Alan, Freda,

As Freda has so rightly pointed out, the main issue is with the graphics -
particularly photographic artwork. I have set up systems in the past where
images were going to be used for both print and web - we scanned and stored
the images in an OPI server which then produced (somewhat automatically) a
screen resolution version of the scan, as well as the low-res placeholder
graphic for use in QuarkXPress, PageMaker, InDesign etc.

Content was entered directly into a database via a web interface which was
then used on the site or in the layout application via ColdFusion or an ODBC
XTension for QXP respectively.

Taking an online catalogue and importing it directly into, say XPress, will
result in poor image quality, bottom line.

FYI, InDesign handles the importation of HTML better than QuarkXPress,
although you still have the issue of image quality to contend with. Further,
it has some nifty integration with PhotoShop which may ease the pain of
handling dual images.

I hope this helps

Steve Baty
Technical Director
Red Square
www.redsquare.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Freda Lockert" <fredalockert(at)clara.co.uk>
To: <hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2000 10:55 AM
Subject: Re: Web page conversion into print?


> >Is there anyway to take an online catalog an easily convert it to a
> >format that
> >can be sent to a commercial printer (NOT a desk-top printer).  There
> >are ways to
> >take a catalog, say in Quark, and make web pages, but is there a way to
go the
> >other direction?
> >
> >Alan
> >
> >
> I don't think this is possible, but stand to be corrected. To produce
> work for print the first thing you need to know before you start is
> the resolution of the device the thing's going to be printed on. For
> quality commercial work you're talking image setting at around 2,600
> dpi. Artwork for print is scanned on commercial drum scanners, for
> colour images each colour channel is scanned separately. A far cry
> from web quality. Then there's issues of colour trapping, screening,
> and miscellaneous other things. The job goes to the printer as a set
> of PostScript files or often now, PDF.
>
> A humorous Irish response to a request for directions - 'If I was
> going there I wouldn't start from here'.
>
> Freda
>
> --
> Spaceship Earth - The problem for the passengers is that there is no
> operating manual to identify all the parts, and no instructions for
> the passengers on how to operate the spaceship. - Richard Buckminster
> Fuller.

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