Tagged: Adobe

Don’t fear the white lines in your PDFs created by InDesign

InDesign CS5You’re working on a brochure under a tight deadline, and upon opening the PDF you just exported from Adobe InDesign, you notice thin white lines around certain objects. Don’t miss your deadline spending too much time troubleshooting the InDesign file. More often than not, those white lines are simply a display glitch in the PDF caused by transparency flattening in the export process.

If you’re concerned, you can check your file in two ways. The first method is to simply open the PDF and zoom in and out – if the thin white line disappears when you zoom in and out, it’s just a display glitch.

The second method is to just run InDesign‘s Package command (Command + Option + Shift + P); when the report dialog appears, make sure you have no RGB images in use. When RGB images overlay CMYK images, transparency flattening problems can occur. If this is the case, then you definitely should convert those RGB images to CMYK before exporting your file as PDF.

Is your favorite app compatible with Mac OS X (10.7) Lion?

Mac OS X Lion app compatibility

Mac OS X Lion app compatibility chart

RoaringApps has put together a fairly extensive, and constantly updated, list of current applications that reveal their compatibility status with Apple’s next big OS update, OS X 10.7 Lion. You can view the collection in list format, or as an icon grid as seen in the screenshot above.

As far as graphic designers concerned with Adobe apps, it appears that most do run under Lion, but with some issues. I’m sure Adobe will be providing updates shortly after Lion’s release.

Quickly rotate objects in Adobe InDesign without using the Rotate tool

InDesign CS5One of the little features Adobe added to InDesign CS5 is something that’s been in Photoshop for a long time, and just makes rotating objects a little easier.

Rather than selecting your object and using the Rotate tool in the Tools panel, simply move your cursor to just outside the corner of your object with the Selection tool to reveal the hidden rotate icon – then just click and drag the mouse to rotate.

Of course if you’re looking for a keyboard shortcut, you can always just hit the R key to select the Rotate tool without visiting the Tools panel.

Either way, you can rotate multiple objects without grouping them – yet another time saver!

13 Reasons why software is not free: My somewhat (but not really) sympathetic long-winded response

Mac App StoreI recently came across Wild Chocolate which featured an article titled 13 Reasons why software is not free. After reading the author’s commentary regarding the pricing of Mac OS applications, I found myself agreeing and disagreeing at the same time.

Let me start by saying that when discussing topics like this, I almost always side with the developer. In the article in question, the author is (I’m guessing) addressing the trend of app pricing falling lower and lower and still fighting the opinion by vocal users that the software should be cheaper or free. This is nothing new. Adobe has been battling this issue for years, so has Apple, Microsoft, and numerous other software developers.

While I understand completely where the author is coming from, I also felt like it came across as whining and making excuses.

Here are my specific thoughts/responses to some of the author’s points:

1. The majority of software is made by small software shops, usually less than a dozen people. They specialize in creating software and do not have billions in other revenue streams to fall back on.

I sympathize, I really do. But how is this my fault or problem? Few companies have billions in revenue and still manage to put out a quality, affordable product. YOUR financial situation is not MY problem, and neither is the quantity of people it takes to develop your product.

2. Software is not easy to create — especially not software that people consider easy to use and attractive. It’s a whole heck of a lot of work, in fact.

Welcome to adulthood and the common workplace. Nothing I do at work is easy, especially producing a quality product. But I have no control over what people perceive is the value of the product I produce. The market dictates the price – no matter how hard I work or how great the work is.

4. Software is created by hard working people… like you. Do you get paid for your work?

Yes, I do get paid. But as I stated above, the market dictates the value of my work. I found the above statement to be completely lame and pointless.

5. People who make software have more to do once your purchase has been made. We are here for you when you run into issues by providing a support team to answer questions, walk you through troubleshooting steps, fix bugs, etc.

Make a product so easy to use that we don’t have to ask questions. Perhaps your help files (if you bothered to create comprehensive ones) need some work. Bug fixes? Fix your bugs before you release to the masses. This is a tough one. I get the developer’s perspective on this one, and quite frankly I get quite annoyed at people that complain who don’t bother to try a little harder to understand the application they just paid for and are using. They appear to expect every app to work the way THEY want it to work.

6. Software teams are constantly working on improving and updating the software to keep up with changing technologies. It’s a continuous process.

Only if you want to continue making money on it. You could do like so many small developers who release a product, make money, then move on to other projects and never touch the original application again. They ruin their reputation by violating the trust of their customers, of course. But let’s not pretend that improving your product is mandatory and without reward.

