Search found 4 matches

by The Annoyed Man
Mon Sep 17, 2012 10:38 am
Forum: Job Board
Topic: Microsoft Publisher Expert Needed
Replies: 19
Views: 4532

Re: Microsoft Publisher Expert Needed

WildBill wrote:
urnoodle wrote:Hey TAM do you know if Adobe has individual language packs for Creative Suite CS5? In my uncle's business he uses all kinds of Adobe software. He has a macbook he doesn't use and is giving it to me. It has a lot of Adobe software on it including Adobe Creative Studio Master Collection CS5, however the language is french Canadian. I contacted Adobe but they wouldn't give me any information without providing them with the license numbers that I don't have. He's on location for the next 3 months so he's impossible to get ahold of. He has an assistant that is suppose to send the laptop to me. If I can't get the english language pack then it won't due me much good and I can save her the time and money of shipping it to me.

Teamless I apologize for hijacking your thread. :oops:
If he has the original install discs you should be able to re-install and choose English as the default language.
This....
PUCKER wrote:We publish 5 regional b-t-b magazines...when we get an MS Publisher file, well, we pretty much have to delete it...we just ask the sender to make a PDF file of it. We have been using Quark since "the beginning" (or at least it seems that way) and it has served us well. We have considered transitioning to InDesign but really haven't seen the need to, at least yet.

As far as making changes to a Quark document, it's easy/breezy. :tiphat:
And this.....

This is why I asked to see a file. When you open a PDF in Illustrator that's been output from Quark or InDesign, you have a nice elegantly simple document, easy to edit, with only enough objects on the page to support the desired layout. When you open a PDF in Illustrator that was output from MS Publisher, it has junk all over the page.....empty boxes, lines, text insertions with no text, etc., etc., etc.

PUCKER's experience is the same as mine. When I worked for both a multiple newspaper publisher and a small format commercial printer, we just recreated the file in Quark, and then later in InDesign, because the MS Publisher file is junk.

And it isn't just that the file is junk from an object layout perspective. It is also that the files are not designed with print production in mind. Imagine the following parallel...... when my son was a child, he wanted to know why the Army didn't use Transformers and Gundam Warriors, and how come the tanks don't have cool rockets all over them and fly, etc., etc., etc. I tried many times to explain in terms he could understand and without hurting his feelings why his ideas would not be practical. When an amateur (and often even when a professional designer who has no production experience) creates a file, even if it looks nice, it may be completely unsuitable for print reproduction. Did the designer consider whether the file would be printed on an on-demand digital press like a big Xerox iGen, or on a plate and ink press like a 6 color Heidelberg? Are the colors in RBG or CYMK? Are the embedded images hi-res or low-res? Are the images RGB or CYMK? Are the fonts Truetype or Adobe Postscript? Were the fonts used to design the document exported along with the document when sent to the print shop? Etc., etc., etc. MS Publisher is totally unsuited to meeting these demands. So when the customer send an MS Publisher file to the printer, the printer has to recreate the file in a format suitable for reproduction, and the cost of that recreation gets factored into the print pricing.

And designers are often just as guilty of poor production sense as their customers. The last shop I worked for was a small format engraving/offset printing shop. We specialized in engraved stationery (letterhead, business cards, and envelopes) for law firms and other professional firms. I can tell you how many times a customer came to me with an idea for a presentation folder that a designer had designed for them that was ENORMOUSLY expensive to produce. The designer has added embossings, debossing, foiling, 2 color engraving, and a color of offset printing, and the customer only wants 500 pieces. Well that means a separate debossing die and pass through a press for each debossed area, a separate embossing die and pass through a press for each embossed area, 2 engraving dies and two passes through an engraving press, a pass through a foiling stamp, a pass through a die-cutting press, folding, gluing, and before any of this can be done, a pass through an offset press to lay down a spot of background color........and all for a short press run.

Anyway, converting your PDF or Quark file to an InDesign file should be fairly easy.
by The Annoyed Man
Sun Sep 16, 2012 4:57 pm
Forum: Job Board
Topic: Microsoft Publisher Expert Needed
Replies: 19
Views: 4532

Re: Microsoft Publisher Expert Needed

Adobe CS (CreativeSuite) should include PhotoShop, InDesign, Illustrator, Acrobat, and either DreamWeaver or GoLive depending on the version (GoLive is no longer supported).

InDesign can open and edit Quark files if the version is right, but it saves them as InDesign files. Depending on which version of Adobe CS you have (CS, CS2, CS3, CS4, CS5, or the latest CS6) and which version of Quark you have, you may or may not be able to open a Quark file. I am currently on CS5 and about to upgrade to CS6, but if you want to email me a copy of one of your Quark files, I'll be happy to open see if I can open it. Based on that, I can tell give you a quote on doing the layout for this job. PM me if you want to proceed.
by The Annoyed Man
Sun Sep 16, 2012 10:07 am
Forum: Job Board
Topic: Microsoft Publisher Expert Needed
Replies: 19
Views: 4532

Re: Microsoft Publisher Expert Needed

WildBill wrote:I am assuming that you don't want to hire a full time MS Publisher expert, but just for this one job. MS Publisher, Quark and InDesign will all do the job, but no matter what software is used you will still need to buy the software and find a person that knows how to use it. Also, if you outsource the original design, you should still get a copy of the computer files so you could modify them at a later time. Personally, I wouldn't used Publisher. IMO, the main advantage is it's cheaper price. It's a good program, but I think most professionals use Quark and InDesign.

Also, I don't think you want or need an "IT professional" for the job. You need a good designer with design skills as well as knowing how to use the software. IMO most brocedures and graphics done in-house are amateurish because they don't have the tools or skills for the job.
This.

I used to use Quark when it was the only game in town, but InDesign was a game-changer when it first came out, and I've used it ever since. I'm about to upgrade from CS5.
by The Annoyed Man
Sat Sep 15, 2012 10:31 pm
Forum: Job Board
Topic: Microsoft Publisher Expert Needed
Replies: 19
Views: 4532

Re: Microsoft Publisher Expert Needed

Why does it have to be done in MS Publisher? Most designers are going to do such a job in InDesign or QuarkXpress.

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