Printer Files Versus
Page Layout Files

Electronic Files for Manufacturing A printer can make plates directly from electronic files, automatically eliminating the cost, problems, and generational deterioration of camera copy and film. With this technology, every project can display maximum resolution. These electronic files can be either PostScript printer files (.ps or .pdf) or page layout files generated by Quark, Pagemaker, or Ventura. PostScript printer files PostScript printer files are device-independent—they can be used by any printer with PostScript capability. Moreover, they cannot be easily altered—accountability for text flow and appearance rests clearly with the compositor, while imposition and positioning of pages is the responsibility of the printer. Because PostScript files eliminate the need to check every detail of camera copy, Generic gives a discount on projects using PostScript files and many printers do the same. There is no downside on files created by a professional for professionals and ending with the .ps or the .pdf designations. Page layout files Publishers may ask the compositor for page layout files—to give these files to the printer and to have them on hand for subsequent alteration. This option has three real problems: it obscures accountability, it requires that the compositor surrender all proprietary investment, and it is illegal—an infringement of the copyright law. Use of page layout files obscures accountability Files reflow when opened by a different version of the page layout program and may even reflow when opened by a different machine. Murphy's law will guarantee that such a problem occurs between the last hard copy from the compositor and the film/plates/pages of a book. In such situations, the compositor knows that the file was correct when released; the printer knows that the file was wrong when printed; and the publisher knows that it has a product that is unsaleable, an investment that is unrecoverable, and a delay in publication. Page layout files are intellectual property with proprietary value A quality-conscious compositor will revise the kerning and page layout settings for each book—this is why your project has such a crisp appearance. An oddity of Quark is that each document includes the settings and kerning tables for all fonts ever used by that licensed copy of the program. A project may only use Times Roman, but the Quark file carries the kerning tables for Palatino, New Baskerville, etc. These settings are the means to the compositor's quality standards—to give them away denigrates the compositor's motivation for quality. Page layout files need copies of all fonts, and this is illegal To print a file from a page layout program, you need the exact fonts used in its creation—up to a dozen for a complex file. For instance, we will produce a special font for the unique keystrokes that occur in nearly every project; every piece of EPS art needs the fonts used for labels; and even traditional fonts vary considerably (Adobe, for instance, has published three different versions of Times Roman). All these fonts are licensed and cannot be legally forwarded to the printer or publisher: Adobe Systems Incorporated: You may not rent, lease, sublicense, or lend the Software or Documentation. You may, however, transfer all of your rights to use the Software to another person or legal entity provided that you transfer this Agreement, the Software, including all copies, updates, and prior versions, and all Documentation to such person or entity and that you retain no copies, including copies stored on a computer. United States Code Title 17: It is illegal to make or distribute copies of copyrighted material without authorization of the copyright holder . . . Criminal penalties for copyright infringement of software are imprisonment of up to five years and/or fines up to $250,000. Summary If your goal is a high resolution file, use Generic's PostScript files. They are stable, do not compromise the compositor's proprietary interest, and do not infringe on the copyright laws. If your goal is to be able to make corrections in reprints, use Generic. We have been in business for nearly a decade and plan to stay around for another; we maintain archival copies of all projects in a bank vault as well as on our premises; and we provide reprint corrections quickly and at no charge. If your goal is to have a copy of the keystroking for a future revision, ask Generic to download the file into the author's word processing system. We will gladly download ASCII or word processing files on request at no charge. If your goal is to maintain files for translation to some as-yet-unknown format, use Generic. We archive all projects, and can translate to HTML(3) or SGML at any time. For further information, please email us email us . Please include your name, affiliation, and areas of interest, and we will get back to you quickly. Generic Compositors 152 Starheim Road Stamford, NY 12167 607 652-BOOK (2665) 267 654-2416 (fax) email us Copyright © 2001 Generic Compositors, a Division of Stonecrest Industries, Inc. June 19, 2004

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