Document design is the field concerned with creating texts, that is books, pamphlets, posters and others that integrate words and pictures in ways that help people to achieve their specific goals for using texts at home, school, or work.
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PageMaker Past, Present, and Future
For millennia, humans have struggled to communicate, first with grunts and sign language, then with speech. But it was when humans learned to write that civilization became possible. First we painted on cave walls, then chiseled in stone, then wrote on more practical and portable things, like wood, papyrus, and finally paper. Hand printing ink on paper was the state of the art for hundreds of years until mechanical inventing was invented, first with engraving and then with movable type. But setting type with metal was still slow, dangerous, and difficult work. This was not dramatically changed until the twentieth century with machines like the Mergenthaler and Linotype. In 1984, the state of the art was phototypesetting on large, complex machines that were expensive and where what you was was nothing like what you would get. Then three companies -- Apple Computer, Adobe Systems, and the Aldus Corporation -- changed everything.
Adams, Peter C.S. Makingpages.org (2002). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe PageMaker
#24733
PageMaker Scripting for Non-Programmers
Scripting is simply a method of automating complex or time-consuming tasks in PageMaker.
Haugen, Diane. Document Design (2001). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe PageMaker
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A PageMaker to PDF: Converting Your PageMaker Files 
A three-page manual for creating Acrobat PDF files from page-layout files.
Carpenter, Amy. TECHWR-L (2009). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe PageMaker
#26510
The Pantone Matching System: Always Show Your True Colours
It can be very frustrating to see the logo you worked hard to create look deep blue on the client's letterhead, blue-greenish on his business card, and light blue on his very expensive envelopes. A way to prevent this is by using a standardized color matching system, such as the Pantone Matching System.
Bruno, Elisabetta. Designorati (2005). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Color
#21937
Paper Fits (and What to Do About Them)
Save money by designing to fit standard printing-paper sizes.
Sidles, Constance J. Adobe Magazine (1996). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Paper
#22512
Paper Tips: Printing on Uncoated Stock
Uncoated paper has a soft finish and tactile quality not possible with most coated papers. But uncoated stock also interacts differently with ink than it coated cousins. Follow these tips to ensure the best results.
Creative Pro (2004). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Paper
#23132
PDF Printing, Preflighting, and Prepress
PDF is becoming the de facto standard for not only viewing documents onscreen but also for printing them on paper. Acrobat 6 Professional includes better printing and prepress tools than ever before. PDF pundit Ted Padova shows you how they work.
Padova, Ted. Creative Pro (2004). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Adobe Acrobat
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Some pearls of file output wisdom collected over the years from friends who ride imagesetters everyday.
Johal, Jasper. Design, Typography and Graphics (2004). Design>Document Design>Prepress
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No discussion of printing would be complete without mentioning the variety of binding styles available. Jobs have been destroyed in the bindery due to the lack of planning or because the binding process was taken for granted.
Copresco (2001). Articles>Document Design>Finishing>Binding
#26010
Photoshop Tutorial: How to Preserve Spot Colours in Photoshop
How many times have you wondered why, no matter how much you save spot colours in other applications, you cannot preserve a spot color in Photoshop? There is a way of course, and this is what this article will cover. This tutorial has been made using Photoshop CS for Mac, but it should be OK also for previous versions of Photoshop up to version 6, and of course also for whoever has the Windows version of Photoshop. This is not the only method to use spot colors in Photoshop, but it is a simple one which you could find useful.
Bruno, Elisabetta. About.com (2005). Resources>Document Design>Prepress
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A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, But...
What happens when we try to translate that picture or mental image into words so readers who don't have the picture in front of them can understand the meaning? Oftentimes...chaos.
Document Design (2001). Design>Document Design>Graphic Design
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Da druckt meine Quelldatei mit allen Pixelbildern wunderbar, wenn ich diese aber mittels Acrobat in das PDF-Format von Adobe wandle, kann ich in den Pixelbildern kaum noch Text lesen, sind alle feinen Linien weg und ist auch sonst die Qualität der Pixelbilder nur noch mäßig.
