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February 12, 2007

Early arrivals shared pizza, cookies, sodas and conversation in the Auditorium Lobby, amid ship models, memorial plaques, and posters informing us on the history and activities of the U.S. Navy.

The theme of the evening’s meeting was “Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).” A list of questions submitted in advance by our members was the basis, but additional questions from the audience were welcome. The panel moderator was Chapter Rep Ken Chaletzky (Copy General). The panelists were Scott Citron (New York designer and Adobe Certified Instructor), Noha Edell (Adobe), Urszula Witherell, and Mike Witherell (InDesign instructors). Also participating was Tim Conrad, Adobe’s Government Accounts Manager.

Here’s a brief summary of the FAQs discussed:

• Building complex indexes. Urszula reminded us that humans need to be involved in evaluating relevant paragraphs, phrases, and concepts that are larger than the few-word entries automation can provide. Scott recommended hiring indexing experts if the project can support that; he also suggest considering Sonar Bookends, from Virginia Systems (www.virginiasystems.com); he feels this product is the most comprehensive indexing software for InDesign 2 (ID2).
  
  
• InBooklet SE. Because the InBooklet SE function in ID2 was created by a company no longer independently owned, there would not be any upgrades to this specific products. In the future, Adobe will have to find another way to support “page imposition” (setting up of printer spreads as opposed to reader spreads) for desktop review and publication. Other software products are currently available for more advanced needs. (Try searching the Web using “imposition” and “InDesign”.)
  
  
• Becoming an Adobe Certified Expert. The panelists generally agreed that Certification as an Adobe Instructor or Expert is a nice accomplishment—and a required one if you hope to teach directly for Adobe—but not essential. Mike suggested reviewing the CD in “ID2 Classroom in a Book” which has a PDF describing the details of certification. Scott described his own trials getting certified. There are many routes to acquiring the knowledge and practice necessary to pass the test (which currently costs $150 to take at a local testing service) including 4-day intensive camp and software, which will fire questions at you. If you have experience and know both the user manual and the Classroom in a Book, you will likely pass the test with no problems.
  
  
• Keyboard shortcuts. Keyboard shortcuts are available for many tasks, including toggling between two views of a document, say normal and enlarged (you choose): on the Mac, Command+= (equals sign) will zoom in, Command+- (minus sign) will zoom out, and Option+Command+2 will zoom to the previous view. Similar commands are available for the PC. Mike talked about using Command or Ctrl with the Spacebar and dragging with the mouse to navigate the document image. Scott recommended a two-button mouse, and showed us how to program the wheel for multiple-application navigation.
  
  
• Color spaces. A question about transparency and desktop printing of drop shadows prompted a discussion of Color Spaces, which should all be matching, or “synchronized.” You can do this through Adobe Bridge if it was installed before the other programs in CS2, but that will leave out Acrobat 7. Mike prefers to start with Photoshop and then align all the other programs to it by using Edit > Color Settings in the others. Learning to use the Flattener Preview (which shows you a raster preview of your output) may help you avoid some transparency issues. Also, work closely with your printer, since each physical printing device is different. If you are unsure about using the Pantone Matching System (PMS), take a sample of the color you want, printed on paper, to your printer who will work with you to achieve that color. Calibrating your local monitor and printer with a colorimeter or spectrophotometer will be helpful, too, but not perfect.
  
  While we’re at it, two-monitor systems are now in the “affordable” category, and most new computers are set up to handle them; the panel agreed that the extra screen real estate is worth the price. Meanwhile, you might align your working palettes in one area, reserving the main part of your display separately (not under the palettes). For more detail on all the color management options available in ID and CS2, look at “Real World Color Management,” by Bruce Frazer, Chris Murphy, and Fred Bunting (http://www.colorremedies.com/realworldcolor).
  
  Though there was disagreement from the audience, the panel seemed to agree that working in RGB color space with its wider gamut (i.e., wider range of usable color) for as long as possible in your project seems to keep the colors fresher—as opposed to translating everything to CMYK in various phases of the project. Most desktop and high-end printers have Raster Image Processors (RIPs, the programs that turn your work into printer dots) that handle input in the RGB color space.
  
  
• Importing equations. Many in the audience receive input documents in Microsoft Word, and some have mathematical formulae and equations that were created using the “Equation Editor” in Word, and more of which have used “Math Type,” a feature that creates EPS illustrations for your document. Importing those files into InDesign was the source of numerous issues. Printing problems can occur when you don’t have the same fonts that the EPS elements were created with. A solution is to require (harass, standardize, etc.) that the formulae be created with fonts that your authors and you can agree on.
  
  
• Noha asked one participant to send her some problem files for evaluation by Adobe experts: When creating PDF and EPS files from ID2, the user’s output has different line weights for “hairline” elements. Transparency and “rounding errors” were suggested as possible causes, and Ken pointed out that output resolution and “starting point” on the printed page might make a difference: a hairline started on a 300 dpi printer’s “grid” might be different than on a 600 or 1200 dpi printer’s grid. But this user’s experience confirmed that the line weight in the data file, i.e., in the PDF and EPS files, was actually different.

• InDesign CS2 PDF Prepress Notes
  Download [PDF: 132 KB]  

• InDesign to HTML. Currently, the best way to get from ID2 to HTML is to go through XML, which is Adobe’s preferred exchange format.
  
  
• Problems with Small Caps and special ligatures. “Wonky” typefaces can occur when using the “Small Caps” character generator instead of a font that has true small caps (like Open Type or an Expert Set). One suggestion from Scott, for the Mac, was to clear out the font cache file using outside software. In any case, changing the default 70% reduction size for the small caps character generator to 80% creates characters, which are more correctly weighted. A similar question about unwanted special ligatures was directed toward the Open Type options in the Character Palette.
  
  
• Database publishing. A recommendation for a good tool for creating long and complex catalogues from a relational database is “Easy Catalog CS2.1.3” (http://www.65bit.com/home/home.shtm). InData from em software (www.emsoftware.com/products/indata/) is another well-respected plug-in.
  
  
• Old master-page items showing on new pages. In some cases where “old” master-page (MP) items show up on new pages, you might check for the following:
  - items which were detached from the master page for modification;
  - a leftover frame on a master page which is now empty (or not!);
  - a “based-on” master page, the source for which has items in place.
  
  
• Discrepancies between desktop proofs and commercial vendor proofs. If your office printer is not a true Postscript printer and you get errors or mistakes on it that do not appear when your print vendor send proofs back, you probably need a real Postscript RIP. Postscript “emulators” do not do a complete job.

Lucky audience members received Adobe books, copies of Adobe software, and some very nice writing portfolios: I got one of those! Thanks.

Meeting Notes prepared by Scott Upright.

Ken Chaletzky
Copy General Corp.
Washington, D.C. Chapter Representative

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