FTP, although as reported here, is almost as old as me, is still the preferred and main method of file transfer to the printer:

This was all in a very interesting and detailed production survey for publishers by FOLIO over at FolioMag.com, where we read:

FOLIO:’s 2009 Manufacturing and Production Trends Survey reports what tools—like ad portals, virtual proofing and XML workflows—continue to come into their own and save publishers valuable dollars, as well as those areas that manufacturing and production execs are avoiding. Facing so many challenges this year, it appears that decision makers are remaining status quo and investing only in upgrades that will save big in the long run.
Source: http://www.foliomag.com/2009/folio-s-2009-manufacturing-and-production-trends-survey

Let’s just check out a couple of the color graphics they had, but, much more when you click through and read the entire article…

So prepress is continuing it’s migrating in-house by publishers. No surprise there, as it helps streamline the preflight process (note: FlightCheck Pro v6.5 is shipping with Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, PDF CS4 support and Quark 8 checking – preflight and package with FlightCheck!) – And we see that XML and the conversion to a more readily readable file format is also on the move:  Read more... (202 words, 3 images, estimated 48 secs reading time)

Have you ever heard of PDF/X-5g (see below), an OPI similar prepress workflow involving PDF’s? Here was an interesting download from an Adobe Blog titled, “On the Evolution of PDF” by Jim King. It goes over PDF compatibility issues with Acrobat reader, Acrobat and what will be addressed in the next Adobe update or future Adobe updates. Here was the section that is most relevant us in electronic publishing, prepress and printing:

6.0  PDF Profiles (i.e., subsets)
Many proper profiles of PDF have become ISO standards. They allow support for various vertical markets more effectively than open-ended PDF might. These standards efforts also bring together a group of knowledgeable and experienced people in those vertical markets. Here is the current list of ISO standards that are subsets of PDF:
6.1  PDF/X (ISO 15930) – targeted for prepress workflows.
• ISO 15930-1:2001: PDF/X-1a:2001, Blind exchange in CMYK + Spot Colors, based
on PDF 1.3
• ISO 15930-3:2002: PDF/X-3:2002, Allows CMYK, Spot, Calibrated (managed) RGB,
CIELAB, with ICC Profile, based on PDF 1.3.
• ISO 15930-4:2003: PDF/X-1a:2003, revision of PDF/X-1a:2001 based on PDF 1.4
• ISO 15930-5: PDF/X-2, An extension of PDF/X-3 which allows for OPI-like (external
linked) data to be included
• ISO 15930-6:2003: PDF/X-3:2003, revision of PDF/X-3:2002 based on PDF 1.4
• ISO 15930-7:2008: PDF/X-4, Colour-managed, CMYK, gray, RGB or spot colour data
are supported, as are PDF transparency and optional content. A second conformance
level named PDF/X-4p may be used when the ICC Profile in the output intent is exter-
nally supplied.
• ISO 15930-8:2008 PDF/X-5,a collection of three conformance levels:  Read more... (514 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

Here is an excellent article on how designers and creators can better deal with their printing job providers called, “A Mistake Was Made–Kill the Printer!” Firstly, I learned of this via Linkedin.com from a post to the PrintPlant “Linkedin-group” via fellow member,  Bill Ruesch. (Who said social media was not useful?) I include the numbered points from this article on how to better work with your printer, which will hit home to many. One way to avoid problems is to preflight, using FlightCheck . Read on…

A Mistake Was Made–Kill the Printer!
The question of giving a supplier the boot comes up from time-to-time. Before doing something rash, like firing a previously reliable printer, you should ask yourself  some important questions:  Read more... (741 words, estimated 2:58 mins reading time)

Gotta love Twitter. Caught a RT (Re-Tweet) on Twitter just moments ago where someone was asking if this resource and link here from Adobe (script) was preflight. Well, no, it appears not- just a collect of package script, which could be very useful. Here is how it looked in Twitter:

@colorburned RT's @r27 about preflight wishes in Illustrator

@Markzware informs via 2x RT about FlightCheck for Illustrator

Markzware’s FlightCheck Professional or Designer can also package up the job with all linked images and used fonts AND provide a full preflight of the Illustrator file. Not to mention, it can also check 50+ other file formats. OK, just thought I’d share that. Have a great one- finally feeling like spring around here !

One last pict and once again the cool thing about Twitter, when you actively Tweet. @r27 shared our answer with his “followers” – Cool:

In this blog article from Mark Tennent titled, “The Rival” over on www.itpro.co.uk he highlights Markzware’s position as “the Switzerland” of the graphic arts industry. In part he writes:

Markzware, the go-between
Two other rivals, Quark and Adobe, are very unlikely to ever agree on a common document format which means keeping up with two industry standard packages, both costing many hundreds of pounds. There is a third way, by using the Markzware converters to import inDesign and QuarkXPress files into their respective alternatives.

Markzware have released a new version of their QuarkXPress to inDesign tool (Q2ID v4) here to take into account the latest upgrades of QuarkXPress 8 and inDesign CS4.

We have used the previous versions of the converters, getting inDesign CS files into XPress and vice versa, and they work surprisingly well. There are usually a few little wrinkles to sort out, especially as the new text engine in XPress 7 and 8 seems to make far nicer text than set by inDesign, meaning there will be some text reflowing to attend to. inDesign can also make wider pages than XPress, which foxed us with one book we had to convert.  Read more... (237 words, estimated 57 secs reading time)

Preflight, in the graphic arts sense, is the process of checking a digital document before it goes to plate, print or otherwise output (exported – such as to PDF). It traditionally is a way to check quality before going to the printing press, digital or otherwise, but can also be used to check online banners and gifs. Preflight is best done on the source document, such as those created in Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, QuarkXPress or Corel!Draw as some examples, before becoming a PDF (Portable Document Format). Similar to a pilot whom walks around and performs a pre take-off pre-flight check, preflighting for designers and prepress operators should be a must.

The term preflight was first used during a presentation in 1990 by Chuck Weger, a well know industry consultant. There were some early on postscript (rips) that interperted data and provided a preflight report of sorts. However the first true preflight application came from Markzware and was wisely called FlightCheck another term pilots also use.

Even before FlightCheck® was out on the market, Markzware applied for and was dully granted a U.S. Patent Number 5,963,641 – ‘Device and method for examining, verifying, correcting and approving electronic documents prior to printing, transmission or recording.’  Read more... (508 words, 1 image, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)