Transcom. (German) Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe FrameMaker
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Some caveats when placing PDFs in Quark prior to distilling.
Sprague, Rich. PDFzone (2004). Design>Document Design>Software>QuarkXPress
#21832
Whip that document into shape - master the master page in InDesign and PageMaker.
Kvern, Olav Martin. Adobe Magazine (2000). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe InDesign
#22595
A listing of over 700 tools for checking, separating, correcting colors, ordering and re-ordering pages.
PlanetPDF (2003). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat
#21954
Lots of people don't know about PageMaker's support for tagged text - and they're missing out.
Kvern, Olav Martin. Adobe Magazine (1995). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe PageMaker
#21966
Designing something that will be mailed? Save time and money by asking the right questions before you start.
Sidles, Constance J. Adobe Magazine (1995). Design>Document Design>Prepress
#22542
This round-up of plug-ins and XTensions includes tools for opening Photoshop files in QuarkXPress, editing paths in Illlustrator, masking blue screens in Photoshop, and more. Plus, a run-down of what you can do with alap's XPert Tools XTension.
Nelson, Jay J. Creative Pro (2004). Design>Document Design>Software
#27927
A site to explain some obtuse CSS bugs in modern browsers, provide demo examples of interesting CSS behaviors, and show how to 'make it work' without using tables for layout purposes.
Bergevin, Holly and John Gallant. Position is Everything. Design>Web Design>Document Design>CSS
#31134
Postcard Announcing an Exhibit
In this tutorial, we will create a postcard announcing a fictitious exhibit (or a real one if you have one coming up:) using InDesign. This tutorial was originally written for the InDesign Workshop.
Iowa State University (2000). Design>Document Design>Tutorials>Adobe InDesign
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This tutorial is a companion to 0002, and was part of the InDesign Workshop. We will create a companion poster announcing the same exhibition.
Iowa State University (2000). Design>Document Design>Tutorials>Adobe InDesign
#29667
Practical Applications of Print Design to Promote Visual Understanding
Print design is a task facing many technical communicators. Practical understanding of the principles of design is necessary for quality print design products, but even this may not be adequate for producing print documents that users can quickly understand. Pairing the principles of print design with knowledge of visual communication theory will aid technical communicators as they develop print materials that are not only well designed, but easy for audiences to understand. This paper will explain both the principles of print design and basic applications of visual communication theory to provide a knowledge base on which successful print documents can be built.
Codone, Susan K. STC Proceedings (2005). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Printing
#30541
Practice Human Factors for Document Design
Writers of performance- and response-oriented documents, such as instructions, procedures, proposals, and grant applications, need to consider the interaction of human factors with conventional document design factors such as accessibility, readability, legibility, consistency, style, language, and suitability to audience. This session explores that relationship, based upon a summation and synthesis of previous Annual Conference presentations as modulated by this presenter's extensive technical communication experience. It will be of particular interest to newcomers to the profession who seek to broaden their grasp of its intricacies.
Peterson, Dart G., Jr. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Document Design>Usability
#18344
Preflight Publications for Perfect Printing
Want to make friends with your service bureau and printer? Just bring them perfect files every time. Use the Save for Service Provider plug-in built into Adobe® PageMaker® 7.0 , and you’ll never have to worry about last-minute calls from your service bureau or printer again. Here’s an example of how you can use this plug-in.
Adobe (2003). Design>Publishing>Document Design>Adobe PageMaker
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Preflighting for PDF/X-Compliance with Acrobat
PDF/X (PDF Exchange) is a subset of Adobe PDF that eliminates many of the color, font, and trapping variables that lead to printing problems. You can verify that a PDF document is PDF/X-compliant in Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Professional before submitting the document to a service provider, and then embed the verification results in the file.
PlanetPDF (2001). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat
