Halftones For Newspaper Reproduction

How do I get a halftone screen on the placed photos from a document? The new printer my boss bought prints so fine that the dots in photos become hard for the camera to plate. Yes I did say that, we paste up and flats are shot by a camera. The old printer we sent files to had a coarser dot pattern. Obiously any help would be great.
Thanks
Nick

Have you tried changing the frequency (linescreen) in the printer dialog box?
If you've tried that, you may have to manually convert every image to bitmap with custom halftone screens.

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Help with PDF settings in InDesign for Newspaper print

Hi I work for a newspaper and until recently we have done the newspaper layout in Pagemaker. We finally changed to InDesign. I am now at the point where I have to export to PDF. What would be the best to use, export as PDF or printing to postscript? I'm not exactly sure what PDF setting to use if I do export it? With Pagemaker I used to print to a
Postscript printer

I suggest you ask the person that will recieve your file, what suits him or her best.
If it's a PDF exported from InDesign, you could even ask for a definition file to import (see screen shot for the menu item to select), so that you don't need to make all settings yourself, but get them correct from the start.
Best regards
Andreas

TEXT-DRIVEN WORKFLOW FOR NEWSPAPER

We're a small community newspaper thinking about switching to InCopy (currently using NewsEdit)
All reporters, photographers, designers work in the same office. Most stories are written before the pages are layed out based on the amount of advertising so we would be using a text-driven workflow. I've downloaded a trial version of InCopy CS4 and I'm trying to get a feel for how everything will work between InCopy and InDesign.
Currently the reporters type their stories in templates that show the copy flowing in columns. When these files are brought into InDesign the columns stay and the headers (which are attached) are in a separate text box. The reporters can also attached cutlines to their photos. The designer then just has to import the story and photo into InDesign and resize the two boxes (header and story) and the photo and cutline to fit the space available.
The only way I can find to have 2 text boxes in InCopy is to make an InDesign document and anchor 2 text boxes (one of which is divided into columns) to the Master Text Frame. I then export this as an .incx file, load my stylesheets and save it as a template file.
The reporter then opens the template and inputs the story and header in the appropriate boxes and saves it as an .incx file.
I (the designer) then opens the page layout and places the story. In order to resize anything the story has to be checked out. Then because the boxes are anchored, I have to go to Anchored Object menu, change the Options and then Release. I have to do the same with the photos and cutline.
If I haven't put you to sleep yet, here's my question.
Am I totally out in left field or am I on the right track as to how this should work? Is there a better way to make this work.
Any editorial changes are made on the page by the designer and there's only ever one reporter working on a story, so I think the checking in and out of stories might not pertain to us a lot except for when resizing them when they're on the page.
Also when I draw a text box for a pull quote on top of a story the only way I can change the runaround is to go to Anchored Object menu and release the story text.
Any help or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.
Barb

Barbara, I'm sorry but no, you can't have 2 text frames in a native InCopy document. And in the one frame you have to work with, there is no way to divvy it up into columns.
It sounds like you might need one of the CMS's built on top of InDesign and InCopy, like Smart Connection Pro/Enterprise or K4. These systems *do* all you to create multiple-framed "article" templates for the InCopy users, along with other features that the stock IC/ID workflow doesn't. But the learning curve is fairly steep (especially in the beginning) and the cost starts at $20K and goes up from there, not including the cost of ID and IC themselves. Quite a difference compared to the $249 per editorial seat cost of a stock IC/ID workflow.
In that stock workflow -- which most of my clients use, including community newspapers -- editors write everything in the single frame, and yes, the designers then cut and paste as necessary.
A somewhat awkward but doable workaround is that the editors could write the headline on page 1 of the INCX file and then enter a Frame Break from the Type > Insert Break Character menu. InCopy would automatically generate a second page (to create a threaded frame) and put their cursor there. The editors would write the body copy in that frame, or however you want to work it.
Then the designers would have a page set up in ID with a small frame for the headline that's threaded to a multicolumned frame for the body. They'd place the INCX file into the first frame, and it would automatically flow into the 2 frames correctly (assuming the headline fits inside the headline frame, if not, they edit it/format it to fit).
One of the main benefits of the IC/ID workflow is that the editors can see and edit their text within the context of the design, the layout, instead of marking up paper proofs for the designers to enter. Or, it allows the designers to create pages in ID (with empty text frames for heads, body, sidebars, cutlines etc.) for the editors to fill in with their text from the start.
It sounds like you're not looking for this. You're mainly interested in giving the editors a head start in formatting and fitting text without the layout at all. This is a lesser feature of the stock IC/ID workflow. It is most valuable when it's replacing Word as the start of the process. But it sounds like it's no match for what you're able to do with NewsEdit. ;-(
I've had other clients ask me how to create multi-framed templates for the editors to use. I wrote a long article about in my InCopyFlow e-zine, which you can read as a post on my InCopySecrets.com blog here:
http://incopysecrets.com/working-with-layout-templates.php
Maybe that'll help show you what's possible?
AM

