CONTENTS
==========
1. EMAIL PROBLEMS FOR NEWSLETTERS
2. FULL-SCREEN EDITING IN WORD
3. SEYBOLD REPORT ON QUARKXPRESS
4. FILE BLOAT
5. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
6. UTILITIES/UPDATES
7. HINTS
8. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
9. LAST WORD
1. EMAIL PROBLEMS FOR NEWSLETTERS
=================================
If you or your ISP introduces a challenge-and-response system for email, you will have to put the sending address of this newsletter on your approved list (often called a "whitelist") to continue receiving this newsletter. "Challenge" emails which request the sender to respond with a specific message or to a specific address are indistinguishable from bounce messages by most automated list manager.
There has been a huge jump in the numbers of bounce messages from Format subscribers, so, while this message will be too late for those who have been affected already, this may be useful for those whose ISPs and IT departments are planning such a move. The address which needs to be used with most such systems is the "From: address" which is "Format <format-list-owner at worsleypress.com>"
We also had several responses to Format76 which told us that the "message content is not acceptable here".
These are problems affecting many newsletters and are serious enough to affect whether such newsletters continue.
2. FULL-SCREEN EDITING IN WORD
==============================
Jack M. Lyon made some interesting suggestions in a recent issue of EDITORIUM UPDATE: Tips for Publishing Professionals Using Microsoft Word which is based at <http://www.editorium.com>.
He likes editing Word in Full-Screen mode and suggests others might like to try it. There are three steps: 1. Turn on Print Layout. 2. Set the Zoom level to "Whole page." 3. Click "Full Screen."
The Word menu bar disappears but can be regained by moving your mouse pointer to the top of your screen, or by pressing the Alt key. (To turn *off* Full-Screen mode, press the Escape key, or display the menu bar and again click View > Full Screen.)
Toolbars are probably still at the top of your screen, which keeps your document page from being displayed as large as
possible. But who said toolbars have to stay at the top of the screen? You've now got lots of gray space at the sides of your page, and you can use that space to hold your toolbars. Just click and hold the vertical bar on the left of a toolbar, drag the toolbar to a new location, and release your mouse button. You can leave the toolbar "floating" in the gray space around your document (and resize it, if necessary), or you can "dock" it on either side of your screen.
----
Many toolbars can be moved in this way. Until I got a larger screen I kept my Windows task bar at the right hand side of the screen. And I do the same with the toolbar (not the Tools palette) in PageMaker. Wouldn't it be nice if all those other palettes in InDesign docked to one side or the other?
3. SEYBOLD REPORT ON QUARKXPRESS
================================
Usually this kind of item would be in the "sources" section below, but we think this one deserves a heading on its own. The Seybold Report on QuarkXPress 6 is available free on the CreativePro website at <http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/19879.html?cprose=4-30>
----
David Blatner's much discussed article comparing QXP6 and InDesign 2 is at <http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/19851.html?cprose=daily>
4. FILE BLOAT
=============
Ping Cai asked us about some very bloated InDesign files and though a SaveAs managed to reduce that, it still seems there may have been a problem with some TIFFs created from original JPEGs. A quick test in creating a file with a couple of linked 2MB TIFFs came in at about 200kb, which is more the proportion we'd expect.
The other thought was whether the pictures were being dramatically sized down within InDesign. The preview, which is going to be embedded anyway, will be based on the original import size of the graphic rather than the size it is being used it would be an interesting exercise to check what happens to file sizes if, for example, a JPEG or TIFF at 72dpi is saved again in Photoshop to be the same pixel size but at something like 300dpi.
My suspicion is that the InD file would be smaller because it will base its preview on what it sees as the reproduction size rather than the pixel dimensions. An initial check with just a couple of files showed that for images of the same pixel dimensions, the one saved at a higher DPI resolution produces a smaller InDesign file.
InDesign does not seem to have any equivalent of PageMaker's ability to store previews of a specific DPI setting or size. Memory, either as RAM or storage is not the problem it was when PageMaker was created but it does seem a little odd that there now appears to be no operator control over the size of the previews which are embedded even though the files themselves are linked. There is an option to use an embedded preview or rasterize the file when importing a PDF, but no apparent control over the preview size. Am I missing something? Any comments?
5. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
========================
Ian Partridge in Queensland, Australia asked: "I have a Word document with a complex table. When I copy it and paste into Photoshop or Illustrator, half of the text in the left hand column is not visible. If saved as an eps, the text is still not visible when placed in PM. In Illustrator, the table has numerous vertical and horizontal guides, one of which is aligned with the missing text, but I cannot reposition it. Any suggestions?
