Software - Web-to-print

Internet companies are changing print buyer to printer (and printer to printer) interaction. Beyond e-procurement and equipment auctions, the Internet is targeting the very core of the printing industry—the printing community itself. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO John Cooley Jr., vice president of sales at his family's business, Philadelphia-based, $25 million Innovation Printing & Litho, does not oversee a company the size and scope of R.R. Donnelley & Sons. Cooley does not buy consumables with the same purchase power as do print consolidators the likes of Nationwide Graphics. Cooley does not push Innovation Printing, founded by Cooley's father, to compete against the billion dollar

The Internet's rapid adoption as a vehicle for business communication broke new ground in '99 with the emergence of a variety of e-commerce services targeting commercial printers. With 2000 in sight, it is imperative to know the Internet players that want to know YOU. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Interested in using the Internet for winning print bids and for collaborative discussions with print buyers? Curious about using the Web to get the best prices on paper, or to take part in an equipment auction? If so, there are suddenly, it seems, an aggressive variety of e-commerce companies positioning to be the shopping platform of

If I asked you "Is printing a product or a service?" I'd likely get a variety of answers, such as "Product," "Service," "Yes and No," "Both" and "In some cases . . . " Does it make any difference? Yes. It's the business "model" for our printing companies. The difference is the intensity of relationship to the customer, isn't it? Marketing, we often say, is finding and filling a need. What's the "need" we're filling? Is it for a "shelf" item—a product—a commodity? Then the customer relationship is impersonal. If it's for a "service," then it's personal, up close. In most commercial printing, there's

Expanded color gamuts, strategic digital halftone proofing launches, imposition proofers and multi-setting thermal devices highlighted the digital proofing component of GRAPH EXPO 99. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO What were the digital proofing flares shot out at GRAPH EXPO 99? One glaring signal: Digital halftone proofing is still riding a high. Equally hot for the contract proofmakers were new devices offering expanded color gamuts, two-sided imposition proofers, new multi-purpose thermal proofsetters and refined remote proofing promises—all of which captured the attention and scrutiny of show attendees, who are looking to purchase the next contract proofer and want to know . . . Who joined

Need a new workstation? Just look in the latest Mac Warehouse catalog or local computer shopper. Software upgrade? Check out the developer's Website. Given the commodity nature of the computer industry, who needs an integrator? And what is a systems integrator anyway? What value do they bring to the party? Integrators are the back-room folks who make all that "stuff" work together. Perhaps more important, they are the ones who fix it when it doesn't. Can't get Color Central to print correctly? Of course, you know that you can only use specific drivers—or nothing will print. Installing a server running Windows NT 4.0 and can't get

The call for open, device-independent color management is driving more and more prepress workflows. Are closely woven color management tools on the way out? Is ICC compliance the best route for color control? BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO An overall ease of use and a simplification of the process; these may be the two strongest desires driving color management for any prepress professional advocating some sort of consistent, cross-platform, color management standard. Is International Color Consortium (ICC) compliance the answer? Are new, device-independent color management software solutions the key to unlocking color bottlenecks? Recently, Printing Impressions posed these and other questions to a sampling of

Internet-savvy commercial printers are taking advantage of new Web tools and services to better communicate with their clients and to fine-tune print production. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO If any lingering doubt existed in the minds of industry executives that the Internet would, in fact, be a critical, production-oriented tool for commercial printing, that doubt can now safely be regarded as an echo of a bygone notion. For all those still shaking their heads at the thought of the Internet as a viable player in digital prepress and overall print production, perhaps a takeoff on the popular motion picture persona Austin Powers might bring it

With the trade show season in full swing, I thought it'd be fun to discuss the latest rage now "e-merging" in our industry: e-commerce. Anyone who attended Seybold or who headed to GRAPH EXPO 99 this month will be hard pressed to avoid the presence of Internet firms that plan to revolutionize our old-fashioned game of smearing ink on smashed trees. First of all, let me be clear: I think these guys are on the right track—far more so than the "e-tailers" who think they are going to crush the "bricks-and-mortar" folks like an ant. Business-to-business supply chain management is ripe for the picking, even

When Seybold closed the doors to its 1999 San Francisco expo last month, three technology trends stood dominant: the Internet, PDF and the quest for the all-digital workflow. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO If one potent word could sum up the energy, enthusiasm and very direction of Seybold San Francisco, held for the final time this century at the Moscone Center last month, it could easily be: Internet. The Internet, the World Wide Web. Seybold San Francisco was a virtual debutante's ball for the global gateway that is the Internet. New companies emerged as major players for the commercial printing market—all gearing to harness the

Preflighting via the Internet. Emulating RIPs to ensure accurate digital files. Automating workflow-critical checks for font usage in PDF documents. A variety of fresh innovations are signaling a new dawn for preflighting. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Preflighiting is experiencing a renaissance, of sorts, with the Internet, PDF and the pressing demand for more intensive automation, which is pushing technology providers to deliver more interactive file checkers. Markzware is moving its preflighting efforts onto the Internet—proof being the company's recently introduced MarkzNet, a Web-based preflighting application that uses drag-and-drop tools to preflight digital files. Extensis, also moving to the Internet, has launched Preflight