Naturally we’re going to tell you that the best advice is to check with your printer before you begin to create your artwork. A good printer will be happy to consult with you to avoid headaches and possible cost or time overruns for your project.They’ll also tell you whether your job should be submitted as camera-ready art, native digital files or print-ready postscript to achieve the results you want and satisfy your budget.

HOW SHOULD I SUBMIT MY FILES—CAMERA-READY OR DIGITAL?
The best answer is to ask your printer. If you have simple one color work that does not have any photos, screens or tints, you can usually be safe with a clean, camera-ready print. If you want good quality though, don’t use an ink-jet printer to print out camera-ready art or separations. Always use a laser printer with a resolution of 600 dpi or greater to produce crisp type and smooth graphics. If you want to submit digital files, check out our tips on HOW TO PREPARE AND SUBMIT DIGITAL FILES on this site. Digital files require some technical skills, but once you get the knack, you can usually record some basic settings in your application and reduce time, money and problems later in the process.

Native (or source) files are those created by the application program itself such as Quark, PageMaker, InDesign or Publisher. In order for a printer to use them, however, you will also need to submit all of the font files and graphics that you have used in the layout along with your file. Usually, it’s not difficult to find the graphics, but including all the necessary font files can be another story. And even if you do copy the graphic elements, they may be in a format (such as WMF or CGM) that cannot be read by all computers or the RIP software that converts your file to plate, film or print.

Postscript files are usually easier for printers to work with and all of the professional page layout programs will create color-separated postscript files for printing if you have the correct printer driver. You can usually obtain a postscript printer driver from your printer if you need it. Postscript files automatically convert fonts and graphics into code that can be read by the RIP software. But wait, there may still be some problems with a postscript files like having a rotated EPS image or graphics that have text embedded in them which has not been converted to curves or outlines. So what do you do? Yup, you guessed it, check with your printer first!

Acrobat® files are a form of postscript that are intended for cross-platform reproduction and use. In other words, Acrobat files can be read on either a PC or Mac, no matter what platform was used to create the file. Unfortunately though, there’s even yet another potential danger here. If you don’t use the correct settings in Acrobat Distiller or PDFWriter when you create the file, you may be unhappy with the printed result. Acrobat allows you to create files with variable resolution settings depending on their end use. Files used on the web or for screen display only are set at a low 72 dpi resolution while those intended for print use are created at a much higher resolution. Once the file has been created at a lower resolution, there's usually no way to “rez it up” without extensive editing so that you can eliminate the ragged appearance in print.

While we have given you some pointers and information about creating digital files to turn over to your printer, we hope that you have retained the most important point of all—when in doubt, consult your printer first! You’ll be happy you did and we’ll have spared another bottle of Maalox for both of us.

LAYOUT AND TYPESETTING GUIDELINES
With the introduction of desktop publishing, it seems that everybody has become a typesetter. The computer, sophisticated laser and ink-jet printers as well as DTP software have made it feasible for many people to produce professional-looking copy for reproduction, including some printers who previously never offered layout services or had any experience setting copy including home-based “publishers” who suddenly sell their services as professional typographers. Unfortunately, there are some typesetting basics that seem to get ignored and make copy look as though it were cranked out without any concern for its readability or professionalism. Here are some pitfalls to avoid and turn out great-looking work every time:

• ALWAYS PROOFREAD YOUR WORK AND USE SPELL-CHECK
  Probably the most common mistakes seen in typeset copy are obvious “typos” or misspelled words. Certainly there are times when words will pass through your computer spell-checker (such as homonyms like there or their) but the few minutes it takes to run your file through a spell-checker is well worth the time. Dont’t forget that unless your application has a grammar checker, it won’t catch situations like improper use of homonyms or other errors.

• USE THE PROPER TYPESET CHARACTER
  True typesetting provides for characters that aren’t often found on a typewriter keyboard. Like a real apostrophe (’) instead of a prime (') mark or true open (“) and closed (”) quotes rather than double prime (") marks. By the way, there is a use for the prime marks when indicating measurements in feet (') and inches (") in your copy. Some software allows you to create typeset characters automatically, but if yours doesn’t and you’re working on a PC, try using the following ALT-key sequences to produce special characters. Simply hold down the ALT key and enter the numbers shown on the numeric keyboard (not the numbers at the top of the keyboard) to the right of the keyboard, including the leading zeroes. It will work on most PC-based systems if the character is included in the font that you’re using:

  Example	Description	Keyboard	Comment
  •	Bullet	ALT-0149	Don’t use a period or lower case “o”
  —	Em Dash	ALT-0151	Don’t use two hyphens (--)
  ’	Apostrophe	ALT-0146	Don’t use single prime (')
  “	Open Quote	ALT-0147	Don’t use double prime (")
  ”	Close Quote	ALT-0148	Don’t use double prime (")
  ©	Copyright Symbol	ALT-0169	Don’t use superscript C
  ®	Registered Trademark	ALT-0174	Don’t use superscript R
  ™	Trademark Symbol	ALT-0153	Don’t use superscript TM

