Archived V.I.P. Content
2008
InPreflight vs. FlightCheck Test — Buying advice
To see how well InPreflight and FlightCheck Professional 6.x actually are, I ran a test on one InDesign file. As InPreflight is not available for QuarkXPress, the application’s value for QuarkXPress workflows could not be determined.
The file I tested contained a trapping error, several font errors, colour space errors and several linked images that were no longer available. I exported this file to a Certifed PDF (PDF/x-1a:2001). Then, as a reference, I ran this PDF file through PitStop Professional 08.
When do you need a Font Server?
Market size: Font servers can be useful for workgroups as small as 5 people, but in such small workgroups individual, desktop-based font management may suffice. The decision to implement a font server will depend on the workgroup’s workflow.
Matching atomic content structures to a system
The AP report of June 2008 starts from the axiom that you already have an online presence that is well-established, which probably also means you will have a system in place that you can manage your content and design with. Since making sure the content becomes more palatable and attractive entails both design and content, the first thing to do is to examine whether your system is up to the challenge.
With many small to medium-sized publishers using a custom-developed system that bolts the layout and editing application to the online Content Management System (CMS), chances are most of these publishers will have to re-think their technology strategy because a loosely integrated system may not be flexible enough to accommodate for the new model.
Five rules to migrate a printed publication to an online one
Rule #1: You can simply migrate your printed publication-wide architecture and structure but you shouldn’t do that with the in-depth structure.
What this means is that you can use your main sections the way they are presented in the printed magazine --e.g. “News”, “Editorial"-- but you should seriously think over the use of vertical sections. Vertical sections are what bloggers call “categories”, and categories --or a taxonomy of topics if you will-- are very important to organise and manage atomic topics.
For example, you could have a “Lifestyle” section in your printed publication where you start with news on its first page, intermingled with an opinion piece and a start of a background article. On the web, you can re-use this visual structure, but your news item should be a category with background information on the new item created and stored in a separate category that the news story can relate to.
How Medium-sized Publishers See Publishing Evolve
Cross-media and dynamic publishing are two growth markets identified by Frost & Sullivan as well as other analysts. Many large companies and publishers are already turning towards technologies which support cross-media and dynamic publishing. They are buying or are planning to buy systems that integrate the complete workflow from concept over authoring to output into different channels.
Archived Public Content
2005
Rolleiflex/Sinarback Digital Super Package
In cooperation with Sinar AG, Franke & Heidecke GmbH now launches a unique digital super package: Rolleiflex 6008 AF and Sinarback eMotion22 make a high-end combination with 22 million pixels.
Digital Asset Management Applications Review
When Apple released its Aperture software, the presentation on the web site and the touted capabilities rose high expectations. During the past few days, those expectations have been subdued by bugs, performance issues and more nasty behaviour of Apple’s newest “Pro application”. Aperture turns out to be what I called it earlier on this site: a Digital Asset Management software with a high price tag. There is other DAM software available for Macs: Portfolio and iView are excellent examples of DAM programs which are suited to individual use.
In this comparative review, I’m comparing the three DAM solutions for the individual available for Mac OS X. Portfolio 8 has just been released, with iView Media Pro 3 hitting the streets a few weeks earlier. Let’s start with Portfolio.
European Union To Boost Competitiveness of the European Print Industry
The publishing industry as the Commission defines it in its staff working paper comprises four sectors:
- Newspapers (37% of output)
- Magazines and journals (32%)
- Directories and databases (6%)
Online media, though growing in importance, are not part of the publishing industry regulation by the Commission.
HP DesignJet 4500 Hits the Streets
On December first, HP announced the introduction of the HP Designjet 4500 Printer series. These DesignJet printers make unattended colour production a viable and cost-effective choice for technical markets and reprographics.
Memory Cards Comparative Review
Digital cameras need memory cards to store photos. One is useless without the other. Professional dSLRs require professional memory cards, usually CompactFlash format while midrange cameras often work with SD cards which are much smaller than CompactFlash cards. But if you thought SD cards are amateur-style and CompactFlash is professional gear, you’re wrong. An increasing number of professional dSLR cameras accept SD cards. Which makes one wonder: what does professional-grade amount to in the world of memory cards?
Miglia EvolutionTV
Featuring MPEG-2/4 and DivX hardware compression, EvolutionTV is British Miglia’s digital video recorder for the Mac. EvolutionTV is a modestly sized aluminium device that comes with a remote control. The case features a large infrared “eye” and a green LED so you know it’s working. It is a USB 2 device and so needs external power --in contrast with most of Miglia’s other multimedia hardware, which draws power from the FireWire bus.
