Adobe will have a stand at Seybold Amsterdam, also hosting a day for developers.

This is a bit of a surprise. Last year the official Adobe presence seemed a bit limited. There were people there but they seemed to have turned up anyway, maybe in their spare time.

The day on e-forms will be relevant for JDF though it seems nobody will be using PDF for forms linking in to JDF. The server software is too expensive at the moment.

However the e-forms discussion will contribute to an advanced web services agenda. It had seemed that the European emphasis on hard copy would be a bit boring. In the buildup to drupa though, there will be no harm in going through the case for PDF and JDF one more time. Quark and Microsoft will be there so there could be a software discussion ahead of drupa. On the stands listing it seems that Adobe, Quark and Microsoft have left it too late to book a stand.

It has taken a while to get back into the year, but writing may be more frequent now.

The Institute of Printing had a debate just before Christmas. I will write it up while I can still remember some detail but this won't be for a few days. I had to leave before the end to get back to Exeter but I did hear the main argumnets.

Although the motion that the print industry no longer needs skills was defeated, my main impression was the strength of the case that digital technology is now accepted for litho workflows as well as digital print as such. There was no attempt to argue against this, just the argument that new skills are needed for this approach to work.

On PDF, it was even claimed that most print customers are nowadays creating files that cause few problems for pre-press and that any issues around a lack of understanding will be cleared up soon. My own guess is that skills around tact and training will be needed to make print workflows seem less in need of skill than is actually the case.

http://www.linst.ac.uk/news/2003/lcp_lcc.html

London College of Printing is now the London College of Communication.

This seems a key event for the week of the Digital Print World. Other digital issues creep in, like film studies and web design. There is another show called Digital Solutions where the word print is not featured. Both shows could develop towards 'communication' as something wider than print. The gossip in the Guardian has been that the London Institute will have the word Arts in the new university title.

--------------

Some links for the ready4print service. It is a joint venture between a graphics firm Q|Solutions, and a software firm - Class Act
www.qsolutions.nl
www.class-act.nl

The Amsterdam Exchange has an impressive set of photos. This seem to be the spot where the service is hosted.

-------------------

There was no new information from Adobe about Transit. Possibly one reason is that the forms server software is still fairly expensive. It is sold with other systems through companies such as IBM Global Services. Maybe the price levels that would make sense for printers are not appropriate at this time. The Courier approach includes Jaws software to create the PDF. The licence allows a charge per job sent rather that an upfront cost for each site. A PDF form might be better in many ways, but it is expensive at the moment. Similarly the collaboration tools in Acrobat are still very useful for discussing changes to artwork but the costs are limiting the extent to which this is used. Pelagon seem to have stopped promoting the support of WebDAV for collaboration. They are working with Heidelberg though on another application based on Jaws Courier.

http://www.pelagon.com/portalsolutions/digitalprint.htm

Smartech website

http://www.smartechuk.plc.uk/about.htm

They are supporting the "office" including this web access...

Just discovered 'The Office' with web access. one terminal only but not many people are using it. PrintMe is part of this but there are few actual places in the UK where PrintMe is available. Maybe five Hiltons. So not much has moved on since IPEX. There could be a wider launch early next year.

Ready 4 Print have a nice Flash website now in English to explain how their web services take on Courier works. It should be on their website sometime next week. Currently only on their stand as part of Positive Focus. It is now unlikley there will be a UK server as the Amsterdam one is connected very close to the Amsterdam internet hub and is quite quick throughout Europe.

www.ready4print.com

Jaws PDF Courier seems to be getting further. Pelagon are using it as a basis for Web 2 Print, presented here as part of the Heidelberg approach. Positive Focus continue to offer ready4print. Apparently Global Graphics offer Courier as a software development kit so there are various ways that the job ticket information could be sent that relates to each PDF for copy. Some form of XML could be used so it should be possible to relate this to JDF. Maybe some requests from printers would encourage this.

Pelagon
www.pelagon.com

Microsoft have now booked a stand (64) at Digital Print World. This is a new stage in the integration of print and corporate IT.

