CONTENTS
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1. NEW INDESIGN IS SUITE
2. ACTIVATION
3. NEW PAGEPLUS
4. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
5. UTILITIES/UPDATES
6. HINTS
7. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
8. LAST WORD
1. NEW INDESIGN IS SUITE
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There is plenty of information on the Adobe website about the new version of InDesign. Version 3 is known as CS, and is available as part of a suite including Photoshop, Illustrator, GoLive, Acrobat and a new file management utility. Upgrades to the new "Creative Suite" will be available only through Photoshop, which is most likely based on the knowledge that most QuarkXPress users have Photoshop, and therefore will be able to obtain the total package at the upgrade price. The suite will only be upgradable as a suite but those with other programs already will be able to upgrade those programs singly for at least the immediate future.
There has been no announcement of a plugin pack for previous PageMaker users which was forecast in some unofficial news items prior to the official announcement. However, InDesign 3 does include one item that PageMaker users have been seeking -- a text editor, provided as a movable resizable palette. PageMaker users can upgrade to InDesign CS for US$299.
There's an interesting debate on the CreativePro site with views from David Blatner, Sandee Cohen, Glenn Fleishman, Bruce Fraser, Sharon Steuer, and Pamela Pfiffner, all writers and users whose views carry some weight. See <http://www.creativepro.com/storyarchive/newsletter/277.html>. For a look at the prepress aspect, see Nick Hodge's page at <http://www.nickhodge.com/mne.php?mcid=1078>
Adobe Creative Suite Premium, US$1,229, includes Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, GoLive, Acrobat 6 Professional, and Version Cue.
Adobe Creative Suite Standard, US$999, includes Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Version Cue.
If you purchased any Adobe Collection or any version of Photoshop you can upgrade to CS Premium for US$749 and CS Standard for US$549.
InDesign CS includes custom dashes and stripes, a measurements palette, nested styles (which can automatically apply a different font and size to a drop cap or run-in head, or to any part of a paragraph separable by number of characters, tabs etc -- I can see this being used for some complex classified ad formatting), the ability to save palette configurations and recall them with a keyboard shortcut, a separation preview palette (see your seps before film!).
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Another change, which has been requested here and in many places is that text copied from other applications is now pasted into InDesign as unformatted text by default, unless you enable the Preserve Text Attributes When Pasting preference. In addition, you can choose to import text and tables from Microsoft Word as unformatted text. By default, Microsoft Excel tables are imported as unformatted text, but you can choose to preserve their formatting.
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Another advantage of the Suite may be the included pack of 212 OpenType fonts. While many of these are OTF versions of fonts you will already have, they include several "Pro" versions -- the full OpenType fonts with small caps, oldstyle figures, and optional glyphs, such as Adobe Caslon Pro, Adobe Garamond Pro, Adobe Jenson Pro, the impressive new Brioso Pro (and Opticals); Myriad Pro; Warnock Pro (and Opticals); and many more -- the full list is here: <http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?50@178.gZ0pbv2sq53.0@.2ccdbf88>. The Brioso Pro Opticals, and Warnock Pro Opticals are bundled only with the Creative Suites. "If you buy the applications separately, you still get 138 fonts," says Adobe font man Thomas Phinney.
There's a 46-page PDF on the Brioso typeface at <http://www.adobe.com/type/browser/pdfs/BriosoPro.pdf> which is well worth reading by anyone with an interest in type.
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Other surprises seem to include that HTML conversion is gone. In its place is "package for GoLive".
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Woodwing Software <www.woodwing.com> has announced that its "smart solution" components for the new InDesign and InCopy will be available in the last quarter of 2003. Products currently being upgraded include Smart Styles, Smart Layout, Smart Connection and Smart Catalog.
2. ACTIVATION
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We covered one aspect of the increasing requirement for activation of software to prevent piracy in the previous issue of Format. Adobe's new Creative Suite does require activation, based solely on the Photoshop module, and only on the Windows platform, and full details of it are here: <http://www.adobe.com/activation/main.html>.