Setting up Monitor for Newspaper viewing

Hi,
I have a quato 213e series monitor which is properly calibrated. The problem that I am facing is as follows:
when I Proof Setup PS to view to ISOnewspaper26v4.icc standard, because paper white is not set, I see very bright colours, if I turn on the "Simulate Paper Color" Option the image looks more or less OK but the image looks very flat compared to the printed sample. am I doing any thing wrong here?
Just for information the images are already CMYK in ISOnewspaper26v4.icc color space and the test printed sample is very close to the ISOnewspaper standard, so thinking that either the image is not properly tagged or the printed sample is not good is not an option.
I have no problem with any other kind of images except newspaper images that too I presume is because of such huge difference in the paper white of the newsprint media.
Thanks
Tarun

Tarun,
ISO Newsprint 26v4 has a paper white (I hesitate to call it "white") of 85L, 1a, 5b, which is a very dull, yellowish-whitish gray. The black point is 32L, 0a, 1b, which is a very weak black (more of a dark gray). The dynamic range is pitiful on newsprint. I know you are aware of all this.
Soft proofing super low dynamic range in Photoshop is not easy. First, I would definitely check the "Paper White" box. Hit the Tab key to hide all your palettes, make sure the white ruler is not displayed, and repeatedly hit the "F" key on your keyboard until you have the gray background showing, without any other photoshop elements (especially pure white and pure black elements). Yes, it will still be washed out, but at least you won't be comparing your dingy soft proof to bright white and dark black components on the screen. These will make the comparison look even worse. I'd also turn the ambient room lighting down low and be sure you don't any bright lights or objects in your field of view. This will help a little.
The monitor black point and ambient viewing conditions are critical when viewing low dynamic range processes, and checking Black Ink or Paper White takes some getting used to. I never find it truly accurate either. Your eye gets fooled easily by any brighter or darker elements so they should be avoided. The higher the dynamic range and gamut of your final print, the better the soft proof appears. The lower the gamut and dynamic range, the worse the match, at least in my experience. You have to learn to interpret what you are seeing and what to expect on the printed page.
If you have verified that your inkjet simulation is a decent match to your output on newsprint, I'd rely on that as a guide. And when simulating newsprint on your inkjet, use Relative Colorimetric with BPC OFF, or Absolute Colorimetric, otherwise you will remap blacks to the higher Dmax capability of your proofing paper, and they will be darker than newsprint can reach. I'd also use an uncoated, matte, dingy proofing paper if you have it.
Lou

InCopy workflow for newspaper

We are a small weekly newspaper using Indesign CS3. We want to adopt a workflow using InCopy CS3 that will benefit all users. One goal is to be able to archive newsroom stories to our website that include the main story, headlines and all text associated with that story without too much user intervention if possible. Can anyone suggest an InCopy workflow solution for us?

