ebruary 2011
Vol. 22, No. 2
Copre
Co
r sco’s
’ ru
r les of engagement.
t ..
Seven Habits for Highly Successful Documents
In a high
g -volu
l me shop lik
i e Copresco,
we run thousands of books and
manuals in black & white and color.
No tw
t o are exactl
t y al
a ike. Va
V riab
a les run
t e gamut fr
th
f om th
t e computer platfo
f rms
and applications used to graphics
tech
c niqu
q es, paper stocks, fi
f nishing and
binding meth
t ods.
Alth
t ough
g PDF workfl
f ow has signiff
icantly increased our production
eff
fficiency,
y we still get some jobs th
t at
won’t print properly, due to one
prob
o lem or anoth
t er.
Our Best Advice
To assure that your job fl
f ows
t rough our shop—or any
th
nywhere else—
with
t out a glitch, Copresco has developed seven preparation habits for
highly successfu
f l documents.
Here are the first two rules of
engagement to fo
f ll
l ow befo
f re beginning
your graphic communications proj
o ects.
The other fi
f ve will be discussed in
f ture issues of Overnig
fu
i ht Lite.
1. Plan Yo
Y ur Destination...First
Will it be online or print? It makes
a big diff
f erence. Imagine how your
pub
u lication, book or manual will look
in its fi
f nal bound fo
f rmat.
Determine th
t e distrib
i ution meth
t od
and any
n special fi
f nishing th
t at will be
required including binding, punching,
die cutting and fo
f lding.
Then, estab
a lish th
t e printing specs
f r th
fo
t e paper stock.
Will th
t e pages be tw
t o-sided? There
are no sides to worry about on the
web
e , but a printed document’s length
t
will obviously be greatly aff
ffected by
t e way
th
a th
t e pages are backed up.
Please don’t send us reader’s or
printer’s spreads. Let Copresco impose
your book or manual to signatures.
Thickness Considerations
The binding method may be
determined by the thickness of your
pub
u lication and your proj
o ect deadline.
Saddle binding is a popular style
but not recommended fo
f r books over
60 pages long.
Perfect binding is an extremely
versatile and attractive method for
short-run books, directories, refe
f rence
guides and oth
t er pub
u lications.
Copresco produces adhesive-b
- ound
publications up to 2” thick (1,000
pages on a 50# off
ffset sheet).
Really Thin Books
Copresco is also one of the few
printers around th
t at can perfe
f ct bind
books th
t inner th
t an 1/8” of an inch.
To add interest and readab
a ility to
your document, consider the use of
special color sheets, tab dividers,
inserts or oth
t er special pages.
2. Use the Right To
T ols
Choosing the proper soft
f ware fo
f r
producing complex documentation fo
f r
commercial reproduction is vital.
To put things very bluntly, we’ve
nev
e er seen an InDesign or Qu
Q ark
r XPress
document refl
f ow.
w We
W ’ve rarely seen a
W rd document th
Wo
t at didn’t refl
f ow!
Top Contenders
Worthy of Noting
For long, text-intensive books,
FrameMaker can’t be beat. Adobe’s
InDesign has taken over th
t e lead fr
f om
Quark and has been setting the
standards fo
f r graphic page lay
a out.
Should you leave room fo
f r annotations? Margin space is fr
f equently
required fo
f r notes and comments in
technical and reference manuals.
Some binding sty
tyles also require extra
margin space.
Microsoft Word falls seriously
short in page layout and design
categories. It’s a line-by-line rather
t an page-b
th
- y-page program.
Word Not the Answer
Y u’ll
Yo
l fi
f nd th
t at Microsoft
f has never
made claims for Word as a layout
program—and instead off
ffers its own
desktop publishing product called
Microsoft
f Pub
u lisher.
Import the Text
Switching to another word processor will only make things worse.
Save your word processor fo
f r correspondence and memos and use the
proper document management soft
f ware for layout. Or, use your word
processor fo
f r writing, th
t en import th
t e
text into your lay
a out program.
Sharper Images
Likewise, use dedicated graphics
programs like Illustrator and Photoshop that off
f er the proper drawing
and image editing tools.
Don’t use the draw fu
f nctions of
Word—the resulting graphics are
oft
f en impossib
i le to print.
