Layout artist for screen-format PDFs

[Michael Hopcroft]

I don't know for sure if I'm going to need this -- there may be people within my company who can do this. But just in case I thought I'd inquire.

I'd like to knwo if there are any layout/graphic design people who have experience with formatting PDF files for the computer screen and creating them as fully indexed files that take full advanatge of the PDF format.

And also who are better spellers than me. Just in case. :)

I can't pay top dollar, being a start-up, but I'm hoping that if I have to go outside my current circle for this job that we can work out something reasonable.

Bear in mind that I only have vague ideas of the technicalities of what i need. I don't even know what page dimension I need for a screen-format PDF. And I have neverbeen a "power user" of Adobe Acrobat, or indeed any other DTP program. There are certain skills that I lack but that would be very useful for me to be able to make reasonable use of.

[Big Simon]

Can you tell me what it is you mean by "screen-format PDF"?

[Keith Senkowski]

I have experience formating PDFs for the screen and creating fully indexed files.  I have made a few for my company (day job at the American College of Chest Physicains) for deployment on CD-ROMs.  If you are interested send me an instant message.  Also, if you are looking for an editor I know of at least one.  He edited my game, which will be going to the printer this Friday (finally got the last of the artwork in).

Keith

[Big Simon]

One of the beauties of PDF is that it's not hard to switch a product from screen-format (after some consideration, I'm assuming you mean resolutions and page sizes), to print-format... and back again.  It's a nice format that I've been using since 1995, when I first heard of it.

Send me a message detailing what you need done, and we'll talk.

[Michael Hopcroft]

What i need is turning out to be quite different, now that a printing and distribution afgreement has been reached between my old company and ym new one. I'm planning to lay out the books myself in Quark XPress 5,0 but need to know what the dimensions for Digest size are. I also need to learn enough about Quark to know hot to insert art, how to build a cover, and how to use the PDF Export function tto best advantage, aslthough i will probably need a copy of Acrobat before too much longer.

I guess tehchnical advice 9what si the proper page size, how do I build a two-fold cover, how do i make two versions of the same book at different dip resolutions) is what i need most at this point.

[Eero Tuovinen]

What i need is turning out to be quite different, now that a printing and distribution afgreement has been reached between my old company and ym new one. I'm planning to lay out the books myself in Quark XPress 5,0 but need to know what the dimensions for Digest size are.

Congrats on the deal. You're best off asking from the printer about the digest, to get the right size. For example European paper sizes differ some from American ones, so I'd just give some horribly wrong figures.

I also need to learn enough about Quark to know hot to insert art,

You put in those picture boxes and import into them ;)

 how to build a cover,

Likely your printer will want the cover in a separate file. Just remember to make a spine, too. Details depend some on particulars, like whether there's bleeds and how the book is bound.

 and how to use the PDF Export function tto best advantage, aslthough i will probably need a copy of Acrobat before too much longer.

Quark's PDf export has been a little quirky when I've used it thus far. Could be something about my overall system settings, I guess.

I guess tehchnical advice 9what si the proper page size, how do I build a two-fold cover, how do i make two versions of the same book at different dip resolutions) is what i need most at this point.

Your printer is the best place for information concerning the print. Remember, you're the customer there and it's their job to answer your questions.

The main thing for doing the book in two resolutions is to know it beforehand and plan accordingly. Structure all text as rtf files with styles, so you can easily import them into multiple projects and not need to edit twice, as an example of the kinds of things to consider.