InCopy helps streamline publication workflows because it allows writers and editors to work on stories within the layout while the design team is still assembling the layout -- that's the broad stroke of it. There's nothing inherently special about InCopy that would assist you in archiving (I assume you mean exporting) text files for a web site.
There are third-party publishing systems which run on top of IC/ID, such as K4, that have optional web publishing abilities. For a small weekly newspaper though it might be overkill to move to a system like that (and quite expensive).
With an off-the-shelf IC/ID workflow, I think you're best served by leveraging the XML capabilities of both apps. Editors and designers can easily apply XML tags to content, and then export the tagged XML from either app. For example if you're using an assignment-based workflow, the editors could be in charge of the exporting of all content in an assignment (headline, byline, body, images, captions for a given article) to a single file for the web team.
There are ways to use XML tagging to create basic XHTML files, or there are ways to apply an XSLT while exporting content that give you more control over the transform.
And of course all this is scriptable with JavaScript, Applescript or VBScript, to help automate the process (the tagging, the exporting, etc.).
Unless you have staff members who know how to do this (or aren't afraid of cracking a couple books to figure it out), you'll probably have to bring on some subcontractor to help you get it set up.
In the meantime this article might give you a head start on how this could work (I think most of the instructions would work in IC as well):
http://indesignsecrets.com/how-to-export-basic-html-out-of-cs2.php
AM

How to convert images for newspaper?

Hi all,
I just got a new assignment that require me to produce newspaper ads for the next few months.
I understand the 25-30% ink gain, I understand the 240% total ink coverage. That's it!
What I don't understand is what settings I should use in conversion, how to make my photo shaper and more colorful with color saturation.
What proofing paper I should use for proofing etc.
Thanks,
Bill

Hi Trevor, Yes The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post all wants CMYK files. These days, their colors is getting much better than before. I used the ISOnewspaper30v4.icc profile and the image is ok, it's too flat and dull.
Is there any members here who work in the newspaper industry and process images on a regular base that can offer me some advice? Thanks.

Creating PDFs for Newspaper Ads?

I'm using InDesign CS5 to create several ads that will be printed in black and white in my client's local newspaper. Each ad includes a grayscale photo. Per the newspaper's instructions, I've done all of my color correction in Photoshop and I'm using the PDF Preset they sent me, which outputs the color to a US Newspaper (NSAP 2007) profile. The ONLY problem I'm having is whenever I open the PDF created with this Preset the ad looks brown. Why is that happening?
Also, should I be setting the color profile in Photoshop as well?
Thanks!

Newsprint is a case where ID's different ways of handling grayscale become more obvious. Modern CMYK profiles can profile the black ink color, which would never be absolute black on press. Not only will a CMYK profile show 0|0|0|100 as a lighter value than absolute black, it might also show the black ink as having some "color". So when the 100% black ink patch is measured for the profile its "color" might not measure as neutral, which I think is the case with newsprint.
If you duplicate an ID doc and assign SNAP to one and the default SWOP to the other, and turn on Overprint/Sep Preview you will get a preview of the two black ink colors:
What further complicates things is, in Photoshop grayscale profiles don't return the more accurate black ink "color" preview. 100% grayscale blacks always preview as absolute black (0|0|0 RGB), which won't in fact happen on press and with newprint the effect will be more obvious.

S ingle edition for newspaper

I can use the creative cloud service "single edition" to develop an app for a customer Local newspaper? update it every day? Thank you.

muchas gracias, un par de preguntas más del tema; si contrato "Profesional Edition" puedo desarrollar apps para varios clientes o solo puedo usarlo para este periodico? y no me queda claro las 250 descargas .folio gratis al año, se refiere a que solo 250 podran consumir la app, o 250 app para desarrollar en un año? disculpe la pregunta pero no me queda claro... entonces hay un limite de descargas de personas que quieran consumir el periodico por medio de la app?
le agradesco su paciencia y tiempo.

Better method for newspaper editing

I've been able to make some news articles and export them to PDF with pleasing results and have been improving my efficiency with each completed document, but feel that there is a better way of doing it still. Basically, what I'm making are articles that have about two to three images embedded in each article, and have maybe two to three jump lines which redirect the reader to other pages.
I have about 35 articles total. Is there a way to enter them all into InDesign, add appropriate images and captions to the articles, and add appropriate jump lines (if there's a way to add meta data to each article and specify a "jump line title" variable that will automatically fill in before "Next Page Number" / "Previous Page Number")? So that way, I can pick and choose which articles to add to each newsletter volume instead of undertaking the laborious task of adding an article and having to manually edit every component.
Thx!