"The Word documents also have embedded graphics but these are too small to make a decent resolution tiff directly into Photoshop. I find that if I copy the graphic, paste it onto a new Word page, increase its size, recopy the larger image and paste this into Photoshop, I can resample this image to get reasonable resolution tiffs. But is there a better way without going back to the original authors of the Word files for individual tiif images?"
Before we could answer Ian found an answer which may help others: "Worked out the missing bits of the table. Paste it into Illustrator, use the pointer tool to reveal all the guide lines, then go [Object], [Clipping path], [Release]. but any suggestions on the Word file images would be welcome."
We replied: I'm pleased you found at least a partial answer. I wonder if the same happens if you create a PDF from Word. I haven't seen the clipping path problem before but perhaps the tables I've had to take in from Word have mostly been fairly simple.
I have to admit that I prefer, where possible to create styles with tabs and bring in the text from the table. If the output is going to be an office laser then I'll risk an OLE link, but that's just playing with a different kind of fire <g>
To get graphics out of Word generally, I tend to do what you've described or again make a PDF and open the graphics from that in Photoshop. Either way the colour values can go haywire.
It's the kind of question which might do well put to the PageMakr List. If you are not already a member of that email list, you may like to take a look at the list's website <http://www.makingpages.org/pagemaker>
----
Alexandra Wilkis in New York asked is we had any newsletter templates for Word. We suggested checking <http://search.officeupdate.microsoft.com/TemplateGallery/ct89.asp> where there are several.
----
Benno Käsmayr in Germany was having problems with the Build Booklet plugin of PageMaker refusing to save the untitled document it produced. We suggested a simple 2-line script:
Saveas "test.pmd"
return
and he confirmed that this saved the file and they could then save it as another name.
However that doesn't solve the original problem, so if anyone has any suggestions, please let us know and we'll pass them on.
----
Sean Balfe wrote: "I bought a bunch of your books about 6 months ago and found them very useful. I do have a question though, I cannot seem to find a way to generate a pdf. I want to generate a pdf of maybe one or two pages in a book. I thought calling a PageMaker menu function like Export pdf would work, but it just seems to print to my default print even when I set the printer style to Acrobat. Windows NT soon to be XP."
We replied: With either PM6.5 or 7 there are problems if they are operated at other than administrator status and I wonder whether this may have been affected the permission settings. We asked whether opening the define printer style box and selecting to Edit the Acrobat style, showed Acrobat Distiller in the PPD box beneath the Printer selection box? Also, in the Options setting, to check that the Write-to-file checkbox is selected and that the file is named Untitled.ps
There are many things which can go wrong with settings at this level, but outputting to the default printer is not one we would have expected, unless Distiller is not installed properly.
----
Domchi in Croatia replied to Jeff from Canada, who has wondered if a blank sheet with every PageMaker printing job might be a separator sheet setting somewhere: "No, settings are not a problem - I have the same problem and all settings were triple-checked. The problem exists only in combination with PM, not any other programs; also, I think it started to happen when I switched from Win98 to Win2000. Defining printer styles in PageMaker and printing through them may help (but it's not likely). I gave up, and now I just feed the blank sheet back in the paper tray when it happens."
----
Paul in Canada commented in the comment on the comment that Scottish Curl breed, they have "funny ears"<G>) from Format76: "My cat Chelsea took exception to not only being mislabeled, (they are Scottish Fold cats) but she'll have you know that her ears are 'cute', not 'funny'. In fact, here are a couple of pictures showing her purple with rage in one, and burning with anger in the other. She was too upset to talk about it, so I'm not sure which reaction was to which error, but there you have it. By the way, there is an American Curl cat, but their ears curl backwards at the top, whereas the Scottish Fold have ears that fold forwards. She liked the rest of the newsletter. ;-)"
----
More seriously Kurt Foss, boss of Planet PDF took us to task almost within minutes of Format76 being distributed: "You cite a year-old article on our Planet PDF site on the former problem with the Mac OS X that didn't honor security of PDF files, and imply this remains a problem, possibly even with the forthcoming Panther. In fact, a careful reader may realize that this article preceded v10.2. aka Jaguar, and was resolved when 10.2 shipped ... long ago."
We have no idea even now on how we managed to find that item, but it just shows how careful one needs to be in checking origin dates on any material found on the Web. Our apologies to Kurt and PlanetPDF, which is one of the best sources for PDF information.
