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*** DesignGeek ***
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Tips and techniques for the digital designer
In this issue:
-- Free History Menu for InDesign
-- Why Photoshop PDFs Rule
-- Quark Lowers Prices
-- Last Chance to Register for the Adobe Conference
Issue 24, 7/7/04
Written by Anne-Marie "HerGeekness" Concepcion
... for her clients, colleagues, random contacts and interested subscribers
© 2004 Seneca Design & Training, Inc.
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Free History Menu for InDesign
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It's so very cool that InDesign has an unlimited number of Undo's. Until you need to use them.
The problem is you can only Undo one step at a time -- there's no History palette, thus, no way to click on a 'state" ten or twenty steps back. Just gotta keep on pressing that old friend, Command/Ctrl-Z, over and over again till you arrive at the point right before you screwed something up.
You can get a bit more control if you don't mind using the menu command, Edit->Undo, instead of the keyboard shortcut. The Edit menu tells you which action is on the chopping block: Undo Typing, Undo Scale, Undo Deletion of a Mess of Pages You Shouldn't Have Trashed You Imbecile, Undo Typing, like that.
65bit Software, an InDesign software developer from the UK, leveraged the program's internal tracking and turned it into a *free* plug-in called MultiDo. It's been available since January for InDesign v2.X, but they recently upgraded it to work with InDesign CS. Both versions, in Mac and Windows permutations, can be downloaded here:
http://www.65bit.com/products/multido/multido.shtm
MultiDo adds two dropdown menus to the Edit menu: Undo Multiple and Redo Multiple. They slip nicely into place directly below InDesign's regular Undo and Redo menu items.
Each of MultiDo's menus lists up to 100 of your undoable/redoable actions, the same information that InDesign already knows about, and would tell you eventually if you chose Edit->Undo over and over. The cool thing is that because of the menus, you can simply choose an action that's 10, 20 or 76 steps back, instead of having to click the keyboard shortcuts that many times.
Muchisimas gracias, 65bit.
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Why Photoshop PDFs Rule
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Most designers are aware that for the past few years, Photoshop has had the ability to keep track of vector data (crisp PostScript paths for live text and shapes) as well as raster data (pixels from regular paint layers) in the same file. When you print your layered .psd file from Photoshop, it sends the vector info along with the raster info to your printer, resulting in sharp type even at very small sizes.
Did you know the same thing is true of Photoshop PDFs? Even after being being imported into another program and printed/exported from there?
Photoshop has no other cross-application/platform format that maintains the vector data in layers. Not even its own native format, .psd, can maintain vector data when the .psd is printed or exported from a page layout program.
Try it and see. Create a Photoshop file and add some live type on top of a paint layer. Don't rasterize or flatten the type. Save one version of the layered file in the native Photoshop (.psd) format, then do a Save As, choosing the .tif format, and finally, one more Save As, this time choosing "Photoshop PDF" format. Be sure to turn on "Include Vector Data" in the Photoshop PDF options dialog, of course.
Place/import these images into a new, blank InDesign or QuarkXPress v6 file. (InDesign can place all three, Quark 6 will be able to import the PDF and the .tiff, not the .psd.) Then print your file from that program to a PostScript printer or export the file to PDF format.
Look at the type with a loupe in the print out, or open the exported PDF in Acrobat or Reader and zoom in to the edges of the type in each placed image. If you're using Acrobat 6, the Loupe zoom tool is perfect for this.
You'll find that the type in the imported Photoshop PDF image is as crisp and clear as can be; all the other formats show the type has been rasterized: Blurry, anti-aliased, pixellated edges. The rasterization takes place when the layout file goes through the PostScripting process, but apparently, the type and vector shape layers in the Photoshop PDF are impervious to rasterization.
I was pleasantly surprised to find the type outlines even survived their trip through "Jaws" -- Quark 6's licensed Export to PDF function -- which can only create flattened PDF 1.3 files.
I tried breaking the Photoshop PDF's format's back: I added layer effects to the type layer in Photoshop. I overlaid blocks of color, set to 50% opacity, over some of the PDF text in InDesign. I tried making the placed PDF itself 20% opaque (again in InDesign). I did all three at once; but nothing I did resulted in rasterized type at output. Crisp outlines always. Amazing.
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Tiplet for Windows users
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When you Save As in Photoshop and choose the Photoshop PDF format, you have a choice of saving the file with either a PDF or a PDP extension. If you use the PDP extension, the file is a PDF but Windows knows to open it in Photoshop (as opposed to Acrobat or Reader) -- a time-saver when you use a page layout program's Edit Original (image) feature. Mac users don't have to worry about this; Photoshop PDFs always open in Photoshop, even if "normal" PDFs are set to open in Acrobat, Reader or Preview.
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Quark Lowers Prices
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Now, don't get too excited, the SRP for QuarkXPress 6.X is still $1,045.00 (USD).
But they've lowered their price in two specific areas: Dual licensing and Educational discounts.
Regarding dual licensing: It's now free. Can't get any lower than that. You can get two activation codes, one for your main computer, another for, say, your laptop. They can't be run concurrently. Quark's new policy represents an elimination of their previous $75 fee for the second activation code, and brings it up to par with Adobe's policy.
