, does it make sense to offer a free newsletter covering the same area? I'll get email addresses and contacts, can reach a lot more people, and can theoretically convert more people into buyers or subscribers. On the negative side, I might invite competition from bigger, richer publishers before I'm ready to compete."
Most publishers, especially those with established print publications, face the dilemma of how much to give away on their web site. There are substantial success stories of selling web content, but most such attempts fail.
Take one example: many newspapers put their death notices on the web because it makes them available over a much wider area, and, for a weekly newspaper can mean that notices are carried which would be too late for just the print edition. Do they cut into casual sales or do readers of the on-line notice then buy a copy of the print edition?
I'd certainly consider launching a free email newsletter covering the same area as your print magazine. Use it as a promotional tool -- and if you get a lot of people signing up to the email and not the print version, juggle the balance of content.
If you start the email version first, it will, as you say, give you a list of potential subscribers. There's always the danger that someone else will see it as a good idea for a print version, but presumably you'd be in a good position to move quickly. Bigger publishers may be rich but they also tend to be slow and cumbersome.
There's also a strange truth with advertising -- it can be harder to sell ads if you are the only publication in a field. The choice is then between advertising or not advertising. With two publications, both are selling hard on the idea of advertising. Many clients will be presold on the idea; all you have to do is to get them to make the choice in your favor.
This newsletter, Format, has very little hard sell. Sometimes there's nothing more than the mention of a couple of titles in the "who we are" section at the bottom -- but there is always a flurry of book orders after each issue.
On the frequency issue: If there is any doubt, I'd start quarterly, or every second month. It is easy to promote going monthly as a result of the publication's success. It is not easy to see a move from monthly to quarterly as anything other than failure.
2. OUR PAGEMAKER 7 BOOK
=======================
We had a rush of orders for our new book "Publication Production using PageMaker" following the announcement in Format59 -- and a delay in the printing -- but it is now available and all those who placed advance orders should have now received copies.
There is a lot more detail on our web site and we are continuing our offer to Format subscribers of a 20% pre-publication discount off the US$34.95 (A$55, plus GST within Australia) until March 15 for orders direct from us or from our US distributor. Just add "Format discount" in the comment section on the on-line order forms or ask for it when you phone. There is a minimum 10% discount on all our books to Format subscribers.
See <http://www.worsleypress.com/pubprod/pp-pm7.htm>
3. DUTCH PUBLISHING PROVIDERS WORK TOGETHER
===========================================
Two Dutch companies announced this month that they are now working together as publishing solutions providers. Azzurro has the software-suite Pharoz that is aimed at the administrative part of the advertising process (sales, booking, invoicing and subscriptions) while Mediasystemen has focused on the editorial and advertisement process (including advert-production, planning and page-production). Previously they were partial competitors.
Mark Nouwen, senior consultant advertising systems at Mediasystemen, said their search for an advertising-booking system almost automatically lead to Azzurro. He added that elements such as price-calculation, contract management, workflow and subscribers management are completely different in Europe in comparison to the US.
More information can be found at <http://www.mediasystemen.nl> (in Dutch and English).
4. THE PLATFORM/PROGRAM DIVIDE
==============================
We had an interesting problem recently when I agreed to do some pages for a magazine which was running dangerously late. The individual pages were fine -- written to PDF and imposed with others at the printing plant. But then the magazine's publishers had to switch some ads and we found several pages which needed the top half from what I'd already done in PageMaker and the bottom half as ads which already existed in QXP.
The answer was opening the PM file in InDesign 2 (I then had a beta version); just a couple of lines ran over or short, and not the mess which resulted from trying the same with InDesign 1.5. We than printed to an EPS (QuarkXPress still seems to have some troubles with PDFs). It worked perfectly and InDesign's EPS with embedded fonts crossed the application and platform divide without a hitch. It was sent to film from QuarkXPress.
5. FEEL THE WEIGHT
==================
Pamela Pfiffner, editor in chief of CreativePro's email newsletter <http://www.creativepro.com> comments on the relative weights of the InDesign 2 and QuarkXPress 5 packages. It is ironic, she says, that the lightweight QXP package has no manuals, and instead supplies all the support in Adobe's PDF format. Adobe's InDesign comes with several pounds of manual.
6. PANTONE'S NEW COLOR SYSTEM
=============================
In Format59 we wrote: "If you lift some artwork from an old file, was it done according to the new Pantone Solid to Process book or the old? What happens if a publication includes new and old artwork?"
Brian Pylant, electronic prepress manager at Disc Makers, replied:
This entire issue should be a non-issue, and is easily resolved by using proper work habits. The only time to ever specify a color in a document as a Pantone Matching System color is when you intend it to be printed that way (which negates the whole process equivalent issue).
