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*** DesignGeek ***
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Tips and techniques for the digital designer
In this issue:
-- Buried Treasure on Quark.com
-- Adobe Creative Suite 3 Info
-- InCopy CS3 and InCopyFlow e-zine
Issue 61, 3/30/07
Written by Anne-Marie "HerGeekness" Concepcion
... for her clients, colleagues, random contacts and interested subscribers
(c) 2007 Seneca Design & Training, Inc.
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Buried Treasure on Quark.com
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Assume that the good folks at Quark have written up a number of free PDF white papers for QuarkXPress 7 users. Let's say that each white paper covers a complex topic specific to the new version, like Transparency or Job Jackets or Color Management. Primary source information available nowhere else. In-depth how-to's and workarounds written by Quark themselves, content that anyone working with QuarkXPress 7 files -- from a newbie production freelancer to the company's pre-press manager -- would give their eye-teeth to get their hands on.
Where should Quark post these PDFs for downloading? Go to Quark.com and see if you can find them. They're not on the home page. They're not in the Desktop Support pages, nor any other sections in Support. They don't show up in the Technical Support Database. Missing from the Downloads pages. Maybe in Training > Tips and Tricks? Nope.
But I did see them, once. Searching the site this morning, kicking myself for not bookmarking the page way back when, I feel like Captain Ahab in search of the White Whale. "Aye, matey, the PDFs be near, but they be shy, like a new bride. You scoff, sir, but I tell ye, 'twas nought but two months ago that I first laid mine eyes on them, fair to bulging with screenshots they were. Aye, they be wily creatures, but I can smell them, circling about ... Drink, ye harpooners! Drink and swear, ye users that surf this scurvy site --The white papers will be ours! Arrrr!"
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Harpooned At Last
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Of course, as a current QuarkXPress 7 user, I don't even think to click on the Products link. I already own the product, I already paid for it, why would I look at the Products section. And of course, that's where the white papers are! They're listed in a sidebar called Resource Center, which only appears when you click on the QuarkXPress link in the Products section.
QuarkXPress Resource Center
http://www.quark.com/products/xpress/resourcecenter/
Methinks their web team forgot to include Resource Center in their Support and Training areas. Arrrr.
At the Resource Center you'll find five valuable white papers on special QuarkXPress 7 topics: Color Management, Creating EPS Files, Creating PDF Files, Quark Job Jackets, and Transparency. If you click the sixth link in the sidebar, "Documentation," another page appears listing three more PDFs: "QuarkXPress 7 Best Practices: Transparency" (a duplicate of the other Transparency white paper, so don't bother), "QuarkXPress 7 online glossary" (23-page PDF of Quark jargon and pre-press terms and their definitions), and a seven-page "QuarkXPress 7 Best Practices for Migration" (useful info for upgraders).
I was going to discuss the contents of the five white papers in more detail here, pointing you to the "must-read" pages in each, but the search for them wore me out. Just download them and read them yourselves, okay?
I need a drink ... whar's me rum ...
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Back at that Tips & Tricks Page...
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There actually is a great amount of useful tutorials and tips in the Training section at Quark.com:
QuarkXPress 7 Training Demos
http://www.quark.com/service/desktop/training/training_videos.cfm
Ten Flash videos covering various QuarkXPress 7 topics like Job Jackets and Composition Zones. Registration (free) required.
Insider's Guide to QuarkXPress 7 (PDF with 250 tips)
http://www.quark.com/service/desktop/training/tips/archive.cfm
A nice compilation of tips for QuarkXPress 7, and many tips apply to earlier versions as well. This PDF is available in English, French, German, Italian, or Spanish; and for each language you can download either a high-res (over 40 MB because of chapter opener artwork) or a low-res (700K, lower-res art) version. Don't bother with the high-res, there's no screen shots for any of the tips in either one.
QuarkXPress Tips
http://www.quark.com/service/desktop/training/tips/archive.cfm
Right below the links to download the Insider's Guide (above), there are sixteen links to web-based how-to's such as "Apply Split-Screen View" and "Apply an Embossed Effect to Text." Each technique has step-by-step instructions and a color screenshot or two.
Quark Interactive Designer Movies
http://euro.quark.com/en/service/desktop/training/lynda/
A series of eighteen Quicktime video tutorials on the Quark Interactive Designer product, presented by Ted Locasio and produced by lynda.com.
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And Free XTensions
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Starting the week of April 2, QuarkXPress 7 users can download the full set of ALAP's XPert Tools Pro XTensions from Quark.com and use them free of charge. (It appears that QuarkXPress 6 users will still have to pay for them. Get the message?) The XPert Tools Pro package includes XPert Guides, XPert Item Styles, XPert Scale, and nine more useful add-ons. Details are here:
http://www.quark.com/products/xpress/xtensions/products/xptpro7/
Quark 7 users also get to download three XTensions for XML workflows for free: Avenue.quark, XML Import, and Item Sequence:
http://www.quark.com/products/xpress/xtensions/xml_xtensions.html
Quark 6 users still have a few freebies, like the Output Enhancements XTensions that help streamline output to printers, imagesetters and PDF:
http://www.quark.com/products/xpress/xtensions/output_enhancements.html
Also, the venerable Vista XTension is still available. That's the QuarkXPress 6 XTension that lets you do image manipulation right in Quark:
http://www.quark.com/products/xpress/xtensions/quarkvista.cfm
If you've done the free upgrade to 6.5, you can install the PSD Import XTension and import native Photoshop (.psd) images complete with layers, channels and paths:
http://www.quark.com/products/xpress/xtensions/psd_import.html
Finally, I'm wondering if any Quark 6.5 Mac user/DesignGeek reader has installed the free Quark Filter for Spotlight. It's been available for awhile, but since I'm not a Spotlight fan I never downloaded it. According to the web page below, once it's installed (requires Mac OS 10.4), you can use Spotlight to search for text in any QuarkXPress file created in versions 3 through 6. Interesting! It might work with 7 too, I don't know. If you're finding it useful, let me know!
http://www.quark.com/service/desktop/downloads/details.jsp?idx=604
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Adobe Creative Suite 3 Info
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The big news this week in the world of digital design has to be Adobe's announcement of their new line-up of Creative Suite applications, dubbed CS3. I watched the live webcast of their launch shindig in New York City this week, even sat through the unplanned 20-minute "we're pausing for technical difficulties" portion when they were having A/V problems.
