Forecasts
predictions of the cutting edge
Printing Vertically
Trudy
Levy
Image
Integration
As market areas become more global, many are already using to the Net to publish more efficiently. You may already take advantage of sending files to your service bureaus over the wire or even use Kinkos or other printing houses to produce output in other cities. The problems with bandwidth and speed are being solved rapidly and the size of print-ready files is also being reduced, so that 600 dpi Acrobat files can be sent as e-mail attachments. What does the future hold?
The two latest trends on the Net are Vertical Portals and Web based applications which promise some particularly interesting benefits for in those publishing. A vertical portal is a site which contains services and information for the benefit of a market niche. These sites may include applications which you can use at their sites (web based applications).
For example at the Extensis site - creativepro.com/preflight you can use their program - Preflight which inspects PDF files for many kinds of potential problems with fonts, colors, and images, without having the desktop application. Just drag a file onto the web browser, click a button and Preflight Online does the rest. Or at XIPPIX¹s site- xippix.com/guest/imagepump you can pump your images up so that your apparently compact image can actually be zoomed to an amazing extent. Web based applications mean you can have available, as you need them, some very sophisticated software always in their latest revision mode.
This is exciting but what other services might a Publishing Vertical Portal offer? My wish list includes the following:
- Calibrate your monitors for the print run about to be made.
- Calibrate your monitors for your in-house printer.
- Check out or hear about other's experience with various service bureaus
- Place your job up for bid.
- Have an expert review your submittal before you send it. Just in case you forgot something.
- Compare various printing methods for cost, time and output.
- Reach a "mentor" press operators to answer your printing questions.
- A "mentor" press operator to shepherd your project through the process.
These sites are just being formed now, so lets help them. Send us your ideas of what you would like to see on a Vertical Portal or your concerns and we will pass the ideas on to those undertaking to develop the sites..
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Integration
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