1. Desktop Publishing Lesson 6 — Publishing a Document

2. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document2 Objectives  Plan for publication.  Perform prepress checks.  Set properties for desktop printing.  Enable trapping.  Print a composite and color separations.  Save a file for commercial printing.  Deliver files to a commercial printer.

3. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document3 Plan for Publication  There are factors to consider before beginning a project, including The page size of the publication. The paper stock to be used. How the document will be bound if applicable. The number of colors to be used. The number of copies to print. The available budget.  You also need to determine how the document will be published in the planning stage.

4. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document4 Select a Publication Method  You can use a desktop printer if You only need a few copies. The budget is tight.  Quality will depend on the specific printer being used. You also need to account for ink and paper costs.  You might use a copy shop if You need to produce many copies. The budget is tight. You need it in a hurry.  Quality is determined by the copy equipment being used. Binding options may be limited.  You would use a commercial printer if You want the absolute highest quality. The budget can afford hiring a printer.

5. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document5 Select a Commercial Printer  Questions to ask your printer include What color system will be used? In what format does the printer want the project: disk files or hard copy? Does the project need to be in a particular format, such as PostScript? Can the printer get the paper that you want to use? Does the printer have the required binding facilities? What type of composite proof does the printer require? Does the printer require printer’s spreads or reader’s spreads?

6. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document6 Perform Prepress Checks – Check Page Design  Some programs have a design checker utility that looks for page layout errors. It may find grammar and spelling errors. It may find text boxes that contain too much text to display.  Design checkers can usually check all pages or specific pages.  Although it varies by program, this feature may be found on the Tools menu in many programs.

7. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document7 A Design Checker Dialog Box This figure shows a dialog box that may appear when a design checker utility finds what may be an error. It indicates what the suspected problem is and recommends some possible solutions. You can ignore the problem or fix it, and the checker will then look for the next problem.

8. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document8 Perform Prepress Checks – Print Page Proofs  You should always print a sample copy of a publication, called a proof.  Do this before sending a document to a commercial printer or copy shop.  Examine the proof carefully, looking for spelling and grammar errors that were not caught by the spell or design checker.  Look for layout problems such as misaligned objects, missing objects, missing text, or color problems that may not show up on screen.

9. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document9 Controlling Proof Printing Many Print dialog boxes have options to control how you print your document proof. You may want to print at a lower quality (called draft quality) to save ink. If you are looking for text-related errors, you may choose not to print graphics, only text.

10. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document10 Set Properties for Desktop Printing  Print properties control how a publication prints on your printer.  There are two categories of properties: Printer options – These are specific to the printer being used. Print options – These are specific to the program being used and the document being printed.  Print properties are set via the Print dialog box. Available options may vary by program.  There is usually a Setup or Properties button that allows you to access the printer options.

11. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document11 A Print Settings Dialog Box This dialog box has two tabs. The current tab, Publication Options, is used to set print options. The other tab, Device Options, is used to set printer options. The options that you can set in any Print Settings dialog box depend on the program and printer that you are using.

12. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document12 Commonly Used Print Properties  Printer  Number of Copies  Collate  Print range  Orientation  Reverse  Printer’s marks  Fonts  Page setup  Graphics or Proof  Print Quality  Color

13. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document13 Enable Trapping  When adjoining colors are not aligned correctly, there may be gaps or overlaps.  Trapping is a method of preventing that problem.  Most programs have an automatic trapping feature that you can turn on or off.  You can adjust the default settings to fine-tune the trapping process. You can change the trapping width, for example.  Methods for setting trapping settings vary by program.

14. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document14 Trapping Preferences Dialog Box This figure shows a typical Trapping properties dialog box where you can customize the settings to be used. Although it varies by program, this box or one like it can usually be opened from the Tools menu.

15. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document15 Prepare a Composite and Color Separations  Most commercial printers will want a composite copy of the document. This is a version printed on a desktop printer that looks exactly like the final product should look.  You may also have to provide color separations. A separation is a page for each color for every page in the publication. It shows where each specific process or spot color prints on each page. Separations are usually printed in black.

16. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document16 Set Up a File for Commercial Printing Some programs require you to set up a file for commercial printing. If so, you will see a dialog box similar to this one. You select the type of printing process to be used and then click OK.

17. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document17 Print Separations Options for printing color sepa- rations can usually be found in the Print or the Print Properties dialog box. You can usually choose to print all colors or to select individual colors to print.

18. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document18 Save a File for Commercial Printing  Before delivering your file to a commercial printer, you must save it in a format that the printer can use. Many commercial printers now accept PageMaker and Publisher native files.  You must be sure to include all fonts and graphics used in the publication.  Many programs have a tool or utility to prepare a file for a service provider. This sometimes packs all required files into one compressed file.  Some printers require files to be in PostScript format. Most programs can save files in this format.

19. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document19 Pack the Publication Files  The printer must be able to access all files, graphics, and fonts to reproduce the document accurately.  Many desktop publishing programs have a utility to pack all files into a common set of folders or a single file.  They usually also produce a file list that may be required by your printer.  The method for using this feature varies widely by program.

20. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document20 Save a PostScript File  Most programs have the ability to convert native files into PostScript format.  To do this, they use a PPD that describes the features of the printer that will be used to print the document. Your printer can tell you what printer and what PPD to use.  The method for doing this varies by program.

21. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document21 Deliver Files to a Commercial Printer  Files can usually be delivered to the printer in two ways: Removable media – This includes floppy disks, CD- ROM or CD-RW format, Zip disks, or other storage devices. Electronically – Send files via the Internet or some other electronic transfer medium.  Some printers prefer to receive a single compressed file instead of a whole set of files. Use common compression utilities to do this. This also saves transfer time if they are being sent over the Internet or phone line.

22. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document22 Summary  You can use a desktop printer to publish a document if you need only a few copies or are concerned about the cost.  You can have a copy shop reproduce a publica- tion if you need many copies, are in a hurry, and are concerned about the cost.  You should have a commercial printer publish a document if you want the best quality, need many copies, have special printing requests, and have enough money in the budget.

23. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document23 Summary (continued)  Before printing, you should check the spelling and design in a publication.  Some programs have a design checker utility that can locate problems such as too much text in a text box or double spaces after punctuation.  You set print properties to control the way a document prints, but the properties vary depend- ing on your printer, your desktop publishing program, and the publication.  Commercial printers usually require a composite proof and separations.

24. Lesson 6 – Publishing a Document24 Summary (continued)  Trapping helps eliminate gaps and overlaps between adjoining colors.  Many programs have a utility that automatically prepares a file for commercial printing.  You may have to save a file in PostScript format for your commercial printer.  You can deliver a publication file to a commercial printer on disk or electronically.  In some cases, you must deliver font and graphics files as well.