So far not booked are IBM and Macromedia.

IBM have announced a new range of Infoprint kit aimed at a 'data centre' but with speeds that could compare with some instant print sites.

Freehand was mentioned in the Pintweek review of Adobe's Creative Suite by Simon Eccles. It remains a good option for page layout but somehow Macromedia never gets round to turning up at a hard copy event.

Actually the topic on a PDF version of the Guardian had not got lost. It was moved from 'BBC' to 'Press and Publishing'.

Very sensible too. I started it in BBC not realising how many sections there are. I thought it was all media. So some comment will be there not in this blog.

Other contributions have started to look at the Times as well as the Telegraph. There will be a log of reader experience. I still think the Guardian should say something about what they intend. July is a while ago now. And surely other media could report on this? The Telegraph is not promoting the Active Paper option all that widely as far as I know.

It is being suggested that Jakob Nielsen might be influenced by work with Macromedia in his views on PDF.

http://www.pdfzone.com/news/111303nielsen.html

http://www.planetpdf.com/mainpage.asp?webpageid=2002#monday

I don't think this is in any way true. Jakob Nielsen is just wrong, that's all. His views on PDF are longstanding and consistent with his other views, in general that it is better tyo use the oldest technology available and to assume the users know nothing and and are not prepared to learn. Also text in itself is probably all that is really needed so graphics could be avaoided as they may cause problems.

Jakob Nielsen has stated that PDF is ok, for content to be printed out.

Meanwhile if Macromedia will support PDF that is to be encouraged. They may get a PDF 'ankle biter' by mistake with eHelp but let's hope they continue it.

http://www.ehelp.com/products/robopdf/downloads.asp

Digital Print World indicates a new stage of acceptance for PDF in the UK. The scope seems to be limited to digital print but actually the discussion around this will include workflows for litho and also the web.

I need to rearrange the content of websites for Acrobat Services UK and WWW.atford. So far the UK site has assumed low bandwidth and concentrated on hard copy. the dotcom site assumes broadband. The print opinion parts of Acrobat Services UK can move to WWW.atford as archive. The UK site will still assume low bandwidth, but cover topics that need broadband. The UK now has better potential so the requirement is for some content or use.

I have done two small PDFs. One links a Print opinion stream to an IOP event in December. One promotes the aspects of the Workflow Cinema at Digital Print World that I think are most interesting.

There is an Education Guardian article today about pocket computers as could be "harnessed for learning". Very sensibly the research starts with how they are already used for games, music and text messages.

Strangely Professor Mike Sharples makes the following statement. "We're not in the business of replacing books." Well, why not? Sorry, since the topic about a PDF Guardian disappeared and I have moved on to be more of a blogger, the temptation is there to go into rave mode anyway.

Elsewhere in Education Guardian it is reported that funding will be adjusted so that subjects like computer software and media studies get less. Costs are assumed to be lower so there can't be many new G5s being bought. Is there an incentive for universities to invest in e-learning? Will funding be adjusted later to compensate those that are still using an older approach?

'Blended learning' will include some books but they don't have some special position that cannot be questioned. Just as, the Guardian can exist both online and as print. It is worth talking about.

Copied from
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/glaser/1068169487.php

"
Iraq Today's Web site was down all this week. But I spoke with Mina Corp.'s advertising liason in the U.K., Caroline Binns, who told me the newspaper was very much still in business, but that Web access is switching to subscription-only and will be up again next week. Binns called it a "small technical problem" and said that anyone interested in getting a PDF version of the paper, can e-mail her at caroline@minacorp.com for two free trial issues. After that, the price is $200 per year.

Binns told me they've sold "hundreds" of subscriptions, and said the newspaper had a print run of 15,000 copies. "The motto of the paper is the 'Independent Voice of Iraq,' and we have angered some people in the military and the CPA [Coalition Provisional Authority]," she said. "The reason we publish in English is so that Iraqis can have their voice heard by the CPA."

"

sorry this was just a repeat. Still learning about 'post' and 'publish'......