Hey, it sounds like you could use Section Markers. If you name your pages (assuming each article starts on a new page) you can have the section names be filled in automatically. Take at the document numbering options for more information on this: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/indesign/cs/using/WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-7111a.h tml
Your jump box could look like this: "[SectionMarker] continued on [NextPageNumber]"
Let me know if you still need help.

Resizing photo for newspaper 4x6 - 300dpi

Hi All,
I have a basic question. I'd like to submit some photos to the local paper and they need photos that are 4x6 jpeg and 300dpi. How do I do this using Aperture 3.0? I don't want to crop them and I shot them in RAW using a Nikon D40 DSLR.
Thanks

Welcome to Apple Discussions.
In Aperture, select Presets -> Image Export. In the image quality area, you can specify the dpi you want such as 72 for screens or 300 for print. As for the size, you can control that first by cropping the image in an appropriate 4 x 6 or 2 x 3 aspect ratio (or 3 x 2 if landscape orientation is used) and then when you export, again modify the image preset to "fit between" and then specify 1200 x 1800 while the resolution is set to 300 dpi.
I know the other individual recommended 1800 x 1800, but I'm not sure that is needed if all photos are in the same orientation, but try it and see. Using 1800 x 1800 seems appropriate if you are sending a mix of landscape and portrait images.
Message was edited by: Rick Lang

Emailing photos for newspaper print - Need 300 dpi

I have read so many different articles on this and am still confused.
I have pictures in iPhoto '09 that, whatever way I export or email them, the Image dpi ends up at 72.
The paper is insisting on 300 dpi. Is it 72 because of how the camera was set and I'm out of luck, or
is there some way of exporting them that I can effect that change to 300?
Thank you!

DPI is Dots Per Inch. Therefore you need inches to knoe DPI
If the photo is to be printed as a 4x6 print then you need a 1200 (4*300) x 1800 (6*300) pixel image
DPI has no meaning within iPhoto. It is a mathematical calculation dividing dots (pixels) by inches
LN

How to set linescreen on halftones?

For our newspaper paste-ups we need 65 line screen halftones for good reproduction. The newspaper printing plant doesn't yet have digital to film or plate. We still give them paste-ups output from a paper printer that they use a process camera to make negs from.
At one time I could rely on Postscript printers to provide the linescreens I wanted. But my recently purchased Xerox Phaser 6130 lacks this ability.
For my uses the present-day Postscript printers seem vastly inferior to the Postscript printers of 10 years ago.
Is there still an affordable Postscript printer on the market that can meet my needs?

I probably should add I use Mac OS X 10.5.6
I managed to open the Xerox PPD with Textedit. Changed halftone screen frequency from 141 to 65, but my halftones still remain too fine to reproduce well. The words "halftone" and "screens" occur a number of places in the PPD but I don't understand what's going on.
Here's the text of the Xerox Phaser PPD:
*PPD-Adobe: "4.3"
*% Adobe Systems PostScript(R) Printer Description File
*% Copyright 1987-1996 Adobe Systems Incorporated.
*% All Rights Reserved.
*% Permission is granted for redistribution of this file as
*% long as this copyright notice is intact and the contents
*% of the file is not altered in any way from its original form.
*% End of Copyright statement
*FileVersion: "1.0"
*FormatVersion: "4.3"
*LanguageEncoding: UTF-8
*LanguageVersion: English
*Manufacturer: "Xerox"
*PCFileName: "XRX6130N.PPD"
*Product: "(Phaser 6130N)"
*PSVersion: "(3015.103) 1"
*ShortNickName: "Xerox Phaser 6130N"
*ModelName: "Xerox Phaser 6130N"
*NickName: "Xerox Phaser 6130N"
*cupsVersion: 1.1
*cupsManualCopies: False
*APPrinterIconPath: "/Library/Printers/Xerox/Icons/Xerox Phaser 6130N.icns"
*cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-postscript 0 /Library/Printers/Xerox/filter/XeroxSecureFilter"
*APDialogExtension: "/Library/Printers/Xerox/PDEs/XeroxSecurePrint.plugin"
*APDialogExtension: "/Library/Printers/Xerox/PDEs/XeroxJobAccount.plugin"
*XRPrinterLanguageEncoding: "UTF-8"
*XRPTUserIDScope: "32, 126"
*XRPTUserIDScope: "160, 255"
*XRPTUserIDLimit: "Char, 1, 8"
*XRPTPasswdScope: "48, 57"
*XRPTPasswdLimit: "Char, 1, 12"
*XRPTDocNameScope: "32, 126"
*XRPTDocNameScope: "160, 255"
*XRPTDocNameLimit: "Char, 0, 12"
*XRJALoginIDScope: "32, 126"
*XRJALoginIDLimit: "Char, 1, 32"
*XRJAUserIDScope: "32, 126"
*XRJAUserIDLimit: "Char, 1, 32"
*XRJAPasswdScope: "32, 126"
*XRJAPasswdLimit: "Char, 4, 12"
*XRJADocNameLimit: "Char, 0, 32"
*XRJAHostNameLimit: "Char, 0, 32"
*XRJADateStringLimit: "Char, 0, 32"
*XRJATimeStringLimit: "Char, 0, 32"
*XRJAUsePassword:
*% === Options and Constraints =========
*OpenGroup: InstallableOptions/Options Installed
*OpenUI *InstalledMemory/Memory: PickOne
*DefaultInstalledMemory: 128Meg
*InstalledMemory 128Meg/Standard 128MB: ""
*InstalledMemory 384Meg/384MB: ""
*InstalledMemory 640Meg/640MB: ""
*InstalledMemory 1152Meg/1152MB: ""
*?InstalledMemory: "
save
(Unknown) currentsystemparams /RamSize get
dup 134217728 eq{exch pop (128Meg) exch}if
dup 402653184 eq{exch pop (384Meg) exch}if
dup 671088640 eq{exch pop (640Meg) exch}if
dup 1207959552 eq{exch pop (1152Meg) exch}if
pop = flush
restore
*End
*CloseUI: *InstalledMemory
*OpenUI *Option2/RAM Disk: Boolean
*DefaultOption2: False
*Option2 False/Not Available: ""
*Option2 True/Available: ""
*?Option2: "
save
/FXProcs /ProcSet resourcestatus {
pop pop /FXProcs /ProcSet findresource /currentstorage get exec
{(True)}{(False)} ifelse
} {(Unknown)} ifelse = flush
restore
*End
*CloseUI: *Option2
*CloseGroup: InstallableOptions
*% ==== UIConstraints ===============
*% ==== StorageDevice vs Collate ====
*UIConstraints: *Option2 False *Collate True
*UIConstraints: *Collate True *Option2 False
*% ==== PageSize vs MediaType ====
*UIConstraints: *PageSize Env10 *MediaType Stationary
*UIConstraints: *PageSize Env10 *MediaType ColoredPaper
*UIConstraints: *PageSize Env10 *MediaType Prepunched
*UIConstraints: *PageSize Env10 *MediaType Letterhead
*UIConstraints: *PageSize Env10 *MediaType LabelPaper
*UIConstraints: *PageSize EnvMonarch *MediaType Stationary
*UIConstraints: *PageSize EnvMonarch *MediaType ColoredPaper
*UIConstraints: *PageSize EnvMonarch *MediaType Prepunched
*UIConstraints: *PageSize EnvMonarch *MediaType Letterhead
*UIConstraints: *PageSize EnvMonarch *MediaType LabelPaper
*UIConstraints: *PageSize EnvC5 *MediaType Stationary
*UIConstraints: *PageSize EnvC5 *MediaType ColoredPaper
*UIConstraints: *PageSize EnvC5 *MediaType Prepunched
*UIConstraints: *PageSize EnvC5 *MediaType Letterhead
*UIConstraints: *PageSize EnvC5 *MediaType LabelPaper
*UIConstraints: *PageSize EnvDL *MediaType Stationary
*UIConstraints: *PageSize EnvDL *MediaType ColoredPaper
*UIConstraints: *PageSize EnvDL *MediaType Prepunched
