Newsletter

Newsletter Issue 47, 11 June 2001

ISSN 1442-8652

Editor: Jean Hollis Weber
jean@jeanweber.com
http://www.jeanweber.com

In this issue...

Creating PDF documents from Word using Adobe Acrobat 4
    Hints for getting the best results
    Setting up Acrobat 4
Book review: Poor Richard's Home and Small Office Networking
A good source of information on Microsoft Word
Tools: Calculating download time for Web pages
Tools: Search Engine Buddy for improved ranking of Web pages
Tools: Zoomerang - free online survey tool
Fontsite: Online information about fonts and typesetting
Books available from Jean Hollis Weber
    Taming Microsoft Word
    Editing Online Help
    Electronic Editing
Subscription information

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Creating PDF documents from Word using Adobe Acrobat 4

Extracted from Chapter 8 of Taming Microsoft Word. The chapter includes screen captures, not reproduced here. For more about the book, see http://www.jeanweber.com/books/tameword.htm

Hints for getting the best results

• Be sure you have installed the latest Adobe PS driver for Acrobat 4, and always "print" a PDF using this driver. You don't need to have a physical PostScript printer attached; all you need is a PostScript printer driver. Even if you do have a physical PostScript printer installed, don't use its driver -- use the Adobe PS driver.
   
• Don't use the PDF Writer option in PDF Maker for more than simple, text-based documents or perhaps draft copies of a more complex document. Instead, either print to a PostScript file and use Acrobat Distiller to produce the PDF, or use the Distiller option in PDF Maker, which is a set of macros that takes care of the intermediate steps for you.

  Distiller produces smaller (often much smaller) file sizes, in addition to clearer graphics. It gives you much more control over the results.
   

• Specify whatever job options you want in Distiller, before running PDF Maker.
   
• Be sure you have at least three times the size of the PostScript file available as free space on your hard disk, before attempting to distill the file. The resulting PDF file may be considerably smaller than the PostScript file, but the Distiller needs a lot of space to do its work.
   
• Test a small file, containing examples of typical fonts and graphics, to determine what combination of Distiller settings gives the best results. If the final PDF file is to be read on screen and printed by users, be sure to test on different monitors and different printers (the results can be dramatically different at 300 dpi, 600 dpi, and 1200 dpi).

Setting up Acrobat 4

Essential steps for setting up Acrobat 4:

1. Install Acrobat 4 and any upgrades on your computer, following the instructions given by Adobe.
    
2. Make sure you have installed the latest AdobePS printer driver. If necessary, download it from the Free Plug-ins & Updates section of http://www.adobe.com
    
3. Check the printer properties to make sure the paper size selected is the same as the paper size you have set in Word. Strange things can happen if the two settings are not the same.

You can either use the pre-defined job options for Distiller or modify them to suit your requirements. Job options are pre-defined for print optimized, press optimized, and screen optimized PDF output. Use the appropriate pre-defined options on a test file; if you're not completely happen with the results, then start tweaking the options.

1. Open Acrobat Distiller. Select one of the items on the Job Options list. On the Settings menu, click Job Options.
    
2. Study the options carefully, and choose settings that optimize for the document's purpose, which could be printing on a low-resolution local printer, printing on a high-resolution printer, or viewing online.

   The Distiller Parameters Guide is found under the Help menu on the Distiller main dialog.
    

3. Here are a few suggestions to help you get acceptable results for both on-screen viewing and printing from the same PDF file, by changing the Compression and Resampling settings.
    
   • If your pictures are mainly screen captures, switch Resampling off and use the 8-bit ZIP compression setting.
      
   • If your pictures are mainly photographs and the PDF is intended mainly to be read on screen, you might get acceptable results if you leave Resampling on and choose a medium JPEG compression setting.

After you have set up Distiller, you are ready to create PDFs. I'll cover these topics in the next issue of this newsletter:

• Using PDF Maker
• Printing to a PostScript file and distilling

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Book review: Poor Richard's Home and Small Office Networking

By John Paul Mueller, Top Floor Publishing, 2001, ISBN 1 930082 03 7

I wish I'd had this book a year ago when I was making decisions about my home network. Fortunately, I live with a geek who is into minimalist solutions, so I got what I needed at a good price. Now, reading the book, I understand a lot more about the reasons behind the decisions we made.