Dual Licensing Details:
http://www.quark.com/products/xpress/purchase/dual.html
The new education discounts are a special, limited-time promotion deal, according to Quark. Students and instructors can get a full running version of QuarkXPress 6.0 for $199; upgrades for $99. (The fine print says that "trade-ups" for educational licenses must be purchased at the standard retail price. I'm not quite sure what the difference is between an upgrade and a trade-up.) And Lab-Paks are now $99 a seat. Remember, it's a limited time deal. No, they don't mention a deadline.
Education Discount Promotion Details:
http://www.quark.com/sales/desktop/promotions/educational/
How fun it was to type that headline: "Quark Lowers Prices'. There, I did it again.
The free market at work, eh?
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Last Chance to Register for the Adobe Conference
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[Reprising a story from the last issue, in case you missed it. The Conference is this Tuesday, 7/13/04. --AM]
If you work in the design/publishing field, use any Adobe software product, and are within spitting distance of Chicago, this conference is for you. Even if you're not blessed to work/live on the "best coast," pay attention, because the conference may be hitting a town by you in the future.
Adobe is debuting their first "Partners in Publishing" Conference and Expo in Chicago from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 13, 2004, and you're all invited at no charge, though you do have to sign up.
Official details, full agenda and attendee registration:
http://adobe.regsvc.com/tk/?site=430g
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Good News
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Did I say it's free? Including a complimentary lunch for attendees? And they're giving away prizes. Also, oh yeah, you can learn something about Adobe software; there's some great seminars (details below).
Plus when the seminars get boring, you can check out all the new, cool plug-ins, add-ons and support services for the Adobe Creative Suite software because local and national "partners," including yours truly, will be set up at tables in the expo hall.
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Best News
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This is not your typical Adobe marketing event, where "seminars" are actually local reps running through the software. (Hey, I love those guys, they're entertaining and they know their stuff, but if I have to see Nested Styles demo'd with that same old brochure one more time, I'll keel over.)
Instead, speakers will be actual end users -- people from Land's End, Quarasan, Young & Rubicam and others -- telling it like it really is, as well as "industry pundits" who seldom make it over to our neck of the woods.
Check out these seminars:
-- Russ Brown, one of the original developers of Photoshop, and currently Adobe Creative Director (okay I guess you could call him a rep), will do a seminar called "Adobe Photoshop CS: The Russell Brown Power Hour." I've heard him speak before and can assure you that *this seminar alone* is reason enough to attend the conference.
-- Lynda Weinman of lynda.com and the H.O.T. training videos is presenting "From Print to Web with GoLive CS." I have every one of her Designing Web Graphics books. I thought she was a Dreamweaver gal, so it'll be interesting hearing what she has to say about my favorite web authoring program.
-- Mordy Golding, past Illustrator product manager and current author and pre-press consultant, is doing a seminar called "Hidden Secrets of Illustrator CS." I plan on madly scribbling down the best of these for future DesignGeek issues, hope that's okay with you Mordy. (He's also a DesignGeek subscriber.) I love how the home page of Mordy's web site, http://www.mordy.com, cautions: "This site best viewed with a computer."
-- Me! That's right, Anne-Marie "HerGeekness" Concepcion will be doing the presentation on InDesign CS, "Moving to InDesign: Tips and Techniques from the Trenches." I'll cover the topic from the perspective of a designer and studio manager, and my co-presenter, James Wamser from Sells Printing in Milwaukee, WI will follow up with a commercial printer's perspective.
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Urgent News
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They're saying that space is limited, so be sure to register for the event asap. I know, I know, they always say that, but from what I saw at the recent Mac Design Conference (which was mobbed), also held in Chicago, graphic industry pros in the midwest jump on opportunities like this. Hope they're shipping in enough ribs and bratwurst for the lunch.
So you don't have to scroll, here's the agenda/registration link again:
http://adobe.regsvc.com/tk/?site=430g
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TRAINING FROM SENECA GOES ON AND ON AND ON...
All of our design software training includes 3 years of 24/7 follow-up support from me by phone or e-mail for each student in the session. It's like having your own personal consultant at your beck and call. Clients love it for getting a quick answer, or when they're working outside of "normal" business hours, when Adobe or Quark's tech support departments are closed.
This phenomenal level of support is just one of the benefits I offer to training clients. To learn more, contact me or fill out the no-obligation "Request a Training Quote' form on Seneca's site:
http://www.senecadesign.com/training/request.html
Recent training clients include Serta (Photoshop); Awana Clubs International (OS X, InDesign); BBDO Chicago (InDesign); S & C Electric (InDesign); Emergency Nurses Association (Quark 6, Photoshop CS and Illustrator CS); McDougal Littell (InDesign); the Chicago Cubs (Quark 6) and Phototype Engraving (Illustrator CS).
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DesignGeek is a free bimonthly publication written by Anne-Marie "HerGeekness" Concepcion, a cross-media designer and authorized Adobe and Quark training provider. She owns Seneca Design & Training, Inc. in Chicago, Illinois (http://www.senecadesign.com/).
To subscribe to DesignGeek or read archived issues, go to its home on Seneca's site: http://www.senecadesign.com/designgeek/subscribe.html
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Contact Seneca by phone at 312-946-1100 or e-mail at info@senecadesign.com
Copyright 2004 by Seneca Design & Training, Inc.
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