*UIConstraints: *PageSize EnvDL *MediaType Letterhead
*UIConstraints: *PageSize EnvDL *MediaType LabelPaper
*UIConstraints: *PageRegion Env10 *MediaType Stationary
*UIConstraints: *PageRegion Env10 *MediaType ColoredPaper
*UIConstraints: *PageRegion Env10 *MediaType Prepunched
*UIConstraints: *PageRegion Env10 *MediaType Letterhead
*UIConstraints: *PageRegion Env10 *MediaType LabelPaper
*UIConstraints: *PageRegion EnvMonarch *MediaType Stationary
*UIConstraints: *PageRegion EnvMonarch *MediaType ColoredPaper
*UIConstraints: *PageRegion EnvMonarch *MediaType Prepunched
*UIConstraints: *PageRegion EnvMonarch *MediaType Letterhead
*UIConstraints: *PageRegion EnvMonarch *MediaType LabelPaper
*UIConstraints: *PageRegion EnvC5 *MediaType Stationary
*UIConstraints: *PageRegion EnvC5 *MediaType ColoredPaper
*UIConstraints: *PageRegion EnvC5 *MediaType Prepunched
*UIConstraints: *PageRegion EnvC5 *MediaType Letterhead
*UIConstraints: *PageRegion EnvC5 *MediaType LabelPaper
*UIConstraints: *PageRegion EnvDL *MediaType Stationary
*UIConstraints: *PageRegion EnvDL *MediaType ColoredPaper
*UIConstraints: *PageRegion EnvDL *MediaType Prepunched
*UIConstraints: *PageRegion EnvDL *MediaType Letterhead
*UIConstraints: *PageRegion EnvDL *MediaType LabelPaper
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Stationary *PageSize Env10
*UIConstraints: *MediaType ColoredPaper *PageSize Env10
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Prepunched *PageSize Env10
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Letterhead *PageSize Env10
*UIConstraints: *MediaType LabelPaper *PageSize Env10
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Stationary *PageSize EnvMonarch
*UIConstraints: *MediaType ColoredPaper *PageSize EnvMonarch
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Prepunched *PageSize EnvMonarch
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Letterhead *PageSize EnvMonarch
*UIConstraints: *MediaType LabelPaper *PageSize EnvMonarch
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Stationary *PageSize EnvC5
*UIConstraints: *MediaType ColoredPaper *PageSize EnvC5
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Prepunched *PageSize EnvC5
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Letterhead *PageSize EnvC5
*UIConstraints: *MediaType LabelPaper *PageSize EnvC5
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Stationary *PageSize EnvDL
*UIConstraints: *MediaType ColoredPaper *PageSize EnvDL
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Prepunched *PageSize EnvDL
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Letterhead *PageSize EnvDL
*UIConstraints: *MediaType LabelPaper *PageSize EnvDL
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Stationary *PageRegion Env10
*UIConstraints: *MediaType ColoredPaper *PageRegion Env10
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Prepunched *PageRegion Env10
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Letterhead *PageRegion Env10
*UIConstraints: *MediaType LabelPaper *PageRegion Env10
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Stationary *PageRegion EnvMonarch
*UIConstraints: *MediaType ColoredPaper *PageRegion EnvMonarch
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Prepunched *PageRegion EnvMonarch
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Letterhead *PageRegion EnvMonarch
*UIConstraints: *MediaType LabelPaper *PageRegion EnvMonarch
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Stationary *PageRegion EnvC5
*UIConstraints: *MediaType ColoredPaper *PageRegion EnvC5
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Prepunched *PageRegion EnvC5
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Letterhead *PageRegion EnvC5
*UIConstraints: *MediaType LabelPaper *PageRegion EnvC5
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Stationary *PageRegion EnvDL
*UIConstraints: *MediaType ColoredPaper *PageRegion EnvDL
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Prepunched *PageRegion EnvDL
*UIConstraints: *MediaType Letterhead *PageRegion EnvDL
*UIConstraints: *MediaType LabelPaper *PageRegion EnvDL
*% ==== LeadingEdge vs PageSize ====
*UIConstraints: *XRMSILeadingEdge