8. It costs money to put out a software product. We have to spend years creating it, paying people’s salaries, renting office space, purchasing computers, etc. If we want you to actually find out about our product, we often need to spend money to advertise as well.

Business 101: Cost of doing business. As far as the advertising goes, in modern times you often don’t have to advertise if you build a great product. You send out some press releases and some review licenses to key websites in your market and they do the work for you.

12. Without software, your fancy laptop or iPad would be… well… pretty darn useless.

Without our fancy laptops and iPads, your software would be absolutely useless.

The bottom line:

Visit the original article and decide for yourself whether or not you sympathize with the developer or the end-user.

As for me, the bottom line is complex. On the one hand, I’ve grown tired of the latest generation of Mac users who expect software to be perfect, free, and custom built just for them. Nothing annoys me like a comment on a MacUpdate software listing like “fix these bugs/lack of feature I want and I’ll pay for it,” or the only slightly more annoying “I’m removing your app from my Dock until you add XYZ feature.”

Developers work hard (well, most of them do) on their applications, and they’re made for a specific audience. For some users, the features in any particular app are worth every penny the developer asks for. Oddly enough, people seem to complain more about cheap apps than they do with more pricey ones. There’s a sense of entitlement that some users picked up somewhere and insist on publicly complaining whenever they get a chance.

On the other hand, developers have found themselves in this tough spot of producing a quality app and having to sell it cheap or give it away by their own doing. It’s not the fault of the user that your competitor makes a similar app that’s almost as good as yours, but at half the price – or even 99 cents. Your costs are your problem, not mine. As the user, I get to decide if the price of your application is appropriate for what it does and how it makes my life better.

I use several Adobe Creative Suite applications for my work. It’s an expensive collection of applications. Heck, it’s a lot more than I care to pay. But for what I do, there’s nothing better and I generally recoup the costs in no time. It’s a cost of doing business for me. Adobe prices these applications for people like me – people who find the value in them.

As soon as a developer makes an app that’s 75% to 80% as good as Adobe InDesign, I’ll consider switching. When Pixelmator does enough of what I need it to do, I’ll be happy to consider it over Photoshop; but it currently doesn’t, and so for me the price is simply not worth it. In that respect, I set the value of Pixelmator, and it doesn’t really matter how much time, effort and money they spent developing it. And let me just say that I think Pixelmator is an awesome application – worth every penny if you don’t need the power of Photoshop like I do.

Ultimately, I think many developers try to do too much with their app. Possibly in an effort to up the perceived value. Make an app you can code in a month that addresses a popular need and sell it for 99 cents. Or make a more complex app and sell it for $39 and sell a lot less copies. Either way, it’s up to the user to decide which to buy, and complaining about it isn’t going to change anything.

One thing is for sure, if you come up with a revolutionary app, or one that is so far above the competitors, people will happily pay for it.

Aligning multiple objects in Adobe Illustrator

When you want to align multiple objects in your Adobe Illustrator document, there’s no need for dragging guides out and moving objects manually. Here’s a much easier way to align and distribute your objects easily.

Align Illustrator objects

Aligning multiple objects in Adobe Illustrator is easy

Select the objects you wish to align, then click on the object you wish to use as your “key” object that you want to serve as the base object to align the others with (this can be an object or a guide). As seen in part 1 of the image above, you’ll notice that the key object has a thicker selection line around it.

Now open the align panel, and choose how you wish to align the objects. In the case of part 2 above, you can see I’ve chosen to align them vertically by the center of the objects. Click the align icon. As you see above, the objects are aligned at their center points.

Now we’ll distribute the objects evenly between the top and bottom objects using the top of each object as the key points. Keeping all three objects selected, simply click the desired alignment icon. As you see in part 3 above, the objects get evenly distributed.

Note: The same technique can be used in Adobe InDesign and Photoshop.

30 Mac OS X apps and utilities I love: Part 1

Mac OS X ApplicationsOver the years I’ve installed a lot of commercial software, shareware and freeware on my Macs. I love trying new apps. That being said, most of what I install gets used once or twice, then discarded. But there is a small collection of apps and utilities for Mac OS X that I’ve found to be extremely useful and kept around for the long haul.

I have no set criteria for deciding what stays and what goes, but for the most part the app has to serve a particular need, look good, and work as advertised. The following is not a complete list of what’s installed on my Mac, but it represents what applications and utilities have stood the test of time, and what I use the most.

