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Volume 7, Issue 2 Point & Click: Web-Enabled Proofs Transform Process
Point & Click: Web-Enabled Proofs Transform Process How often have you squinted at a murky fax, trying to determine whether the changes you marked on your proof have been made correctly? United Litho’s new Rampage Remote® soft-proofing system, intended to take the place of single-page faxes for blueline corrections, may just be the answer to your prayers. “It’s really exciting,” says Client Services Manager Shannon Marzolf. “So far, we’ve installed the software for more than two dozen clients, and we’re still working out a bug or two, but it’s wonderful not to have to rely on a fax!” Rampage Remote software is a soft-proofing solution that allows customers to communicate directly with ULI’s print job database over the internet. Once notified that the processed pages are available online, you simply login, select the page(s) you wish to view, zoom in or out to make sure corrections have been made properly, take advantage of the software’s rules and guides to verify proper layout and design, and even get instant true-color feedback with the interactive densitometer. “You can check a proof from anywhere as long as you have internet access—even if you only have a dial-up connection,” says ULI Technical Support Representative Andrew Moore. The software is designed to let you place annotations concerning any necessary changes directly on your pages, thus simplifying communication with your account manager. Once you’re satisfied, just click to approve the page and an email is sent automatically to your account manager, letting him or her know that the page has been viewed and approved. Perhaps the biggest advantage, Moore says, “is that you’re viewing post-RIP’d data, so what you see on the screen is what goes to the plate—there’s no chance of anything else changing.” Moore adds that the high-resolution color proof even includes spot colors, and permits clients to check for traps and color builds. He cautions, however, that the soft proofs are not meant to be used as color proofs, since there is so much variation in monitor calibration. Rampage Remote is available for Mac OS 9 and 10, as well as Windows, and is free to ULI clients. Technical support is handled jointly by Moore, who installs the software and trains customers in its use, and Systems Database Administrator Ira Goldfarb, who provides ongoing support. “I’m installing the software as I visit clients,” Moore says, noting that installation and training are quick and easy, requiring only about 30 minutes. Both a “quick-reference” guide and a full user manual are available on the Production Tools page of ULI’s web site, accessible with your user name and password. Goldfarb notes that Rampage Remote is new software and, like any new application, has had a few bugs. “We’re working through those,” he says, adding that there have already been several upgrades, which clients can download online. For more information, contact him at 703.858.1012. Make money with hyperlinks If you create low-res PDFs of your magazine for web publishing, here’s a tip that may save you time and money, as well as generate income. Both Quark 6.0 and InDesign CS have a feature that will let you pre-define your hyperlinks in your documents, so that when you export your pages as PDFs, text automatically becomes a clickable link when viewed in Acrobat. By defining your hyperlinks during the design process, you’ll avoid the tedium of having to manually establish those links after the PDFs have been created. You can link specific text not only to web pages, but to e-mail addresses and files on FTP sites. Publishers with an entrepreneurial flair might want to sell hyperlinks for advertisements in their online versions to take the reader to a web site. Here’s how it works: Quark 6.0 Then, when exporting your document as a PDF, be sure to enable the “include hyperlinks” option. If we receive a PDF with hyperlinks, our RIP will ignore this extra, non-printing information. InDesign CS To create a new link, select your text and open Window> Interactive>Hyperlinks. Click on the new hyperlink button. The next window will let you enter the URL and specify how you’d like that link to appear in Acrobat. Invisible rectangles will keep your PDF pages looking clean, but a viewer may not realize that there are links to follow. As with Quark, you’ll have to enable Hyperlinks when exporting to incorporate them in the PDF. Since hyperlinks are not allowed in PDF/X-1a files, be careful with the options you use when saving. I would suggest starting with the built-in PDF/X-1a preset, turning bleeds and hyperlinks on, and saving it as a preset with a name such as “PDF with hyperlinks.” Whether you’re using Quark or InDesign, the last step is to convert your PDFs from high resolution to low. That can be done easily in Acrobat 6.0 using the “PDF Optimizer” command, discussed in issue 6.4 of ULI’s PressProof. Beware of Quark’s overprinting Quark continues to make us balder with its desire to overprint objects that shouldn’t. Although