Why Photoshop PDF adverts look faded when get printed on newspaper?

I've to export artwork into PDF, which is the only acceptable format by newspaper publisher.
What steps should be take to make sure that actual colors printed in newspaper are close to colors in Photoshop?
One of the newspaper publisher told me something about half-tone? How do they affect printed colors? Which related settings should I choose in Photoshop?
Are ICC profiles really useful? Should I avoid them for newspaper advert? Photoshop on Mac automatically puts some ICC profile in PDF.
Does it matter whether I'm working on MAC or Windows as far as colors are concerned?
If there are some specific guidelines, is it possible to do all these automatically via Action Scripts for all existing artworks?
Which colors I should't use for newspaper ads?

I assume You are working in RGB?
1) Convert the image to the proper profile (but keep the RGB-file) – in much of Europe that would be ISOnewspaper26v4, available here: http://www.eci.org/doku.php?id=en:downloads, for the rest of the world You better check with the newspapers.
But do at least test if the Render Intent »Perceptual« or »Relative Colorimetric« provides better results, »Black Point Compensation« can also make some difference.
When working on RGB-files View – Proof Colors can be used to preview separation results (the conditions can be edited in View – Proof Setup).
One could of course also convert at PDF-export, but for example black text would then result in a 4C-Black which would be inadvisable out of print-considerations.
2) Halftone is anything that’s not 1bit, images that contain shades of colors – so basically all photographs and areas of color that are neither 0% or 100% in any of the process colors.
This will affect the resulting appearance in that the paper used for newspapers soaks up the ink more than coated paper, thereby increasing the dot gain, making an area of a certain percentage in a color appear darker than it would if printed on less absorbent paper.
At the same time the paper and its surface make it impossible to achieve as deep a black as on higher quality paper and requires a smaller amount of total ink (usually 240% maximum).
3) Please read the pertinent sections in the Help (»Chapter 6: Color management«).
Are ICC profiles really useful?
Profiles are Your best way to attain any predictability as to the resulting appearance – so long as the printers take their Color Management seriously.
4) No.
But You should always embed the profiles in Your working files and save the pdfs according to one of the PDF-X-standards and make sure the correct Output Intent is selected under Output – PDF/X.
5) Are You to provide the finished layouts with text, logos, etc. or are You only working on images to be combined later on by someone else?
Anyway the separation (Edit – Convert to Profile) could certainly be applied as an Action.
6) View – Color Warning (command-shift-Y) can be used to assess which colors are out of gamut for the selected Proof Setup (just make sure to select the correct Proof Conditions) and therefore change the most significantly.
Be advised that to maintain sharpness of fonts or graphic elements You must not rasterize the font Layers or the Vector Masks of Layers.

Beginner ? on resizing vector for uses outside Illustrator

Slowly weaning myself off of MS PP for graphics. One reason is so I can resize images for use in apps like Word. I don't think I want to resize within Word so knowing how to do it in IL is the direction I'm headed (albeit as a beginner).
The example is an image made up of mostly point type, one area type, and a few rounded rectangles. I have it layed out on a 11x8.5 page (although it actually uses about 6x8.5.
My thinking is to select all, grab a corner, hold down the shift key, and drag. My first question is: am I getting the advantage of vector (i.e. quality resize)?
Second, is there a way to control the final size as a percentage (for example) of the original selected area? This question is because I may, in some cases, have a target size in mind. For example, in the Word case, if I save the IL file as a picture and insert it into the document, Word already does some resizing (to fit the page dimensions (I assume). In this case, the result is an image 23% of the original size (according to Word). That's still a bit too big for my purposes. I'd prefer 15% of the original.
Is there some tutorial on how to do things like using the vector capabilities in IL to resize to a final object size. I realize I may need to crop along the way. I'm interested in the process and thinking behind it.
Thanks
Tom

