CompuServe Messages

Dennis, Pre-press includes compiling all of the elements of a page that the printer needs for the actual print run. Different people take it to different levels, but remember that sometimes the best person to do some of this Pre-press stuff is the printer him/herself. Technical problems from beginners include: extra blank pages in a file which they don't tell you about but don't expect to pay for when you've run them out; missing specialty fonts and graphics files which are often necessary to have to get the job to run properly; the misunderstanding that just because a page output fine on their laser printer, it should run out on a Lino (there's a lot more info being calculated when you increase the resolution dramatically). 4-Color separations are probably best left to the pioneers in the field still. Spot color seps work pretty well, especially if you call for a Pantone Color which you can look at in Pantones book of swatches. Definitely don't trust your screen, and be advised that if you butt colors up against each other that you may run into trapping problems when printing. Use a printer who can compensate for his own press in this area. You should defintely seek out the Chicago Book of Style if you're unfamiliar with typesetting conventions. It's not cheap, but you'll have more details than you know what to do with, and your customers will appreciate it (one hopes) if you catch a misuse that their editor (assuming they've bothered to use a professional editor, which they may not) has missed. And, lastly, "Rag" in typesetting means that at least one edge of column of text is not set aligned with the surrounding text. Rag Left means that the right hand edge of a column is not consistent (or "justified"), Rag Right means the same for the left hand edge, Rag Center means neither of the edges are aligned, and Justified means that extra space has been added to the word and/or letterspacing so that both edges of a column align. <BW>