Somehow the topic about a PDF version of the Guardian seems to have disappeared from the Talk section of the Guardian website. It was in media under BBC. I started it in BBC by mistake but it seems relevant. A BBC archive of programs should have back issues of The Listener in PDF.

Back in July, Emily Bell was online for a chat about the paid for future of Guardian content. Mention was made of a 'digital edition' though there was little detail other than a price of about £98 per year. This is a reduction on the print version but still a number that implies some value.

I have added some messages since and also changes to a news story on the Acrobat Services website. Recently I have tried to provoke some contibutions from Guardian staff. Partly I am puzzled by what is going on. Partly it seems the coverage in media and online rarely considers how digital technology has an impact on newspapers.

My most recent message was about an article by Roy Greenslade on declines in newspaper circulation. What is striking is the lack of any web context. There was one article a while ago when he visited Brighton and found that a fire led to interest in a local news website. But Roy Greenslade rarely mentions the effect of increased time spent browsing the web.

IanD on the Talk messages told us about a Telegraph offer that turms out to be based on ActivePaper from Olive Software. I have tried this for the best part of a week and it seems to work ok. The content is based on PDF or Postscript as from the print version. There is no direct PDF on offer but you can print to it including photography and illustration.Unfortunately the Sunday version does not include the colour magazine.

Maybe it is just my closed world as a Guardian reader, but I don't think this Telegraph offer is well known. The Guardian has not featured it at all, so far as I know. Apparently the Telegraph lost about 20,000 buyers in October. At 2% of 890,000 this could just be the small number of people who have managed to find out about the online offer.

This situation seems to me to well worth reporting although print media seem to stick to print all too often. There is a conference coming up linked to Digital Print World. Subjects include how The Guardian can use digital technology in support of distributed hard copy. surely the discussion has moved on a bit. The web is an option as well as competition.

The circulation figures may not be the sign of an 'ice age' to threaten 'dinosaurs'. But there are some issues that should be discussed.

This blog started as IPEX 2002. It will continue loosely connected with how PDF and JDF have an effect. Recently Adobe have announced even more XML support than was evident at IPEX. 'Network Publishing' is a context in which print reconfigures as part of something else.

The slides are now available in PDF format from the Acrobat User Forum presentations at the Workflow Theatre during Digital Solutions

www.acrobat-services.co.uk/auf

I was invlolved in these meetings so may not have a sound perspective. My take though is that they coincide with a new stage in the UK when there are examples of aspects of PDF previously reported on the web as existing elsewhere. Actually the Defra forms will not be online till next spring.

The site at www.atford.co.uk has been updated with some information on Digital Print World. This event looks more interesting as new stands are booked. Adobe will be part of a Workflow Cinema. Presumably this will be different to a Workflow Theatre with frequent requests to 'show the video please'.

It will be interesting to see if Adobe offer new information on Transit. Jaws Courier is available through a web service but Adobe seem not to say much about job ticket information. It used to be part of the PDF. There is much talk of 'document solutions' but these are intended for enterprise in general. Many print service providers are too small or medium to get much attention.

I am thinking about a longer opinion style piece on the Institute of Printing annual debate in December. They are disputing whether the print industry still needs skills. Often this reflects a view that skills are not what they used to be. If the people who create PDF are to get the same consistency of results from litho that they achieve with an email attachment there will be a need for some new skills. The print industry needs to understand support for distance learning. Also how to organise preflight and inspection while remaining polite.

Digital Solutions has been over for a couple of days and I am beginning to get an overall take on it. There could have been more people there and this may be because the expectations and promotion mismatched on what was there. The Digital Camera Show was not promoted as such. Maybe more management types attend a workflow show if they think there won't be too many anoraks looking for cheap cameras. I'm not too sure about this as actually quite a range of people look at what is on offer. So the camera stands were still there and getting interest. Fuji was the main brand represented with their own stand.

However the conventional litho mainstream was probably not there in large numbers. The workflow presentations from Agfa and Creo should have had massive audiences based on the content. Networked Graphic Production (NGP) is a concept that is under development. The Apogee X as described will probably not change much before Print City at drupa. So the workflow theatre was a chance to look at how JDF can work. Reports of rivalry between an NGP camp and Print City seem to be exaggerated. Actually most JDF systems can work with each other as well as any XML standard works with Microsoft.