Tom,
Honestly, I haven't read this whole thread in careful detail, but I really think the best advice would be for you to first, fully describe the kind of content you are trying to deliver and what you want the recipients to be able to do with it; second, map out a workflow for your intended purposes; and only then worry about the how-to specifics and the collection of software tools.
Here's what I read:
You have been using PowerPoint as your generic drawing tool. That, and your descriptions so far, suggest relatively simple graphics (lines, boxes, elbows, text, simple polygons). In short, it makes me wonder if you even really need a program like Illustrator at all.
You want your final deliverables to be editable by your recipients. That alone goes a long way toward ruling out the native formats of Adobe applications, their expense, and their learning curves. It's a common practice in both business and mom & pop general use to treat native Office files as if they are some kind of "universal editable exchange format," just because they are so ubiquitious. You can't make that kind of assumption with graphics-production apps (like Adobe's). You can easily over-complicate things by deciding up-front that you need to jump into that arena. Are you an author, or do you really want to embark on a designer career? Look, if you're not designing for mass commercial reproduction, you may be entirely off-base thinking you need to involve Adobe apps at all.
You are now straining to find a workflow which will "upgrade" your vector graphics (with a program like Illustrator) while still retaining the full editability of your deliverables in a format that mom & pop America knows how to deal with.
Here are some basic things you may not be considering from a practicality standpoint:
Programs like InDesign, Illustrator, et all (regardless of their "me, too" re-purposing in recent years for web-centric work) were created for commercial reproduction (i.e. printing in a PostScript environment). It is completely impractical to try to use their native files as any kind of "universal" exchange format for use by a general public--especially if you want your deliverables to be editable by recipients not equipped for or skilled in their use.
PDF effectively makes the final content of documents created in graphics programs deliverable as is. Its basic purpose is to make documents created in pretty much anything readable by those without the authoring programs, while maintaining fidelity to the appearance of the final document. It's not really meant for overal editing like in the native program that created the document. If you want PDF to be your target final deliverable product, then fine; you can produce more sophisticated PDFs by doing your authoring work in graphics apps. But you'll be sacrificing the kind of native editability you are accustomed to with your current Office-based workflow.
Office programs are from another world. They don't talk PostScript. They don't worry about things like halftones and color separation and all kinds of other print-world esoterica. They're not as detail-sophisticated as dedicated drawing programs in things like finely-controlled Bezier path drawing. They don't natively support the same paths and constructs contained in Illustrator artwork.
Adobe's own "recommended" format for incorporating Illustrator artwork into Office applications is not vector at all; it's PNG, a raster format. That's what the Save For Office feature in Illustrator is all about. That fact alone should tell you alot about what you are getting into when you want to use AI to routinely populate Office documents with vector artwork from Illustrator.
Office apps do, however, exist in the real workaday world, and do therefore provide general-purpose means by which to incorporate text, raster, and vector objects for constructing graphics.
You have mentioned concern for vector scaleablilty several times. You seem to be unaware that even Office programs do in fact have their own graphics model for vector graphics. On Windows, that's what formats like Windows Metafile (WMF) and Enhanced Metafile (EMF) are all about. Those are the kinds of objects that are created by the various drawing tools that reside in not just PowerPoint, but also in Word, Excel, Access, et all.
Don't think that you can't create professional-looking results in the Office applications you are already familiar with. "Professional" results is more a matter of design skill and artistic discernment than software. (Believe me, far more amateurish work is created in Illustrator than "professional" work.) It sounds to me (especially since you have been using only the drawing tools in PPT) like you may not have really explored the graphics capability that already exists in the Office applications you are using, and which you really want to use as your fully-editable deliverables anyway.
In helping you devise a suitable workflow, I would ask you questions like these:
Describe (and show examples) of the most "sophisticated' kinds of graphics that you envision needing to routinely include in your deliverables.
Describe the level of editability that you want your recipients to be able to perform.
Describe the functional content of your deliverables. For example, do you want your deliverables to contain live, editable spreadsheets that your users can use as "calculators" or "what if" graphs? Do you understand that while you can build some forms-based interactivity in PDFs, doing so is a relatively painstaking and esoteric process, whereas in Office applications, its pretty much a copy/paste affair?
Have you fully explored the drawing feature sets in Office applications? Do you really understand their capabilities and limitations?
JET

Halftones For Newspaper Reproduction

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