My favorite apps are, in no particular order:

JustNotesJustNotes

There are lots of note-taking apps out there, but when I set out to find one that was dead simple, had a Mac and web client, and synced with my iPhone – I found only one that worked for me. JustNotes uses the SimpleNote service and syncs with all my Macs, my iPhone. It offers a menubar item for quick access, a few keyboard shortcuts, and not much more. It’s exactly what I was looking for, and it’s free.

Note: SimpleNote offers a web client, as well as iPhone app by itself – so you only need JustNotes (or other compatible app) if you want a Mac client.
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Adobe shipping Acrobat X Pro with new and improved features

AcrobatAdobe Acrobat X Pro, its powerful document collaboration tool for creative professionals who need to take their work to the next level. Acrobat X Pro allows users to deliver polished communications using PDF Portfolios, and work together effectively with shared document reviews. Users can also simplify workflows with integrated online services for storing and sending documents, and ensure designs will print accurately with advanced print production tools.

Adobe has added a host of new features with Acrobat X Pro, including:

  • The Action Wizard helps users automate and standardize multi-step tasks for maximum productivity.
  • New customization options for PDF Portfolios enable designers to create and share custom layouts and themes and develop PDF Portfolios with consistent branding and presentation.
  • Tight integration with online services at Acrobat.com allows users to share large files online and streamline collaboration.
  • Improvements made to the Preflight tool and printing options enable creative and print professionals to process jobs quickly and accurately.
  • Acrobat X Pro also supports the latest versions of the PDF/X-4 and X-5 standards, enabling users to stay current with industry standards.
  • Users can speed up everyday work by customizing the Quick Tools area for fast access to the tools they use the most.

Additionally, Adobe has added two new cloud services – Adobe SendNow and Adobe CreatePDF – that will improve document exchange and enable easy PDF creation.

Customers who previously purchased Acrobat 9, 8 or 7 (either Standard or Pro) and have a serial number can upgrade to Acrobat X Pro for $199.

I don’t have a copy yet, so I can’t say if Acrobat X Pro is worth the price of upgrade, but I do know that Adobe is putting a lot of engineering and R&D into Acrobat, so it most likely continues with the tradition of adding useful features and maintaining backwards compatibility and ease of use. When I get around to upgrading, I’ll post my thoughts on this latest version.

News from around the web

Adobe:

Apparently Adobe is toying with the idea of producing a Photoshop file viewing app for Apple’s iPad. John Nack is asking on his Adobe blog if users would like to take it a step further as well, by allowing the user to manipulate layers, and more. Adobe is definitely in development for tablet devices, as evidenced by this report from MacRumors.

iPhone Apps:

Photo KeysTwo nifty looking iPhone apps caught my attention this past week, both from RPA Technology. The first, Mobile Mouse Pro turns your iPhone into a wireless controller for your Mac. The combo desktop andiPhone app costs only $1.99 and looks to be uber cool. If you don’t require full control of your Mac, you can use the free Mobile Remote, which allows you to control a variety of audio and video apps on your Mac.

From the same company, Photo Keys offers iPhone users a companion tool to Adobe Photoshop on the desktop. Photo Keys puts the entire Photoshop toolbar, as well as many useful shortcuts right at your fingertips. Photo keys costs $2.99.

Bookmark Syncing with Xmarks:

Xmarks started out as a free extension for Firefox that allowed you to Sync your bookmarks between computers. Its popularity grew quickly, and soon there were versions available for Safari and Google Chrome as well. It was fantastic to be able to keep all my browsers on all my computers (Mac and PC) in sync. But just as soon as its popularity was exploding, they suddenly announced they were shutting down for financial reasons. Apparently, things have changed. According to reports, Xmarks has found a buyer and will make a lot of users very happy.

Rotate your InDesign page spreads for a better, more accurate view

If you happen to be working on an a multi-page InDesign document with facing pages that requires a fold at the top of the page rather than the side, it can be a real pain in the neck (literally) trying to work on pages that are sideways. Fortunately, InDesign allows you to relieve the pain.

Normal spread view in Adobe InDesign

Normal spread view in Adobe InDesign

As you can see above, a normal spread setup places the pages side-by-side. But your pages appear on screen sideways, with the fold running vertically instead of horizontally the way you want it. That’s because there’s no way to set up facing pages vertically.

Rotated spread view in Adobe InDesign

Rotated spread view in Adobe InDesign

Fortunately, you can use InDesign CS5‘s Rotate Spread feature to turn the spread to make it much easier to work on those pages. You can do this by visiting View>Rotate Spread from the InDesign menus and choose the direction you wish to rotate your view.