we’re trying to create RIP settings to avoid these errors, we want to help you understand why they’re making us crazy. Note in the screen capture below that there is some text that is set to a 30% tint of PANTONE 660 on top of a 100% PANTONE 660 box. Quark sets the text trap setting to overprint. If our RIP honors this request, guess what happens to the text? Yep, it disappears. That’s why it’s a good idea to keep the trap window open and change the overprint setting to knockout unless the overprinting is desired. One more: Do you get frustrated when the PDF you load in Acrobat is initially displayed at a non-standard size, such as 200%? Go into your Acrobat “Page Display” preferences and set the default zoom to “fit page.” Writing for the Seybold Report late last year, Stephen Beals put it best: “Print vendors are rightly frustrated by the fact that it is still quite possible to generate a file that is fully PDF/X-compliant, yet will not print.” And that doesn’t even touch the frustration felt by publishers who are pulling out all the stops to create certified, “bullet-proof” PDFs, only to be told that their files still contain errors. Cue the wailing and gnashing of teeth. But suddenly it’s gotten very quiet. At United Litho, the increasingly tortured “PDF workflow” has taken a dramatic turn for the better. “With PDFs fast becoming the dominant file format, we knew we needed to establish a viable workflow to accommodate them,” explains Client Services Manager Shannon Marzolf. “We had initially expected that PDF files would bypass preflight altogether, but when it became obvious that too many errors were creeping in, we reinstituted preflight for all PDFs — and gave customers the option of supplying PDF/X-1a files (so-called ‘certified’ PDFs) to avoid preflight charges. Unfortunately, the reality is that — certified or not — there’s no such thing as a trouble-free PDF.” That truth firmly in mind, ULI’s Prepress Department set out to find a better way. Impressed by a demonstration of the Speedflow PDF handling system from OneVision Software at a tradeshow, Color Systems Supervisor Larry Pattajo and Mark Witkowski from The Sheridan Group did further research, compared notes with other users and ultimately arranged for an onsite demo and 30-day trial period late last year. “We couldn’t believe the things it was doing!” says Preflight Manager Margie Morefield. “One of the neatest features is its ability to not just identify but repair and optimize problem files, rather than simply alerting the user. During the test period, we threw every problem PDF we could find at it and it either fixed or flagged them all!” Morefield adds that its reporting capability allows her department to provide much better feedback to customers, to help eliminate similar problems in the future. “WithSpeedflow, we can preflight PDFs efficiently for the first time,” Morefield says, noting that ULI has begun preflighting all jobs, using FlightCheck for application files and Speedflow for PDFs. She cautions, however, that PDF clients should still use PitStop to ensure that their files are as clean as possible before they are submitted. ULI preflight settings can be downloaded here. Although the OneVision system was certainly not the cheapest solution, requiring a significant upfront investment, all involved are convinced it was the best. “It’s not perfect,” Pattajo says, “but it’s the most powerful and accurate PDF/postscript editing tool on the market today.” With five years in ULI’s Client Services Department under her belt, Heather Baker was looking for a new challenge—and found it when the position of Prepress Department manager opened up early last year. Since assuming her new role in March 2003, Baker has immersed herself in problem solving, troubleshooting, and researching and resolving concerns. Client Services Manager Shannon Marzolf notes that “when an issue is taken to Heather, it’s resolved quickly and thoroughly. Having come from customer service, she’s really sympathetic to our customers’ needs.” Operations Vice President Chris Azbill says her customer service background gave her a “unique understanding of her role as prepress manager. She understands the complexity of the interface with the customer, as well as the support Client Services needs from Prepress. Now, she also understands what Prepress needs, both from the client and from Client Services.” Although Baker herself says that her talent for organization is both one of her greatest strengths and perhaps her biggest weakness — “I can be too organized ... it drives other people crazy,” she says ruefully — it’s a quality much appreciated by those around her. Account Executive April Sellers, who worked closely with Baker as an account manager, says, “She helped me be successful at United Litho by training me on each of the accounts and making sure I knew what needed to be taken care of at all times. There were never any questions left unanswered. If I were starting a new company down the street, Heather would be the first person I’d want to take with me!” As both a new manager and a new mom — daughter Hailey will be nine months old in May — Baker has had to bring multi-tasking to a new level. Her 40-member department is working hard to improve preflighting feedback to customers, refine the fileWORKS® process, streamline workflows and take increasing advantage of the Rampage Remote® soft-proofing system. “The technology is changing constantly, and we want to stay at least one step ahead of our clients so that we’re ready before they are,” Baker says with a grin. An