Incidentally, it is not true that QuarkXPress 6 activation won't work behind a firewall, but it seems there are a few firewall configurations it does not like.
3. NEW PAGEPLUS
===============
Mike Koewler writes to tell me of a new version of Serif PagePlus:
PagePlus 9 is a major upgrade in several areas, especially professional printing.
One huge new feature is the ability to output CMYK pdf files directly, without the need of Acrobat or other distiller-type program. It also creates PDF/X and PDF/X1-a files, plus security features such as not being able to print it, copy text, fill in forms or even open the file without a password are available when printing. The pdf also embeds all fonts and users can elect to subset fonts. If faux fonts are used, they are converted to curves.
Hand in hand with CMYK output is a CMYK color palette, as well as the traditional RGB palette. Users can also select Pantone colors or create custom colors. ICC color profiles are also supported.
Text on a Curve makes its appearance in PP9. One can choose presets or adjust nodes to suit their needs. Bezier curves are also supported.
PagePlus has renovated its built-in table tool to include simple functions and formulae.
With Instant 3D, designers can transform any text or shape into a 3D object with its own texture, lighting, bevels, extrusion and perspective controls. And the original object (text, shape, QuickShape etc.,) remains editable.
Another newbie is a Professional Print Pack that lets users calibrate their monitors with the color palette. Used in conjunction with the Serif Print Shop, users can be assured their output will exactly match what they see on screen.
All in all, it's a fantastic alternative for people who do not want the cost and learning curves of a Quark or InDesign. What's even better, and unheard of among "the big boys" is that Serif offers the program to registered users for $9.95, though one has to wait on a flyer with the offer number.
If you want more information visit <http://www.serif.com>
4. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
========================
Ian Patridge uses what seems to us a useful way of providing room for captions to illustrations which have runaround text. Just applying word wrap to the picture or chart and extending the word wrap boundary can cause problems if the caption is then a little bigger than anticipated, and the text can go shooting off to some strange part of the page. In PageMaker there is an option in the TextWrap dialog to "Wrap text on this layer only". This gives space for the caption, but if the caption is then placed on a separate layer, it can be placed in position and the 'stand-off' extended if necessary without other disturbance.
This seemed an improvement on our way of grouping the picture and caption on the pasteboard, applying text wrap to the group, and then returning that group to the page.
However, Ian found that if he then used 'Build booklet' to impose, say, 2 pages A4 portrait onto A3 landscape, the new imposed file deleted his "Wrap text on this layer only" setting so that the captions are pushed away from the image and over the body text. This is on PM 6.0 and the problem has been solved in PM7 (maybe in 6.5 too) but Ian added in response: "The main thing is to be aware of the loss of placed captions and to fix them before sending the newsletter off to the printer."
Ian added his thanks "for the American answer getting good resolution images out of a Word document, by copying them into MS PowerPoint before copying again into Illustrator for a good resolution eps image".
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Marie Sandbeck asked: "I am fairly new to using PageMaker. I have version 7.0. What I am wondering is if there is a way to place WordArt from either Word or Photoshop so that the background is transparent. I have created WordArt, or warped text in PhotoShop and placed it over a picture in Word and it is transparent. The same WordArt placed over a picture in PageMaker shows a white background, even though the background is supposed to be transparent."
We replied: WordArt created from within Word is usually in the form of a WMF file -- which can contain transparent areas. However, from Photoshop this transparency would normally be lost. If you make sure that it is saved as a WMF from WordArt (or just copy and paste into PageMaker) it should retain its transparency. Unfortunately, WMF files are not handled well by some printing processes, so, for magazine, book or newspaper use they are best saved as EPS files which requires that your system have a postscript printer driver installed though not necessarily an actual postscript printer.
EPS files usually have a preview graphic built in which is what appears on screen and when printed to a non-postscript printer. At least on screen you can usually restore the transparency by rotating the graphic by a tiny amount (say 0.01 degrees), but this does not help when printing to a non-postscript printer (such as an inkjet).