The scope of Digital Print World is limited to digital print but issues may come up such as workflow for litho and moving content to the web.

Maybe there is a question for all print exhibiitons, though this is hard to assess. drupa is fully booked. Even if IIR develop an annual digital show over the next three years there could still be many people in the British printing industry who will concentrate on the mechanical engineering available at IPEX.

Brief news from Digital Solutions

Jaws PDF Courier can create and deliver reliable PDF with job ticketing. Positive Focus are distributing this and offering a web serice - ready4print. There is currently a server based in the Netherlandsand one expected soon in the UK.

There will be a presentation about this on the 22nd in the Workflow Theatre at 3.40

------

Although there is not officially a Digital Camerta Show this year, there are several stands with digital cameras. For example A.J. Purdie have stocks of Nikon, Canon and Sony.

Another test, seems to be working ok.

Long gaps in this blog are because I update the sites for www.atford and the Acrobat User Forum. I do get confused as to which opinions to put in which spot but this seems to be ok so far.

I am going to project a year forward on the Acrobat User Forum site so the content for this year's Digital Solutions meetings makes more sense. So far the emphasis on structure and server software has not really got much attention from the graphics professionals or at least the media who think they understand this audience. The response of the people at the workflow theatre will be interesting. By next October the JDF aspects of workflow should be better understood. PDF forms online will be used more widely so some priont companies will be included. Graphic designers will need to understand how to use material both for print and online.

The www.atford site is to imagine this sort of future. I have started to include news stories such as one on Global Graphics and JDF. My impression is that Adobe have lost some focus on hard copy. There is not much detail in the UK on how they relate to JDF. Transit seems to have disappeared without any explanation. In time there will be something coming through Digital Print World so this can be updated later.

I have started a discussion topic at Planet PDF

Please add in any comments there

More follows during next week

Digital Solutions Exhibition: 21-23 October 2003 - London ExCeL

This is a test of the direct blogging feature on my new Google toolbar

Links to event coming up soon. More later.

The Seybold event is settling into some sort of perspective now that I am finding other sources of information through the web and magazines. It seems that Adobe are being quite selective in where they promote the new server software. an article on PDFzone comments on their lack of presence at eGOV in Washington. Meanwhile they have attended a SAP conference so presumably this is the sort of environment where the pricing makes sense. The US Army have made extensive use of PDF for forms.

Maybe there will be more to say by the time of Seybold San Francisco. For example, is Transit to be updated or publicised? I would suggest the order of events happens in reverse to the sequence in Amsterdam. Start with a panel discussion on whehter the server software is on a pricing level that any normal person could consider. Allow time to study the Adobe website if there is no other source of product detail. Then discuss with CIP4 members if the XML job ticket information could be part of the PDF or somewhere else. Then ask the Gilbane content management discussion to cover this as another example of what they are looking at. If this order can't fit with the schedule, maybe something can develop online meanwhile.

http://www.pdfzone.com/news/101799.html

http://www.gilbane.com/gilbane_at_seybold_03.html

http://www.seybold365.com/sf2003/conference/

http://www.cip4.org/activities/schedule.php

http://www.adobe.com/products/server/main.html


Printweek reported the Amsterdam JDF discussion at great length (June 19th) and supported the idea in an editorial. It has become clear that the Seybold move to Europe has connected with European interest in hard copy. The next Seybold Amsterdam in April 2004 will be just ahead of DRUPA so more will be known on how JDF is likely to be implemented. this blog will resume around the time of events but the issues will also be reflected in websites that are updated more slowly.

websites

http://www.atford.co.uk (imagined destination for UK print)
http://www.acrobat-services.co.uk (print emphasis)
http://www.acrobat-services.com (assumes bandwidth)

events

Digital Solutions
http://www.ondemandexpo.co.uk Digital Print World
http://www.digitalprintworld.co.uk/

If you're not convinced about JDF / PDF by now, you have at least two more chances before 2004.