• DON’T PUT TWO SPACES BETWEEN SENTENCES IN A PARAGRAPH
  When typing on a typewriter or using a monospaced type font such as Courier, it is common to place two spaces between every sentence in a paragraph. When attempting to simulate true typesetting using proportionally spaced fonts however, you should only put one space between sentences. Two spaces between sentences can ruin copyfitting and make words wrap and break at inappropriate places in many page layout programs and professional word processors. It’s a tough habit to break but it can make a big difference in making your output look more professional.

• LEAVE ENOUGH ROOM FOR COLUMNS AND GUTTERS
  If you break your copy up into columns or place graphics next to the text, be sure to leave some “white space” between columns or around pictures and illustrations. A common mistake made in preparing copy occurs in the layout of pamphlets which will fold into thirds. Most amateurs use the same spacing in the gutters (between columns) as they do in the outside margins. The problem becomes apparent after the piece is printed and folded and the folds fall on some of the type instead of between the type. To correct this, simply double the gutter space—in other words, if you use a 3/8" margin on the left and right sides of the sheet, use a 3/4" gutter margin between columns of copy.

• BE CAREFUL WHEN SELECTING FONTS AND BE SURE TO INCLUDE THEM WITH YOUR FILE
  Amateur typographers and designers are usually intrigued by their ability to use a variety of fonts. So much so that they sometimes create documents using a dozen or more different fonts in a piece. This can create a disaster down the road when outputting your project to film or “RIPping” the document for digital output. When it comes to good design and choosing fonts, often less is more. Try to stick to two or three type families per printed page. For hints on choosing appropriate typefaces, check out our TIPS ON SELECTING TYPEFACES page. When you create documents and pass them off to your printer, either embed the fonts in your document (if your application has that feature) or copy them onto your disk. There are literally hundreds of thousands of software fonts available and even though they may have the same name, depending upon who holds the license to the font, they may appear different. And the difference may be drastic (the characters might look completely different from what you have) to very slight (only the spacing between characters is different) but still causes words and paragraphs to align improperly. If you need help determining how to copy fonts or which files need to be included, give CHAMELEON PRINTING & COPYING a call, we’re always glad to give you assistance.

• LEARN HOW TO SET TABS AND USE THE FORMATTING FEATURES OF YOUR SOFTWARE
  Another common problem in “home-grown” typesetting is trying to align copy using spaces or “force” it to line up instead of using tab settings. The problem with this technique is that often when a document is moved from one computer to another (such as when you give it to your printer) the application will “move” characters on the screen and in the final print, particularly if a different font is used. Most word processors and page layout programs have tab settings for left, right and center alignment as well as decimal placement and leaders for directories or listings. Using these features will effectively “lock” the position of characters on the page. If you’re not sure how to activate these features, give us a call. We’re knowledgeable of many of the popular software packages.

• DON’T FORGET TO PROVIDE GRIPPER SPACE
  Often jobs come in to be printed without allowing an edge of white space for the press to grab the sheet. In the printing process, each sheet is held in register through the press by “grippers” that ensure each image is printed in precisely the same location on the paper. Some presses may require as much as 3/8" for gripper. If you want to print an image completely off the sheet on all sides (a four-sided bleed) your printer will need to use an oversize sheet and then trim to the desired finished size. In any event, it’s wise to check with your printer first before having to redesign your piece.

• USE THE RIGHT APPLICATION TO CREATE YOUR LAYOUT
  Make sure that you use the proper software when creating documents that you will hand over to your printer. First of all, professional page layout software includes applications such as Quark Xpress, Adobe PageMaker, Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Publisher, and very few others. In particular, if you plan to print your job in spot or process color, make sure you stick to these programs only. If your printed piece will be reproduced in black or one color only, you may substitute a high-end word processing program such as Word or WordPerfect. Applications such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Access, CorelDraw, or even Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop are NOT page layout programs and should not be used for producing complete documents or page layouts. Unless you plan to create camera-ready art to be given to your printer, don’t use the “economy” page layout programs like Print Shop, PrintMaster, PagePro or others like it. These applications are not readily available at most print shops and chances are, they don’ have the necessary features for creating properly color-separated art. Additionally, if they encounter problems creating print-ready files for your job, the shop will be unable to fix them and will have to return the files to you for correction or charge you to have them recreated properly.

If you still have questions about how to design your piece or which application is suitable to create your new printing project, just give CHAMELEON PRINTING & COPYING a call. We’re happy to lend a hand and give you advice that will save you time and money before you publish your next piece.