If you are specifying colors for a document that you know is to be printed CMYK you should NOT be placing a PMS color in your color list; either use the Pantone Process book (preferred), or rename the PMS color to reflect the actual CMYK values rather than the PMS name. Adding a color called Pantone 485CV to the color list, but specifying that it print as process, is just sloppy working methods and causes undue confusion at the output stage.
Additionally, the CMYK numbers as supplied by Pantone are only suggested values for your convenience, and are based on a general set of press standards. (They are also not meant to suggest to the user that it's OK to specify a process color as Pantone 286CV.)
If you have set up Photoshop's CMYK setup properly configured you will almost always get a closer CMYK match by allowing it to calculate your CMYK for you:
1.) Select a PMS color
2.) Switch to the color picker (note that the CMYK values are the Pantone-suggested ones).
3.) Highlight the L value and retype it.
4.) Photoshop, assuming you were specifying a new color, has recalculated the CMYK based on that L*a*b value (which is closer to the Pantone color than the Pantone-suggested CMYK), using your CMYK settings for the calculation. This results in a CMYK formula that, when printed on your press under your press conditions, will appear closer to the PMS color (although rarely exactly) than the Pantone-suggested version.
This method, of course, relies on your having properly set the CMYK settings in Photoshop for your press conditions, and that's a different subject entirely!
7. PRINTING AND PAGEMAKER 7
===========================
Steve Khinoy wrote: "When printing from PM 7.0, I can only print about 10 pages at a lime or PM freezes and takes my whole (Windows 98) system down with it. The Adobe folks said that was a 'known issue'."
We had said that the only problem we've seen in opening 6.5 files in 7 is that the print driver seems a bit more picky, so some files which printed fine from 6.5 won't print from 7 until we've sorted out the dodgy graphics (like TIFs which have been cut and pasted from file to file -- something we always tell everyone else never to do <g>).
A few other times an old graphic has been linked and we didn't notice that the link had disappeared because the embedded preview was a good enough resolution. Such files won't print for us via PM7, which is probably a good thing. (Mostly they were forms and leaflets which didn't have to print other than on our laserprinter -- or we'd have found they had a problem a long time ago).
We could not see Steve's problem in a list of problems which the PM 7.0.1 update is said to fix. That 8.5MB update is now available at:
Go to <http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=1378> for the Windows (English) version of the updater. . See <http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=1375> for the Mac (English) version. The download pages give a list of the many faults said to be fixed.
8. UTILITIES/UPDATES
====================
FontReserve v3.0 is out and operates on all Mac platforms, including OS X. See details at <www.diamondsoft.com>. Font Reserve 3.0 Mac Lite is a free partially functional version: you can add up to 100 fonts, create only one database, and it does not allow you to print specimen books. There is no time limit but you do have to fill in personal details and an email address on the web site to download it. The program doesn't yet support OpenType but you can still use OT faces by leaving them in the System folders. Font Reserve is also now available for Windows and there is a similar trial version.
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An Installer update for InDesign 2.0 on Mac OS X is available at <http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=1381>. This solves some issues that occurred on a few systems only which produced an error stating "An error has occurred which prevented the installation from completing" or reported an "Error creating folder" (257kb)
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WoodWing Software has released Smart Styles 2.0 for InDesign 2.0 adding support for advanced table styles, transparency, drop shadows, and feathering, as well as adding further scripting support.
We've mentioned Smart Styles before, a system which enables complete styling of text frames. For example, a single click can apply a headline followed by a bold intro with first word uppercase than some paragraphs of body text and finally a differently styled credit.
Smart Styles can now apply to single tables or to complete text frames and all the tables inside. Intelligent sequence recognition lets the same style apply with different numbers of rows.
Drag a styled page item to the Smart Styles library and the engine will recognize formatting structure.
To our mind it is an essential tool for using InDesign in newspaper situations. Price is US$149, or US$49 for upgrades. Available for Mac and Windows. More details at <http://www.woodwing.com> with a 30-day demo available (3.5MB for Windows, 4.6MB for Mac).
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An Arabic edition of QuarkXPress 4.1 was released this month. Users can specify that document text flows either right-to-left or left-to-right and create paragraphs that flow in opposite directions, all with appropriate support for rulers, tabs, and indents. Styles can be applied to both Arabic and Roman text, and users can check the spelling of Arabic, English, or mixed text simultaneously.
QuarkXPress Arabic Edition is available for Windows only from Layout Ltd of Beirut, Dubai, and Cairo. See <http://www.layoutltd.com>.
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Multi-Ad Services have just released a 6.05 update for Creator. It adds new compatibility with Illustrator and many performance improvements. 5.5MB for Mac, 4.1MB for PC. <http://www.creatorsoftware.com/support/updates.shtml>
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Andromeda's new version 1.2d of PhotoTiler is a PageMaker 6.5 and 7 plugin that organises images for personal and small business use. It could well be sufficient for the smaller publication to handle images in real estate ads or catalogs, or for personal use. Full version is downloadable for US$44 or the upgrade costs US$19.95 See <http://www.andromeda.com>. The plugin provides a simple means of loading and labeling images into PageMaker documents. A demo (1.2MB for PC, 630kb for Mac) is available.
