First we realized Desktop Publishing itself turns 25 this year, then it was Photoshop that also turns 20 in 2010 and now this:

Adobe InDesign 10 Years on the Creative Desktop!

http://www.indesign10anniversary.com/

Need to preflight or convert to or from Adobe InDesign, then Markzware is your source to free your content. Adobe InDesign Plug-ins and world-class applications that have been with InDesign and DTP every step of the way… Markzware.

Happy birthday InDesign!

DTP software ripens at 25!
anno 1985…

There is a little discussion going on over at the Linkedin Group called, “Group of Prepress, Print & Color Management Professionals“. Had to do with this post we did, “Quark caters Quickly to gap in service to printers left by Adobe“. Basically, those users that commented are fine with Adobe and it’s service level, even though many others, such as Frank Romano, who are a bit peeved at Adobe neglecting the market that formed DTP really. Then there was this neat little comment on that Linked in Group, which got me thinking about the interesting history of page layout applications and desktop publishing in general:

“Quark is the modern day Aldus!”
Quote by: Willie Soto Freelance Graphic Designer

If that is so, then the circle of Desktop Publishing (DTP) is near completion! Especially when you look at the history of this all important field…  Read more... (768 words, 4 images, estimated 3:04 mins reading time)

History of Desktop Publishing or DTP software -
Aldus, Adobe, Macromedia and Quark – 25 years in the making…
—

• 1985 – Aldus Corp releases PageMaker for the Macintosh in July 1985, and relied on Adobe’s PostScript page description language.

- Here was a great article about PageZephyr over on TechNewsWorld, with deeper insights into the desktop search and extraction capabilities this technology and app offers for proprietary page layout documents like Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress; expanding where Spotlight stops. Here is just a sniplet from this detailed and insightful piece titled, “PageZephyr Sees What Spotlight Can’t“:

“Considering the length of time programs like Quark and InDesign have been in the market and the key role search plays in almost every facet of computer use, one might think a program like PageZephyr would have been introduced long ago, but it wasn’t.”
SOURCE: http://www.technewsworld.com

See full story here:

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/68966.html

We all have our mental or even physical check-lists for preparing print files and hopefully you use a true preflight software to help with that process. (Preflighting is helpful for a print checklist or printable checklists). Here is a good check list, in this article titled, “Digital Prepress Checklist.” This one section of it, is what I wanted to highlight:

Design & Pre-Press Checklist:

• Do not use Publisher or Quark. Stick to Adobe Products.
• Remember, Photoshop is for photos. Illustrator is for illustrations. InDesign is for Page Layout.
• Do not enlarge images beyond 120% of original size when placing it in your document.
• Do not use images downloaded from Google. Read second sections of post.
• Do not use compression methods (i.e. LZW or JPEG) on placed images for output.
• Do not use RGB images whenever possible. Convert them to CMYK.

Source: http://www.printedbyerik.com/2009/11/digital-prepress-checklist/

Wow. Is this someone Adobe sponsors or did I miss the boat and is Quark no longer used by thousands and thousands of publishers and layout artists? In any event good tips for the rest and, we offer data conversion tools for ALL of the above. If it is in InDesign you need to be from a Quark or Microsoft Publisher file, then just check these tools out, including our newly released search and extraction tool for page layout content:  Read more... (283 words, estimated 1:08 mins reading time)

Every once in a while, we hear people looking for, Adobe Publisher! Now we know they really mean Microsoft Publisher or wait, did they mean Adobe InDesign? Nine times out of ten though it is someone who needs Publisher to InDesign conversion to get an indd file and are looking for the InDesign Plugin, PUB2ID (Mac or Win; $199) from Markzware.

Since this just happened today and it’s Friday, I thought it as good as any time to share this little tidbit of page layout information. You can try an InDesign demo by clicking here and a Microsoft Publisher demo by clicking here. No matter which you end up using, an InDesign file extension or MSPUB, we are here to help you free your content!

Here was an interesting Tweet I came across on a Twitter Watch List for InDesign which has an in-depth report with reviews for alternative desktop publishing or DTP applications for a Mac.

It is long, but interesting and starts with:

“You probably recognize this class of software I’m reviewing now as Desktop Publishing (DTP). Page layout tools allow a designer to arrange artwork, photography and type into a meaningful and attractive composition. Usually the features allow a designer to flow text across multiple pages and around artwork, exercise special control over type and other details, and make accurate and easy adjustments to anything in the publication. Better programs offer ways to make templates and master pages that can be used over and over, and for serious professional level work, they support different colour spaces (RGB for screen production and CMYK and spot colours for designing press ready materials).

In my professional life I use InDesign CS4 daily, and really like its features and tools. I have a very high regard for Adobe’s typesetting engine which has automatic optical kerning and a fantastic paragraph composer that sets text with real grace. I will be using this as my professional measure to compare and contrast the contenders in the review.”
Source: http://jonwhipple.com/blog/2009/08/08/laying-it-all-out/  Read more... (899 words, 1 image, estimated 3:36 mins reading time)

John Cruise from MacLife Magazine reviews Adobe CS4 (Adobe Mac), with which Markzware products can interact.

The decade-old InDesign, which is the de facto standard for print page design, has pushed the envelope of print page layout software by introducing many new features read more here….

Last week we went over “Preflighting 101 – Part 2; Common Issues- images“.  Those of you who know how to design layout already know that various layout problems can occur.  How many times has someone asked you, “Please design my layout,” after they encountered typical layout problems with their initial efforts to design a layout or a problem with layout elements? Today we will delve into another very important and often over-looked area of document quality control – that of the design layout itself.

II d. Layout Problems

Color Usage
There are a few layouts problems in which there are situations where colors should be analyzed during preflighting. The first issue is the use of too many colors (common with designers who design own layout creations). If you have a document that uses both process color and spot colors and want to avoid a print layout problem, you need to make sure your print vendor can print the number of colors used. A good rule is to limit yourself to a total of six colors. This means that if you have process CMYK elements in your document, you will only want to use two additional spot colors. This is assuming that your print vendor can run six different colors. Again, this is the reason it is necessary to check with your printer and find out how many different colors can be printed during a single press fun. Also, normally you will have been quoted for a “2-colour” job or a “4-color” job, which you should adhere to.  Read more... (1268 words, estimated 5:04 mins reading time)