There are only three page layout packages supported by Printing Services' Electronic Prepress area. This is because there are only three page layout packages that address the needs and constraints of the Postscript environment and multicolor ink printing. Most of our jobs come to us in PageMaker or Quark Xpress. A few jobs come in as InDesign files. These are perfectly acceptable packages for our offset printing environment.

We occasionally get page oriented files done in Word, WordPerfect, Publisher, PowerPoint, or Excel, for example, which can cause the flow of production to come to a halt. We are required to stop and determine how to proceed with these files. If the job is one color (or just black), we may be able to utilize the file in some fashion. It still is not nearly as efficient as PageMaker, Quark XPress, or InDesign. We will usually go back to the customer and request a hard copy of the job which we may be able to scan and place, similar to camera-ready work. In some instances the job has to be re-created from scratch.

Using one of the three industry standard page layout packages mentioned at the beginning is the best way to submit digital jobs to us. These packages do require the user to learn a fairly sophisticated program. And if the person is not somewhat familiar with offset printing, it can be complicated. We feel that in some cases it would be more efficient for the customer to let Printing Services' staff create the files the first time around and avoid unnecessary work. It is possible for the customer to "capture the keystrokes" by submitting files in a word processing program, so the effort isn't wasted. We merge the customer's word processing file into a page layout program based on the customer's wishes.

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There are three types of software packages used to prepare electronic files for a digital prepress environment. They are:

1. Page layout
2. Illustration (vector art)
3. Photo editing (bitmapped art)

The copy used in final layouts can either be entered in a word-processing package, or typed directly into the page layout package.

The industry-standard packages for each of these categories are:

1. Page layout
   • Quark XPress
   • Adobe PageMaker
   • Adobe InDesign

2. Illustration
   • Macromedia Freehand
   • Adobe Illustrator

3. Photo editing
   • Adobe Photoshop

There are a few other software packages that complete the arsenal of Desktop Publishing tools, but are not necessary for many printing projects. They are:

• WinZIP (compression shareware for Windows)
• StuffIt Deluxe (compression for Macintosh)
• Fetch (FTP Client Software for Macintosh)
• LapLink (FTP Client Software for Windows)
• Adobe Streamline
  • Converts bitmapped artwork to vector artwork. (auto-tracing)
• Adobe Type Manager 4.0 deluxe (recommended for PC users)
  • Allows TrueType and Type 1 fonts to be activated and deactivated in sets.
  • Facilitates smooth character drawing on screen at various sizes.
• Adobe Type Manager (recommended for Mac users, comes with most Adobe software)
  • Facilitates smooth character drawing on screen at various sizes.
• Extensis SuitCase (recommended for Mac users)
  • Allows TrueType and Type 1 fonts to be activated and deactivated in sets.
• Adobe Acrobat
  • Allows creation and editing of PDF files.
  • Highly recommended for customers who don't use PageMaker, Quark XPress, or InDesign. (See sections on word processing and Publisher 2000.)
  • You can create PDF files online for free trial period at Adobe's web site from the following software file formats:
    • Microsoft® Office:
      • Word (.doc), Publisher (.pub), PowerPoint (.ppt), Excel (.xls), Rich Text Format (.rtf), Text (.txt)
    • Web Pages:
      • Web pages (.htm, .html, .shtml)
    • Adobe Formats:
      • Illustrator® (.ai), InDesign™ (.indd), FrameMaker® (.fm), PageMaker® (.pm, .pm6, .p65), Photoshop® (.psd)
    • Corel WordPerfect Office Formats: WordPerfect (.wpd)
    • PostScript® Formats:
      • PostScript (.ps, .prn), Encapsulated PostScript (.eps)
    • Image Formats:
      • Windows bitmap (.bmp), GIF (.gif), JPEG (.jpg), PCX (.pcx), PNG (.png), RLE (.rle), TIFF (.tif)

Note: If you don't see your format listed here, you will need to upload a PostScript file. You get three free conversions, then it is subscription price by month or year. You get this same functionality by buying Acrobat.