The webcast itself was neat ... you could watch the "theatre cam" or the "screen cam," but I liked the "director's cut" the best ... three cameras with professional cuts from presenter, to screen, to audience, all within an inline frame in an Adobe web page.
If you go to Adobe's "On Demand Seminars" page, you can see a recording of the full director's cut (minus the tech glitch) of the live event for yourself. Click the link for the Creative Suite 3 Launch Webcast, way down at the bottom of the page:
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=list&type=ondemand_seminar
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The Line-Up
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Covering everything that's new in all the CS3 applications is a job best left up to Adobe and a host of Adobe-centric blogs and podcasts. In fact, I've already written a lot specifically about InDesign CS3 (and InCopy CS3) on my other "channel," InDesignSecrets.com, as have our other contributors:
http://indesignsecrets.com
So I'll just run through the new Suites and tell you what's included in them. It's a little complicated, because Adobe acquired Macromedia in the meantime (and upgraded most of its programs), so the CS3 offerings include combinations of all the products. For detailed information, go to Adobe.com.
To backtrack a bit, CS2 Standard included Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Bridge. Purchasing the CS2 Premium package also got you Acrobat 7 Professional and GoLive. Then CS 2.3, which came out in late 2006, replaced Acrobat 7 Pro with Acrobat 8 Pro, and threw in Dreamweaver 8 along with GoLive.
Now with CS3, integrating the "creative" Macromedia products results in three separate Suites: Design, Web, and Production. The Design and Web Suites are available in a Standard or Premium configuration, the Production Suite is just a single Premium suite. You can also buy the whole enchilada ... every single program in all the Suites ... in what they're calling a "Master Collection" for $2499.
Creative Suite 3: Design -- The Standard edition comes with Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Acrobat 8 Pro and Bridge. The Premium edition comes with the same (except you get an enhanced version of Photoshop called Photoshop Extended, special features for engineering, architecture, and science), and also includes the CS3 versions of Dreamweaver and Flash Professional.
Creative Suite 3: Web -- The Standard package has Dreamweaver, Flash Pro, Fireworks, Contribute and Bridge. Go for the Premium edition and you also get Photoshop Extended, Illustrator and Acrobat 8 Pro.
Creative Suite 3: Production -- Sold in a Premium configuration only, this is essentially Adobe's "Audio/Video" suite. It includes Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, Flash Pro, Bridge, After Effects, Premiere (now available for Macs too), Soundbooth and Dynamic Link; plus Windows-only programs OnLocation and Ultra.
Of course, you can buy any of the CS3 programs individually, you don't have to get the Suite. The new version of Adobe GoLive isn't released yet, but Adobe says it will be available as a stand-alone product.
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InCopy CS3 and InCopyFlow e-zine
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Adobe InCopy, the editorial partner of InDesign, has been upgraded to CS3 as well. It's not included in any of the Suites, but it's designed to work with InDesign CS3 of course. It has all the new text-related and interface features of InDesign CS3; and the InCopy/InDesign workflow itself has some spiffy new features, like support for remote editors. I wrote an article about how that works, complete with screenshots, for InDesignSecrets:
http://indesignsecrets.com/remote-workflow-support-in-incopyindesign-cs3.php
Since only a relatively small percentage of DesignGeek readers use InCopy, I don't like to write a whole lot about it here. But if you're into it, you'd be interested in InCopyFlow, a new monthly e-zine I started in January. It's basically the same as DesignGeek but its tips and techniques are specifically for InCopy-using editors, designers who are part of the workflow, and the production managers who referee and troubleshoot.
I'm up to three issues so far and I'm still tweaking the format and content. If you'd like to be part of my "e-zine beta," send me an e-mail (amarie [at] senecadesign.com) with "Subscribe InCopyFlow" in the Subject line. Or go to my InCopy Resources page and click the subscribe link there, towards the top:
http://senecadesign.com/designgeek/incopy.html
I added a few of my contacts at Adobe to the initial subscription list, and my fiendish scheme worked -- InCopyFlow is an official "Additional support and resource" on the main InCopy product page!
http://www.adobe.com/products/incopy/
As with DesignGeek, writing up my store of tips and news for InCopyFlow is one of the most pleasurable things I do. I think InCopy is one of Adobe's coolest programs *ever* but like any software program, there's a lot more to it than what's in the online help. Even though it'll probably never reach the size of DesignGeek's audience (currently at over 6,000 subscribers, in case you're wondering), who cares. We're a small but tightly-knit tribe, and we'd love for you to join us.
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Do you like what you read in DesignGeek? Find anything useful? Bring me or any of my hand-picked Associate Geeks in for a session or two of hands-on training for your workgroup; here in Chicago or any other city near an airport, and you can have this level of expertise all to yourself. All training comes with three years of 24/7 follow-up support for each student by phone or e-mail.
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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:
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Contact Seneca by phone at 312-946-1100 or e-mail at info@senecadesign.com
Copyright 2007 by Seneca Design & Training, Inc.
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