Re: Re: Chicken or the egg...
Originally posted by Wash!!
I agree with you. I started to use ID for all my projects as the same way I used Freehand instead of illustrator.
I told my print houses that I was using these programs they either take my files or I'll take my business to someone who will...guess what now they support Freehand files with no problems as well as ID.
They will change if you will to keep your business.
Having dealt with many prepress houses requiring the acceptance of our ID files, I can say one resisted at first because of crawling processing times but soon realized their problem was their outdated Postscript 2 RIP. They decided to upgrade because they knew that sooner or later they'd be doing it anyway.
A large printer in Wisconsin welcomed our 64 page 4 color catalog with open arms. Aside from a few minor transparency flattening issues that were quickly resolved, the job ripped excellently. Using ID instead of Quark allowed me to do things I would never have attempted because of the massive production that would have been involved. The prepress department said they love ID files because they rip without the Quark quirks. This project was the largest our agency has ever produced from scratch and it was a joy using ID because it gave me the ability to experiment and implement. I shudder to think of the HUGE full page graphic compositions I would have had to do in Photoshop imported into Quark.
The thing is, I am a client of prepress houses and they realize if they want my business, they have to adapt because I can go anywhere for this service.
Speaking for myself and our agency, it's wonderful to be 100% OSX native with our applications and we never have to go Classic again.
In reference to publishers accepting ID files, it's not much of an issue since the majority we send to prefer PDF's. On rare occasion have needed to take a different approach, but it's been maybe twice and it turned out to be no big deal. Believe me, we aren't into creating more work for ourselves so we would have axed ID long ago if it didn't meet our needs. It's quite the opposite. It's such a good layout program that none of our designers want to think of going back.
I read an interesting article a few months ago on the switch to ID that Fossil (the watch company) made. Interestingly, when they were in the initial stages of considering moving to ID, the conversations they had with Quark were that Quark just didn't seem to care. So, all 100 designers of Fossil's staff are now designing with ID and they have ditched Quark altogether. Sounded like the same treatment I received from Quark when they contacted me with a customer satisfaction survey. I relayed to them the reason we were switching and not only did the marketing rep not care, but at time became combative with me. I had to keep reminding her that it was SHE who called me. The arrogance of that company is stupifying!
Someone mentioned a few posts back they are using XP and Quark...now there's a winning combination! Pleeeez...can something suck worse than that? To compare the elegance of OSX with the chunkiness of XP. If I had to go that route, I'd switch to a profession like ditch digging where I'd be sure a computer loaded with Windoze was never required for me to use.