Although many editors are quite technically knowledgeable, we often work in fields that don't necessarily provide much background in the practical aspects of networking. Or perhaps you have friends or clients who want to know about home or small business networking, and you'd like to suggest a resource for the other person to read. In either situation, this book could be just what you need.

My resident geek (technical partner), Eric Lindsay, is very critical about books covering technical matters to do with computers and networking. It's an indication of the quality of this book that he praised it.

Eric said, "It doesn't tell you everything you need to know, but no one book can do that. It does tell you enough to make some critical decisions and then go find a book with the details you need to do whatever you've decided to do."

Eric and I were both impressed with the first two chapters, "Do you need a network?" and "Cheap alternative networks," although some of the suggestions for cheap alternatives (such as those using power wiring and telephone wiring) are more relevant to the USA than to the rest of the world.

Chapters 3, 4, and 5, "Designing a standard network," "Connections require software," and "Cabling and other masses of wire" continue leading you through the decisions you need to make.

Chapters 6 through 14 get into more "hands-on" information for installing, setting up, securing, and troubleshooting a network. Most of that information is primarily Windows- oriented, so if you're trying to network Macs, it won't be as specific to your situation as you might like.

Chapter 15 returns to decision-making mode with "Planning for the future." A glossary and index, plus an appendix of "50 tips for a successful network," complete the book.

For information on purchasing Poor Richard's Home and Small Office Networking, and a link to the Web site associated with the book (which contains links to the resources mentioned in the book, see my full review at http://www.jeanweber.com/books/network.htm

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A good source of information on Microsoft Word

Keith Soltys keith@soltys.ca highly recommends the Microsoft Word MVP FAQ site at http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/

He says "it's the best collection of information about Word that I've seen anywhere on the Web." Since 1994, Keith has been host of Internet Resources for Technical Communicators http://www.soltys.ca/techcomm.html

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Tools: Calculating download time for Web pages

Tracy Boyington tracy_boyington@okcareertech.org suggests this online tool for calculating the amount of time it takes a Web page to download from the server to the user's machine. http://www-sci.lib.uci.edu/HSG/AATimeCalc.html

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Tools: Search Engine Buddy for improved ranking of Web pages

Jeff Hall at Eon Solutions eonsol@cix.co.uk mentions their analysis tool to help you design Web pages that are optimized for search-engine placement. Here's what his announcement said the tool (a 2.7 MB download) can help you do:

• Analyze your pages quickly and easily in order to boost traffic to your Web site and improve your placement on the major search engines
• Create better web page content, better page titles, page descriptions and meta tags
• Avoid creating pages that may get you banned form the major search engines -
• Change and promote your page

For more information, check this site: http://www.searchenginebuddy.com/

Note: I have not yet tested this tool, so this is not a recommendation. If you've tried it and would like to comment, please let me know.

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Tools: Zoomerang - free online survey tool

Several people have recommended this free online survey tool: http://www.zoomerang.com/

Note: I have not yet tested this tool, so this is not a recommendation. If you've tried it and would like to comment, please let me know.

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Fontsite: Online information about fonts and typesetting

The Fontsite is an online resource about typography, mainly applicable to print media. Here's a starting point (part 1 of 8 parts on "rules of type"), but a wander through the other material on the site is worth the time. http://www.fontsite.com/Pages/RulesOfType/ROT0997.html

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Books available from Jean Hollis Weber

Taming Microsoft Word

116 pages
ISBN 0 9578419 2 2
Published February 2001

A quick reference for writers, editors, and others who need to use some of Word's more advanced features. This book is an expanded and updated version of Chapters 3 and 4 in my first book, Electronic Editing. Taming Microsoft Word is quick to read, yet packed with essential information.

A full contents list and information on downloading the PDF file and paying for it are available here: http://www.jeanweber.com/books/tameword.htm

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Editing Online Help

155 pages
ISBN 0 9578419 0 6
Published October 2000

For students, writers, and editors who are developing online help for computer software, and for their managers and clients.

Supplements tool-specific instruction by presenting the basics of help content development, regardless of the operating system running the application, the type of help being produced, or the tools used to produce it.

More information here: http://www.jeanweber.com/books/olhbk.htm

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Electronic Editing

248 pages
ISBN 0 646 38037 0
Published October 1999

A quick start guide for editing students, experienced editors making the switch from paper to online, and anyone who needs to write or edit electronically.

More information here: http://www.jeanweber.com/books/e-edit.htm

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© Copyright 2001, Jean Hollis Weber. All rights reserved.

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