Advanced Page Management: General Improvements

[joe_l]

I don't know if this was asked before: E.g. three attached pages in a row of width 210 + 7 + 210 mm. It would be nice to have fold marks for the 7 mm page. Of course I could set them manually, but it would save some time. From time to time I would need this feature.

[MikeTO]

3 hours ago, joe_l said:

I don't know if this was asked before: E.g. three attached pages in a row of width 210 + 7 + 210 mm. It would be nice to have fold marks for the 7 mm page. Of course I could set them manually, but it would save some time. From time to time I would need this feature.

Agreed. I would normally print as pages and not as spreads but for printing as spreads, the printers marks feature should be enhanced to include fold marks.

[loukash]

Not sure in which of the new split threads it would belong (tl;dr) but I just noticed a regression from v2.4.2 (having skipped v2.5.x final and not having noticed anything in the previous v2.5.x betas):

When creating a master spread in v2.4.x (and earlier), Master Spread Properties have an option to switch between Single and Facing page layout:

This can be changed back and forth after a Master has been created.

Whereas in v2.6, there is no such option as far as I can see:

As you can see above, I have obviously forgotten to add a 2nd page to the "facing" Master B spread. No way to change that but to create a new 2-page master…

[MikeTO]

2 minutes ago, loukash said:

Not sure in which of the new split threads it would belong (tl;dr) but I just noticed a regression from v2.4.2 (having skipped v2.5.x final and not having noticed anything in the previous v2.5.x betas):

When creating a master spread in v2.4.x (and earlier), Master Spread Properties have an option to switch between Single and Facing page layout:

This can be changed back and forth after a Master has been created.

Whereas in v2.6, there is no such option as far as I can see:

As you can see above, I have obviously forgotten to add a 2nd page to the "facing" Master B spread. No way to change that but to create a new 2-page master…

It is getting hard to keep track of all the things we have reported but I did report this one in the multiple pages feature thread. I also later reported that you can't change the spine location for a master after creating it. I still don't understand the need for masters to have a spine - I'd rather have spineless (haha) masters and just set the spine for the spreads they're applied to.

 

[Hangman]

Moving offset pages before a right-facing page incorrectly positions the pages on either side of the spine when the document model is changed to Start on the left...

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create a new A4 right-facing page Publisher document using the default Master, Master A
2. Add a new ten-page Master, Master B with the default Spine position, after page five
3. Edit the Master B Spread Properties
4. Offset the Y value for the Master B even pages by 297 mm
5. Add ten new pages using Master B
6. Select then right-click pages two to eleven and select Move Pages...
7. From the Copy or Move Pages dialog select Pages 2-11, Insert Before, Page 1, then click OK
8. From the Document Setup dialog change Start on: from Right to Left under the Model tab
9. There is a mismatch between the pages on the left and right of the spine
    

[bbrother]

@Hangman 

Looking at your example of 10 pages with offset on even pages, I wonder how something like this could be useful in the real world, and I am increasingly convinced that this option (offset) should not be editable by the user.

[Hangman]

@bbrother,

The offset feature itself is useful for a myriad of different layouts, e.g., Maltese Cross Brochures, K Fold Leaflets, Folding Maps and Mailers, Multilanguage Pharmaceutical Miniature Folded Leaflets and so on...

Why should the option not be editable by the user?

[bbrother]

2 hours ago, Hangman said:

The offset feature itself is useful for a myriad of different layouts

Not really. Layouts for things like Maltese Cross Brochures are created on single page. My opinion is that I would rather see developers spend their time fixing bugs that have been in the queue for a long time than working on a feature that is highly questionable in the real world.

Below is an A5 Maltese Cross template from printed brochures.co.uk.
I encourage you to visit their site and check out other types of brochures and their templates.

A5 Maltese Cross.pdf

[Hangman]

17 minutes ago, bbrother said:

Not really. Layouts for things like Maltese Cross Brochures are created on single page.

There are many disadvantages to a single-page approach, the client decides they want a heavier weight card stock which means all the fold positions change or they decide to change the size of the main panel which impacts all the other panels so you've now got to adjust every line, panel position and element on that template...

I'm sure many users will find the feature beneficial and others won't. If some prefer to adopt a single-page approach, that is absolutely fine, if some see the benefit of a multipage approach that is also fine.

That particular ten-page layout isn't viable and doesn't have any particular use case. It was simply to highlight an apparent error with the Move Pages feature so is at best an extreme example...

If people wish to embrace the feature, now they can, if they don't, then they don't have to. It's now an option that wasn't previously available. I'm simply highlighting what appears to be a bug based on that option.

This thread isn't the appropriate place for this discussion and I don't wish to clog it up with a back-and-forth so perhaps we can just respectively agree to disagree...

[loukash]

3 hours ago, Hangman said:

I'm sure many users will find the feature beneficial

I can already see many benefits for LP sleeve or Digipak CD design here! 

4 hours ago, bbrother said:

templates

Including a spot color template layer may still be needed for prepress because many print houses rely on them in their workflow.
But neither is mutually exclusive!

[Dazmondo77]

35 minutes ago, loukash said:

I can already see many benefits for LP sleeve or Digipak CD design here! 

Hopefully, they'll change the fold marks which output to PDF / print as trim marks (solid line) to proper fold marks (dashed line) or give us an editable exportable slug then it would be truly a great feature, although all the LP, Digipak, Jewel case jobs I've done over the past 20 years have required you to use the printers supplied pdf template to lay out onto

[bbrother]

15 hours ago, Dazmondo77 said:

although all the LP, Digipak, Jewel case jobs I've done over the past 20 years have required you to use the printers supplied pdf template to lay out onto

Nothing has changed in this regard and printers still provide and prefer that you use their template to make the process straightforward and avoid issues.