Genuine Fractals Print Pro 4.1
Genuine Fractals Print Pro 4.1 is onOne Software’s Photoshop plug-in that allows you to scale photographs for printed output. The product is claimed to be better than Photoshop’s own bi-cubic feature.
Digital Film Tools 55mm v6 filters
{REL[55][splash]By4rL3oKREL}Digital Film Tools is an off-shoot of a Los Angeles based motion picture visual effects facility. Their work includes hundreds of feature films, commercials and television shows. Digital Film Tools’ President Marco Paolini won different awards, and so did his colleague Peter Moyer, who owns Film Works.
Kodak P880 AEL/AFL
The more one uses the Kodak P880 the more there is to be surprised about in the positive sense. Professional and semi-professional quality cameras have auto focus and auto exposure built-in, but also allow you to set these manually. The Kodak P880 has these features, and has the ability to mix things.
Design for the Scent of Information
Jared Spool is CEO and co-founder of User Interface Engineering (UIE), a think tank. They advise clients how to design their browser-based systems for the best information retrieval experience possible. This includes web sites, but also knowledge management systems --nowadays better known as enterprise content management systems.
Macromedia Fireworks 8
Fireworks 8 is Macromedia’s last iteration of this vector-based bitmap editor for the web, forming part of Studio 8. The question is whether Fireworks is better than other editors for the purpose it’s been developed for. The new version probably is.
Carrara 5 Pro Review
Carrara is Eovia’s 3D animation and modelling program. Carrara is especially well suited for 3D beginners, packaging, advertising, and to some extent multimedia. In the last few iterations of Carrara, Eovia expanded the program’s capabilities in more than one area. But the application itself largely remained the same. Carrara 5 is a break with the past. In more than one respect.
DuPont Cromalin Largo at Viscom Exhibition
DuPont Colour Communication announces Cromalin Largo at Viscom Exhibition (Booth D06C05), scheduled from 10th to 12th of November in Milan, Italy.
Freeway 4: Full CSS Support
Freeway 4 Pro has enhanced and expanded support for CSS. The support glares you in the eye right in the main window --it’s a blue CSS button-- but oddly enough the ways to change CSS layouts with Freeway 4 Pro isn’t immediately obvious without the new CSS primer being written by SoftPress.
Wacom releases wide aspect ratio Intuos 3 graphic tablet
Wacom released the first wide-aspect ratio graphic tablet, the Intuos 3 6x11 model. This tablet suits double-monitor and 16:9 aspect monitors like Apple’s Cinema displays better. The tablet’s active area has the same aspect ratio as these screens; hence the active area covers the screen one-on-one. Wacom says an increasing number of graphics artists use such wide-aspect ratio screens, which was reason enough for them to release this tablet.
Freeway 4 Web Design as in Print
Softpress, the British developer of Freeway 4, claims Freeway is the easiest and yet powerful way to design and develop web sites. I’ve reviewed Freeway in the past, and always found it to be up to the job, but version 4 is something special. You might say Freeway has matured to the point it is very much a viable alternative for Dreamweaver.
DuPont Announces Auto-Calibrating Ink-jet Proofer
DuPont Cromalin b-series is the first and only drop on demand ink-jet proofer that can automatically keep itself calibrated. A robotic calibration module on the inkjet’s print-head includes a specially configured Gretag Eye-One spectro-densitometer that feeds data to the DuPont CromaNet proof server.
Adobe Photoshop CS2 One-on-One
{REL[596100965][splash]By4rL3oKREL}O’Reilly is busy publishing a complete series on creative applications such as Photoshop CS2, and Deke McClelland’s One-on-One tutorial is one of the stars in the series. The book comes with Total Training Video hosted by Deke McClelland himself. The DVD contains over two hours of lessons and companion material.
The Art of Photoshop
{REL[672328100][splash]By4rL3oKREL}Is it a coffee table book or a tutorial? Both perhaps? Indeed, both. Daniel Giordan is a renowned Photoshop artist. He has written, or rather created, a book which can be used as a coffee table book --the first chapters contain a beautiful sample of his art. But it is a tutorial and reference book as well, teaching you how to achieve some of the results in his art pieces.
Photoshop LAB Color
{REL[321356780][splash]By4rL3oKREL}Dan Margulis wrote a book on Photoshop LAB colour and the Canyon conundrum. Margulis calls LAB the most powerful colour space and explains why you should use it to enhance and correct photographs, and not only those that have a canyon as their subject.
Pixadex 2 Review
IconFactory has turned icon drawing into an art and a business. Icons are the visible tokens computer users rely on to see in a blink of an eye what a folder or a file relate to. Pixadex is the joint effort of IconFactory and Panic Software to manage icons.