Extraordinary Service Experience: From waxing galleys, pasting up artboards and silhouetting with Rubylith and an X-ACTO® knife to successfully navigating a proof-less PDF workflow, National Glass Association Production Manager Beth Moorman says she’s come a long way since she began working with United Litho in 1988. Moorman’s association with ULI actually began well before she joined the staff of NGA, when she worked for another ULI customer: the Federal Bar Association. “I got to NGA and was thrilled to find out I’d be working with ULI again!” she exclaims. “Over the years, I took advantage of every training course ULI offered,” Moorman says, adding that she also picked up plenty of information less formally. “Everyone I’ve ever talked to at ULI has taken the time to teach me what I need to know — rather than just do it themselves and charge me for it. I love the fact that United’s approach is to teach and train their clients.” Described by her boss, Publisher Nicole Harris, as “one of the best production managers in the business” and by Donna Dodge, her ULI account manager, as “one of the most organized clients I work with,” Moorman insists, “I would not be where I am today without the education I got from ULI. United has always been willing not only to let me go as far as I could, but to help me get there.” Today, in addition to putting together three magazines — monthlies Glass and Window and Door and the bimonthly AutoGlass — she serves as assistant to the publisher, supports three outside sales representatives, supervises a production assistant, coordinates ad billing and web advertising, and steers the development and design of the media kits for all three publications. One of the tools that’s helped make all that possible, Moorman says, is Proteus, the publication planning software ULI offers its clients. “I love Proteus!” she says. “It saved my life!” In the three years she’s been using it, she says, she’s saved countless hours. “I can complete a dummy in about half the time it used to take me to do it on paper, and I can make complicated corrections in seconds — if I need to change something, everything is automatic. It also encompasses a lot of the ancillary stuff I need to do once the dummy is complete, such as calculating the ad/edit ratio — both paid and nonpaid — and capturing absolutely accurate data for the ad index.” Moorman says the introduction of Proteus is typical of the relationship between NGA and ULI. “The best way to describe it is ‘constant improvement.’ ULI wants us to go as far as we can with what’s out there. You guys really help us to maximize our efforts.” Harris agrees. “I think United Litho works hard to stay ahead of the curve technically, and does a good job of passing this knowledge on to the customer. I really value the long-term relationship we’ve established,” she says. The relationship may be valued even more by the ULI staff who work closely with NGA. Account Executive April Sellers says, “I love working with the people at NGA. I look up to Nicole as a sharp businesswoman, and Beth is absolutely wonderful to work with — she’s on top of everything!” Sellers adds, “If Beth wants to do something different, she always calls me or [Account Manager] Donna Dodge first to discuss it: ‘How can we do this? What are our options? Do you have any ideas or recommendations? Are there any concerns we need to discuss?’ She gives herself and ULI time to make it happen right, and it benefits both ULI and NGA. We all come out on top!” Dodge is equally enthusiastic: “Not only is Beth super-organized, but she’s extremely positive, energetic, lots of fun and — most importantly — a realist. She has a very good working knowledge of the manufacturing process, and knows it’s not perfect. She’s very accommodating, unfailingly proactive, and terrific about giving me all the details I need to assure that her titles flow smoothly through the plant.” For her part, Moorman says she considers customer service the best thing about United Litho. “The training is wonderful, the product quality is great, but it’s the personal service that really stands out. Everyone knows what they are talking about, and when they don’t know the answer, they put me in touch with someone who does. “In the 16 years I’ve worked with United Litho, I’ve been through a lot of editors, designers and assistants, but I’ve only had four customer service reps! I’m constantly amazed that many of the people I called 16 years ago are still the same people I call today ... it’s obviously a great place to work, which speaks volumes for ULI’s management.”
Copyright 1997 - 2009, United Litho, Inc. All rights reserved. |
