Starting with IPEX 2002, this blog covers events relevant for UK print, including Seybold and DRUPA. See also website at www.atford.co.uk

Thursday, March 04, 2004

I still think it is ok to leave this blog as IPEX2002 even though it is about drupa.

At IPEX the CIP4 day on JDF did not include much from Adobe. There could be more in 2004.

An update on Transit was recently announced. PDF Jobready could be widely used but this will depend on pricing. However, print has not been forgotten in the rush to sell server software for entrerprises.
There is an MIS show coming up in Birmingham.

PDF Brochure

The way computing and the web is impacting on print has changed the role of MIS. The computer system covers every part of print production so the MIS is just one part of this. The main issue is how the MIS system can cope with this when it needs to fit with something else.
There is a very interesting release from Enfocus about JDF and PDF.

http://www.enfocus.com/news/shownews.php?id=135

The details will not be clear till drupa though there may be some clues at Seybold.

The intention is that job ticket details ( the JDF bit ) will be included as part of the PDF. I think that is right, this blog will change if facts are wrong. Now this going back to the original idea of a PDF with a portable job ticket format included. Just one file with everything required.

At Seybold Amsterdam 2003 there was a lot of discussion on how the JDF part and the PDF could be linked. There was a lot of support for keeping XML distinct. I think the Global Graphics approach with Courier follows this, but I could be wrong.

Adobe seems to be looking at an XML file that includes PDF as one part of it. This might be easier for database systems to cope with as getting XML in and out of PDF takes up some resource. For enterprise and government this may be a way forward but for print a PDF as it is now known, plus the job ticket in some way it is not going to get lost, meets the requirement for most people.

The Enfocus press release includes a statement by David van Driessche, Enfocus CEO. "Our support for job ticketing and JDF allows PDF workflows to be extended to include the original document creators; something that was clearly missing to date."

This is a significant intention. The 'original document creator' can create and proof a PDF for page description. Also they can specify the job ticket details as far as they need to. It appears this will all be in one file that is easy to check. From a quality assurance point of view this is document control as in the book.

There will be more on this later. Something longer will be on the WWW.atford website after drupa

Monday, March 01, 2004

Previous post was misleading in suggesting that Imprinta has disappeared.

Checking the site, it is just that the dates moved from 2003 to 2006.

http://www.mdna.com/shows/imprinta.html

I still think that a three year cycle for a show such as this is not the best approach for software issues. It could be annual but on a smaller scale.

So my guess is still that this coming drupa is a pivotal event. It has a very strong base in print as it has been. The online aspects are probably growing in such a way that such an event will not happen again in the same form.

See comments from Christian Gugler, Chairman of PrintCity’s Networking Activity Group. He has explained that the plans announced for drupa have "profound importance to the industry as a whole."

“Networking is far more important an issue than simply communicating small pieces of job and system data. As we look further ahead, at PrintCity we see that networking is also the essential prerequisite for structural change at a strategic level in the graphic arts industry."

“The industry must move beyond its traditional role as a creator and supplier of printed items, to become a provider of cross-media services. In that context, PrintCity’s Integration Centre and print factories show the clear paths to the future.”
There is an article by Frank Romano at i-grafix.

This suggests that the proportion of print jobs where the internet plays some part in the procurement will rise from roughly 20% at the moment to 80% by 2007.

This would mean that the Adobe take on 'Network Publishing' would make a lot of sense, though possibly not in 2004 as originally claimed when the concept was first promoted. Creo are now working on ideas around 'Networked Graphic Production' . Adobe is one partner with this and there is reference to Network Publishing as a related idea.

My guess is that this will mean that the 2004 drupa is the last one in this format. The four year cycle around drupa assumes that the machinery is the important feature. If the web is significant and print only one option for communications, then there will be many shows around the web that will contribute to discussion. I am not sure what happened to Imprinta. My guess is that this could have been a more frequent event between drupas, with an emphasis on software. In the UK, Digital Solutions and Digital Print World have shown there is a demand for shows around digital print that also cover workflows relevant to all forms of hard copy. Frank Romano's article suggests that the web will be involved in 60% of print procurement by 2006. What will this mean for an IPEX? It could be a very different show.
Previous post about the lack of stands at drupa seems to be largely wrong.

I am now a bit hesitant about making comments on the main webpages. Seems to be ok in a blog though. The drupa site did announce that all the space had gone and I did check the list at the time. So any future text could be wrong also. At least a blog can be updated.

Adobe will be at A33 in Hall 04 and A44 in Hall 6. This seems to be close enough to both Print City and the Networked Graphic Production around Creo. At IPEX there was a small space within the Xerox area as well.

Quark will be at A28 in Hall 7. No sign yet of Microsoft or Macromedia. At Digital Print World, Olympia last year , Microsoft showed a determination to establish Publisher as mainstream for pre-press. Maybe most people at drupa already know about this.

One of the Seybold keynotes will be about how graphic design should cover web, TV and hard copy. More about this later. People I meet working on the web often use Macromedia products so this has to be part of the discussion. Maybe Macromedia only wants to reach a web audience. Freehand remains a great way to produce hard copy. PDF files seem to be quite small for one thing. This could be pointed out more often.