When saved as many other formats, WordArt will lose its transparency, so if being placed over a picture this might be best done in Photoshop so that the text and picture become one item. Yet another option is to use the Export Transparent Image wizard in Photoshop (under the Help menu). This can be used to create either an EPS or a TIF file with a clipping path. The TIF with a clipping path can print to any printer but, especially with items such as WordArt, the edges can appear somewhat jagged.
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In Format78 we mentioned that the Opt+Cmnd+click shortcut for zoom is broken in QuarkXPress 6, but we dropped the item from our autoresponder edition when one of Quark's people told us that it wasn't. It took a little while to confirm that the copy in use by that person was in fact a release-candidate version in which the command worked, and that in the actual release the command does zoom, but doesn't centre on where the layout was clicked. It is being fixed in later production. The exchange does show a new readiness in staff at Quark to investigate comments.
5. UTILITIES/UPDATES/PLUGINS
============================
Windows PowerPro <http://www.windowspowerpro.com/> is a useful combined button bar task switcher/launcher that includes menus, hot keys, alarms, and task scheduling. It lets you drag and drop files to start commands, has hot keys which can depend on the active program, and a whole range of automation from keystrokes and mouse clicks. Floating button bars can be tiny (they can fit over title bar of maximized window). It also enables the user to send a sequence of keys to a running program or to a program that you start via the button bar. It's Freeware and is a 2MB download.
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Mac OS X has a new 10.2.8 update, available at <http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120245#English> This 40MB update does not apply to G5 systems, only with PowerPC G3- and G4-based desktop and portable computers, including Power Macintosh G3, Power Mac G4, PowerBook G3, PowerBook G4, iMac, eMac, and iBook.
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One plugin that I'be long used with PageMaker is Fraemz, but it seems that will not be ported to InDesign -- creator Greg, one of the Borderguys <http://www.borderguys.com> comments: "Adobe users in general are not purchases or plugins. They have not been trained."
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Panergy recently announced upgrades to two of its programs (icWord and icExcel) that give Mac users the ability to open, read, export, and print Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. icWord 3.0 will open and view PowerPoint presentations, offers better opening and saving capabilities with AppleWorks files, gives more conversion options, and displays and saves NisusWriter files. icWord version 3.0 also offers better support of fields and large tables, improved viewing of RTF documents, improved font substitution, and enhanced WordArt rendering. icExcel 2.0 shows and saves spreadsheets in Excel XML format; displays Excel text boxes, Word Art, and various other elements, offers improved printing with Mac OS 8.6 and 9.x; recognizes quoted text upon opening files; and gives improved functionality with AppleWorks files. See <http://www.panergy-software.com>
6. HINTS
========
If you are having trouble with Eras or Optima fonts, check that they aren't versions made by Adobe prior to 1992. These used a "hybrid" outline format with two sets of outlines, one for low-res the other for high res. It is a format is no longer supported by Adobe.
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OpenOffice 1.1, which does a reasonable job of opening Word files, has a built-in PDF creator.
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Confused selecting borders of tables within InDesign: clicking on a border in the stroke proxy window selects or deselects the individual border, double-clicking on a border selects the border and any adjoining borders, and triple-clicking selects or deselects all borders.
7. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
=========================
The AppleScript Sourcebook has released Bert Altenburg's primer on AppleScript, "AppleScript for Absolute Starters" (AS4AS). This free PDF booklet covers the basics of AppleScript in Mac OS X 10.2 "Jaguar" in "a slow-paced way". See details at <http://www.applescriptsourcebook.com/tips/AS4AS.html>
8. LAST WORD
============
It sounded a little fishy to us, but it's true -- InDesign's spell check doesn't like "carpark" as one word, so it suggests separating it -- as carp ark. However it does hyphenate the word correctly.
Gordon Woolf
The Worsley Press
Hastings, Australia.