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There's a new cumulative update on the Microsoft site for Internet Explorer versions 5 and 6. This (and a warning about one flaw that remains) are typical of content in Woody's Windows Watch free email newsletter (details at <http://www.woodyswatch.com/windows/>). The same issue contained advice on what to do if you forget your Windows password, or want to stop seeing the screen which asks for it.
9. HINTS
========
Somewhat strangely, while InDesign's import options allow you to deselect "Retain format..." so that, for example, a Word document will be brought in with all text as "No paragraph style", the import function still brings in all the styles in the Word document. A suggested workaround: if you don't want the styles, place the text in a new InDesign document and then copy the text across to where you do want it.
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We did it to ourselves by trying a new graphics viewer. From then on the "edit original" menu command or double-clicking in page layout programs no longer opened a graphic in Photoshop. There's a complex description of how to get that ability back in the Windows help files but the quick way is: Single click on an example of the file in Windows Explorer (such as any TIF file then hold down the shift key while you right click. The fly out menu has an item called "Open with... " that brings up a dialog box you probably know quite well in other situations. Select the program you want and make sure the checkbox at the bottom is selected to make the association permanent (But don't forget to uncheck it next time you see the dialog).
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Want to replace InDesign's standard placeholder text with something different? New to InDesign 2 you can create a plain text file called placeholder.txt in the main InDesign folder and ID will use that instead of the lorem ipsum text. The file can be any length. Even a single phrase will be repeated to fill the space.
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Another of those solutions without logic: The latest Acrobat Reader under Mac OSX may not allow you to double click to open a second file after the first has been read. You need to use the Open dialog box. The answer? Select any PDF file, and in the Finder select "Show Info". From the pop-up menu select "Open with application" and in the list of applications you should see two entries for Acrobat Reader. Select Acrobat Reader 5.0 (5.0) NOT Acrobat Reader 5.0 (5.0.5) and then click the "Change all" button. Ignore all dialogs prompting you to set Acrobat Reader 5.0 (5.0.5) as you default PDF "open with" application. It seems OS X thinks two versions of Acrobat Reader are installed even though you have only one, and then you need to select the one which you don't have installed.
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You can have too much memory for QuarkXPress 5.0 for Windows. More than 2GB in total of installed RAM and swap file under 2000, XP or NT can cause errors stating "Insufficient Memory" or "Insufficient Disk Space".
The workaround is to reduce the amount of Virtual Memory; by default, Windows uses a paging file equal to 1.5 times the total amount of installed RAM. Reducing the paging file will allow QXP 5.0 to function but don't cut it to zero or you'll have trouble with programs like Photoshop. The problem cannot occur in Win 95, 98 or ME because those OSs cannot use over 1 GB of RAM.
The Mac OS edition of QuarkXPress 5.0 will experience this problem only if you manually allocate 1 GB of memory or higher in its Get Info window and if you are running Mac OS X.
Quark say they have fixed the problem in the next update and the fix will be incorporated into the Passport and International English editions when they are released.
We've heard of similar problems in other programs on systems with lots of memory, so this solution may work in such cases.
10. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
==========================
Expresso Graphics has some useful hints and links on DTP in general and Photoshop in particular at <http://www.espressographics.com>. The pages were created by Debbie Roberti.
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Why is HTML email evil? Have a look at <http://www.betips.net/etc/evilmail.html> and you may never want to send (or receive) HTML e-mail again.
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Need help on using all those special typographic characters, from ellipses onwards, that mark the difference between typesetting and typing? There is a lot of useful info for use in print and on Web sites, and for both Mac and PC platforms at:
<http://www.typeart.com/special_characters.asp>
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An article called "Is There Really a PageMaker 7?" I wrote for the Melbourne PC User Group's magazine "PC Update" is now at:
<http://www.melbpc.org.au/pcupdate/2110/2110article7.htm>
11. LAST WORD
=============
Caroline Rigby thanked us for adding her to the Format subscription list and added "If this is a standard reply, you may want to spell programs correctly -
rather than porograms". We had to admit the error had been there for months.
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Chris Wood wrote: "Apropos your repartee with Pete Masterson on British spelling, I was amused to see your reference to the 'Jenson's' in your comment on the new
I-Mac. Maybe it was spelled differently in Australia but here in the US, I
remember it as the 'Jetsons'. Of course I'm getting old enough to have senior moments, too. The PM list & Format - great stuff. Thanks for all your hard work!"
Definitely another "senior moment".
Gordon Woolf
The Worsley Press
Hastings, Australia.
====================