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Desktop Doc!
Compression Depression
I work on a Mac. I need to compress a file and send it to a client that uses Windows. Can you recommend the best method to do this?
Hope they get a Mac by the time you send the file! Kidding aside, your question brings up several important email issues. Files move through many different kinds of computers when they are emailed or sent via FTP. If you send a Mac file without compressing it, it stands a good chance of arriving at its destination corrupted and without its resource fork. Therefore, you may not want to send a Mac file via the Internet unless you have compressed it. Which brings us to your question, how do you compress a file on the Mac so Windows users can open it?
There are two good ways. The easiest way for your clients is if you send them a .zip file, since most Windows machines already have ZIP utilities. To make .zip files on a Mac, you can use Aladdin Systems (www.aladinsys.com) DropZip 5.5 with Expander or Stuffit Deluxe 5.5. There are also shareware and freeware ZIP programs for the Mac available on the Internet.
The other, harder way is for your client to purchase Aladdin Expander for Windows or one of the other Aladdin programs that uncompresses .sit and .sea files.
The Proof's in the PDF
What Acrobat Distiller settings should I use to make PDF files that look good on a 300dpi to 600 dpi color proofer for clients?
Adobe has made it much simpler than it used to be. When you open Distiller 4.0, it has three preset Job Options already created: ScreenOptimized, PrintOptimized, and PressOptimized.
If a client just wants to preview your work on their monitor, use the ScreenOptimized option. But if they want a PDF to print to a low-end color printer/proofer, consider using the PrintOptimized settings. Those settings should work fine for color comping on most color printers.
If you need to customize the settings, start with PrintOptimized, and choose Settings >Job Options. This will allow you to change the Distiller settings in five categories: General, Compression, Fonts, Color, and Advanced. Note that in the General settings, you can change the kind of PDF from 4.0 to 3.0 for compatibility with older versions of the Acrobat Reader and Acrobat. Also, if you have a slow network, you can safely change the Compression settings for PrintOptimized from 300 dpi for color and grayscale bitmaps to 200 dpi. This will give you smaller PDF files without sacrificing much, if any, apparent print quality.
Reduction Instruction
How do I make screenshots of Web pages print well?
Print them really small.
You thought that was one of my awful jokes, didn't you? It wasn't. The easiest way to make a screen grab look decent in print is to size it between 33‰ and 50‰ of its original size. This down-sizing effectively doubles or triples its resolution, from 72 dpi to 144 dpi or 216 dpi, which looks good when printed.
Conversely, using Photoshop to increase the resolution of the screenshot simply by entering in a higher dpi is a waste of time. It will increase the resolution and size of the file, but it will not increase the quality (you can't get something from nothing!). In fact, upsampling is always a bad idea, because it will not improve the file's quality, but it will make the file larger.
This column aims to answer your desktop publishing and computer questions. The Desktop Doc wants to know what you don't know about fonts, extensions, preventive maintenance, troubleshooting, etc. Please email your questions to him at Desktopdoc@aol.com