6. UTILITIES/UPDATES/PLUGINS
============================
Quite Software has announced updates to Quite Revealing, Quite Imposing, Quite Imposing Plus and Quite A Box of Tricks to make them compatible with Acrobat 6.0 Standard and Professional to suit Windows and Mac. They are free to download for existing licensed registered users. Others can also download demo copies. See <http://www.quite.com/general/acrobat6.htm>
----
SmartScale, Extensis’ new plug-in for Photoshop, creates high quality scaled images by preserving the color and brightness data contained in the original image. SmartScale claims to scale images up to 1600% with no discernible loss in printed quality. US$199.95. Details: <http://www.extensis.com/pxlsmartscale/>
----
Badia Software has released BigPicture 2.0 for QuarkXPress 4, 5 and 6 and claim it as "the first commercial XTension available for QuarkXPress 6.0 and Mac OS X". BigPicture helps manage graphics and links, providing detailed image information and an array of tools for working with external image links. Pictures can be viewed in the standard list view, now sortable by any attribute, or in the new thumbnail view to browse through all document images. Preferences and keyboard shortcuts are customizable. The search-and-link engine, which finds and relinks missing pictures, is now integrated into the main BigPicture window and all volumes, including Unix- and Windows-based servers, are now supported by the search function. A streamlined rename feature lets the user click and type the new picture name in either the list or thumbnail view to rename the image file in the Finder and automatically update the QuarkXPress linkages. US$89.99. See <http://www.badiaxt.com/bigpicture.html>
7. HINTS
========
Users of QuarkXPress and other recently updated programs on the Mac may find this little Applescript useful in overcome problems of lost file types for applications opened in "Classic" with files saved from apps in OS X. It most recently came from Bill Connell on MacinTouch <http://www.macintouch.com> but it has been around for years.
on open selection
tell application "Finder"
activate
set theList to selection
repeat with x in theList
set file type of x to "XDOC" -- change this for different file types
set creator type of x to "XPR3" - change this for different apps
end repeat
end tell
end open
-----
In InDesign, you tap the down arrow to move an object down by whatever is set in your preferences (strangely the default seems to be 2 points, but it can easily be reset to one point). BUT, you can do this and find that the object moves UP. What's happened? You have the Y-axis field active in the transform palette and you are changing that field. Because Y values are measured in positive values *down the page* from the origin point, in ID land, down is up and up is down! Thanks to Michael Brady on the InDesign list for letting me know that I haven't been hallucinating when I've seen that happen. He went on to say: "It was like being stopped at an intersection on a slight hill, and in your peripheral vision you see the car next to you move ahead but you think you are rolling backwards and panic and stomp on the break pedal!"
----
There's a techdoc from Adobe on problems with importing WordXP or 2002 files into PM. Basically it suggests saving as an earlier format "such as Word 97, 98, 2000, or 2001, or Word for Windows 4.0-7.0" adding: "PageMaker doesn't support files in Word XP or 2002 format"
----
In controlling PageMaker's script engine from Applescript, we've found it easiest to send every command to PM using Applescript's "evaluate" command -- it saves having to think which command to use and if evaluate returns anything you don't want, it is just thrown away.
8. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
=========================
Have you wondered about some of the expressions and phrases that we regularly use? For instance, grist for the mill, apple of one's eye, run of the mill, dressed to the nines; and rule of thumb. The 'World Wide Words' site <http://www.worldwidewords.org> has explanations of these and many more. A suggestion from the Sites of the Day newsletter from Tony Stevenson on <http://www.mkdsoftware.com.au>
-----
Another suggestion from the same source: A collection of powerful search tools can be found in the 'Large Search Tools' section of the 'lii.org' site ('lii' is an acronym for the Librarians' Index to the Internet): <http://lii.org/search/file/searchtools>
----
International Paper has has a "paper terms" section <http://glossary.ippaper.com/ipaper/content/default.asp?glossary=1>and a page for calculations and conversions, including pages per inch.
----
There are a number of trial QuickTime movie segments from extensive online training courses available from <http://www.lynda.com/> including an explanation of layers in QXP, frame tools from InDesign, gradient layers in Photoshop etc. Introductory access to the movies on any one subject costs US$25 for a month and they are for sale on CD,
9. LAST WORD
============
Woody's Office Watch <http://www.woodyswatch.com/> quotes Microsoft's Knowledge Base article 290945: "Word stores the names of the last 10 people who worked on a document in the document. This is an automatic feature that you cannot turn off. However, you can remove the names of the last 10 authors from a document by saving the document in a format that does not retain such information. For example, if you save the document in either RTF (Rich Text Format) or HTML format, the authoring information is lost. You can then close and reopen the RTF or HTML document, and then save it in Word format." There are some in the British government who now wish they hadn't posted documents on their web site in Word format instead of PDF, or RTF or anything else. More about this at <http://www.ComputerBytesMan.com/privacy/blair.htm > which is a site with links to many other sources of information like phone directories, zip codes, etc.
----
Seen in a recent email signature: "I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my telephone. My wish has come true. I no longer know how to use my telephone."--Bjarne Stronstrup (originator of C++ programming language)
Gordon Woolf
The Worsley Press
Hastings, Australia.