Software - Web-to-print

In a world of ever-tightening deadlines and faster production cycles, color proofing is a major stumbling block. Time is required to make the proof, especially in an analog workflow, and delivery and review add to that time. And while nothing can be done about either the creation or review stages of proofing, the delivery of the proof is an area that would seem ripe for compacting. Or at least that's what we've been hearing for some time now. Yet remote proofing is used for just a small fraction of all print materials produced. Why? If service is one of the primary differentiators between companies—a debatable

BY CLINT BOLTE Representatives of the 43 member companies of the International Cooperation for Integration of Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP3)—two companies joined during DRUPA—used this international venue as another opportunity to meet and discuss the evolving status of their efforts to develop integrated production standards leading to computer integrated manufacturing (CIM). Increasing anticipation in this meeting was evident due to two developments: the fourth "P" for Process to represent the new Job Definition Format (JDF), as well as the potential juggernaut of JDF versus printCafe's PCX specifications. Forged by Adobe, Agfa, MAN Roland and Heidelberg beginning nearly a year and a half

David Steinhardt has built a 17-year career on being what he terms a professional outsider—having worked for four industry associations. Today, Steinhardt is vice president of industry relations at PrintNation.com. He's now an Internet insider. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO David Steinhardt was an outsider—if you consider being knee-deep in association work and issues the definition of outside the actual nuts-and-bolts of the printing industry. Interesting. What if the definition of inside the commercial printing industry also meant being an insider at an emerging Internet company, serving the equipment, production and business needs of the commercial printing industry? This is Steinhardt today. Certainly,

Looking for a way to develop a larger client base, communicate better with your clients and cut the cost of your consumables? Dotcom companies may be the answer for which you've been searching. BY CAROLINE MILLER The dotcom companies—they're everywhere. The sheer number of print-oriented e-commerce sites can be a confusing and, frankly, a maddening experience when you are trying to figure out how the emerging dotcom world will benefit you. Never fear: We're here to help. In the second part of our on-going series on e-commerce companies for the printing industry, Printing Impressions takes a look at three age-old problems faced by three

Job tickets—which have been around since Gutenberg, if only in an elementary form—have evolved from handwritten envelopes to computerized, customized, global documents. In the new millennium, that evolution continues as job tickets are transformed from mere digital versions of their paper-based predecessors to virtual windows in the production process. BY CHERYL A. ADAMS "Our crystal ball indicates that, not only will print buying on the Internet become widespread, but also, in many cases, the management systems that the printer uses [such as those for electronic job ticketing applications] will be run totally over the Internet, as well," says Carol Andersen, president of Micro

Get ready: Here comes Linux. In design, Linux resembles UNIX more than Windows and offers a lot of performance capabilities—like multitasking and fault tolerance—at economies of scale more in line with PC systems. Linux is targeting the commercial printing and publishing environments. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Linus Torvalds, a researcher at the University of Helsinki in Finland, has everything to do with why it seems so many people, in general, and desktop software and server technology providers, in particular, are talking about the new magic word for OS: Linux. Linux is an operating system first developed by Torvalds in 1991 and, since

Internet companies are exploding onto the commercial printing scene, which means new ways for printers to purchase products, communicate with customers and improve efficiency. BY CAROLINE MILLER (Editor's Note: This is the first in a continuing series that profiles real-life examples of printers and their usage of various e-commerce services.) You would have to be living in a cave not to have noticed the explosion of Internet companies springing up to provide every kind of imaginable service. Actually, living in a cave is no longer an excuse—even caves seem to come equipped with Web browsers these days. So it's no surprise that the

First came Noosh, Collabria, Impresse, Printmarket and 58k—all Internet dotcoms seeking to interpose their facilities between print buyers and printers— brokers or auction floors made in the image of the New York Stock Exchange. Now, here comes another dotcom: printCafe, which has merged Logic Associates, Hagen, Prograph, AHP Systems, Programmed Solutions, parts of Creo and perhaps others by the time this writing is on your desk. printCafe seeks to become a super-broker by guiding and supporting both buyers and printers in the administration of their businesses—and collecting a commission! E-commerce mania is sweeping our industry—e-commerce of the B2B (business-to-business) variety rather than

New technologies and applications are emerging for remote proofing. Topping the latest trends are new file transfer technologies for rendering proofs remotely, new software solutions for annotating conceptual proofs and interactive conferencing via the Internet—turning remote proofing into the ultimate, simultaneous satellite collaboration. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO The motives for exploring and adopting remote proofing are the same this year as they were last year and the year before: Save production time, while at the same time develop a closer, more effective working relationship between printer and print buyer by leveraging remote proofing as a value-added service. What is different this year? So

While this cutting-edge technology offers the promise of "speed without compromise," some reluctant customers (who are uncomfortable with the electronic concept) fear that the digital proofing promise is simply too good to be true. How, then, do commercial printers convince them otherwise? BY CHERYL A. ADAMS "Have you looked at a National Geographic that was printed in 1980? Looks great doesn't it, just like today's issue? Only the 2000 issue was produced in a fraction of the time—without compromise in quality and from a source of information that is vast," says John Bassett, director of sales and marketing at Scholin Brothers Printing in