Also av
a oid th
t e use of InDesign or
Quark for creating or sizing your
graphic elements. Although graphics
can be edited in page lay
a out soft
ftware,
they don’t always print at the best
quality. Yo
Y u’ll get sharper reproduction by editing in Illustrator and
Photoshop and importing th
t e fi
f les into
your lay
a out program.
To Be Continued
These rules will help you with
t any
n
job, be it print or html outp
t ut. Wa
W tch
for fu
f rther tips in our next Seven
Hab
a its installment.
Be Sure to Call
Meanwhile, when you need help
with
t pub
u lications, books and manuals,
call th
t e company
n th
t at can answer your
questions and deliver, fa
f st top-notch
digital on-demand printing.
Call Copresco.
http://www.copresco.com
(630) 690-2000 • Fax (630) 690-8182
Digital On-Demand Printing
262 Commonwealth Drive
Carol Stream, IL 60188
ddress Corr
rrectiton Requeste
td
Add
I have th
t e worst luck. I tried to earn
a Valentine’s Day date with
t a woman
by sending her a bouquet of fl
f owers
My sister is dati
t ng an X-ray tech
c nician.
I don’t know wh
w at he sees in her.
h h h
“Right now I’m having amnesia and
dej
e a vu at th
t e same time. I th
t ink I’ve
f rgotten th
fo
t is befo
f re.” —Steven Wright
h h h
h h h
If a tr
t ai
a n stati
t on is wh
w ere th
t e tr
t ai
a n stops,
what happens at a work station?
w
“Change is inevitab
a le—except fr
f om a
vending mach
c ine.” —Rob
o ert C. Gal
allagh
g er
h h h
h h h
Old lovers never die—th
t ey just cruise
along in fr
f ont of you on th
t e highway.
My 7th
t wedding anniversary is coming
up. I know th
t at th
t e 25th
t anniversary is
silver, and th
t e 50th
t is gold, so I asked
my moth
t er wh
w at symb
m olized th
t e 7th
t .
She said, “shrapnel.”
h h h
h h h
W at’s th
Wh
t e diff
fference betw
t een bagpipes
and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle? You
can tune a Harley.
h h h
h h h
The primary problem with
t th
t e cost of
edu
d cati
t on th
t ese day
a s is how to sav
a e money
f r your children’s college education
fo
w ile still paying fo
wh
f r your own.
everyday fo
f r a month
t . Yesterday she ran
off
f with
t th
t e fl
f orist.
I don’t want to admit how bad my
cooking is, but last year I prepared a
f ncy dinner fo
fa
f r my Valentine, and
three terrorist groups called to claim
responsib
i ility
t .
If th
t e odds are a million to one against
someth
t ing occurring, chances are 50-50
it will.
h h h
A caterer was preparing a meal fo
f ra
local politician’s fu
f nd-raising dinner.
Waiting in th
t e doorway, he asked one
h h h
Listen to th
t e terrib
i le line someone
used on me last night, “If you were
a burger at McDonald’s, I’d call you
McBeautifu
f l.”
Sign in a Bank: Cheer Up. The Less
You Have, th
t e More There Is For You
to Get.
h h h
Overnight Lite is published monthly by Copresco for the
edification and amusement of our clients and friends.
The postal service is having all kinds
of problems with
t deliveries th
t ese days.
My letter carrier is in her 14th
t month
t
of pregnancy.
Subscriptions: Subscriptions to Ove
v rn
r ig
i ht Litite are
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o re
r sco.com/
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t
Submissions: Reader comments, suggestions and submissions
of both humorous and technical material are welcomed.
Submissions will be fully credited if requested.
h h h
Postmaster: Send address corrections to Copresco’s
Ove
v rn
r ig
i ht Litite, 262 Commonwealth Dr., Carol Stream, IL 60188
I asked th
t is woman at my off
ffice if she
t ought she could learn to love someone
th
like me. She said, “How much
c like you?”
h h h
Until th
t e lions have th
t eir own historians, tal
a es of th
t e hunt shal
all al
a ways gl
g orify
f
t e hunter. —Afr
th
f ican proverb
r
Copyright: All contents ©2011 Copresco. All rights reserved.
ISSN 1930-2274
of th
t e supporters, “Do you th
t ink he’s
a out fi
ab
f nished?” Oh, he fi
f nished ab
a out
half an hour ago,” she replied. “He just
hasn’t stopped yet.”
Copresco
262 Commonwealth Drive
Carol Stream, IL 60188-2449
phone (630) 690-2000 fax (630) 690-8182
http://
//www.copresco.com