Contextual Menus

Monday, 07 May 2012 14:32 David Schenk

Contextual Menus

Here's a tip that's pretty obvious, unless you're not using it, which is not uncommon.

Keyboard Shortcuts

I'm a huge fan of keyboard shortcuts and one of the easiest and most productive is the Contextual Menus that are available. What's a contextual menu? It's that little menu that will pop up when you Control Click (on a Mac) or Right Click if you have a two-button mouse. Depending on where your mouse is, you can get different menus popping up like the one I just used to get the correct spelling of Popping. These little menus will make your life so much easier and efficient, you won't want to compute without them. Give it a try!

Last Updated on Monday, 07 May 2012 14:41

Outlined - What's It Mean

Monday, 23 January 2012 19:41 David Schenk

Outlined

Here's a term that's thrown around a lot that may be confusing to some of you, so I thought I'd offer a quick explanation. Outlined is a term used in graphics production that commonly refers to fonts and the need for outlining them, or turning them into graphics, which means they aren't fonts anymore (even if they look like it). Most people don't have the tools to do this. If you want to, you'll need graphics applications like InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop or if you have it, Quark might work. So what's the point of doing this? Fonts have been known to change to a font that is other than the one it was intended to be. Sometimes this isn't a big deal, but many times it is. In the case where IT IS A BIG DEAL, the solution that always works is to outline the font. Yes, there are other solutions, like buying the font so that you can have it on your machine, or having the file rewritten so that the fonts are embedded successfully in it. Yes these other solutions will often work too, but outlining will always work.

If you're taking files provided by your graphic designer and having trouble outputting them because the fonts are changing, you should ask them to provide a file with outlined fonts, and they should do this for free. I'm not trying to take away income from designers here, as it's my belief that designers should provide files to their clients that work regardless if it takes another step. That's called customer service and it should be included with every project.

Last Updated on Monday, 23 January 2012 20:02

Print Ready? 1-2-3

Thursday, 01 September 2011 10:44 David Schenk

Quite a few years ago I interviewed for a job in Tech Support with QuarkXPress, which I was later offered, during which I learned a very interesting thing. It seems the number one reason for a tech support call at that time was because "it won't print". Most of these calls were about being able to print to a desktop printer and so the problem was almost always related to some kind of system problem, like a missing or unselected printer driver. Determining what the problem may be would have been facilitated by having a checklist of necessary steps and possible errors. I say "would have been" because I didn't take the job and so can't speak with authority about how they actually approached this problem.

In the years since, I have worked as a graphic designer and have found that having a "must do" checklist related to printing has been a useful tool. One that I'd like to share with you here. (The following list is geared towards professional printing only, not a simple topic, but I'll attempt to keep it brief.)

Last Updated on Thursday, 01 September 2011 10:52 Read more...

Display/Monitor - IPS vs TN

Monday, 15 August 2011 15:17 David Schenk

Say what? Do you know the difference between these types of monitors? I didn't, until I had to buy a new display recently as my Apple Cinema Display is failing. Yes, that means that I'm on a Mac, but this may be relevant to PC users as well. As I understand it, Apple has been using a technology for a number of years in their displays called IPS, which stands for In-plane switching. This increases viewing angle and color fidelity. When I recently needed to buy a new display, members of my Mac User Group (Comug) advised that replacing it with an IPS type monitor would be important, especially since I am a graphic designer and accurate color is important to designers. Never-the-less, since I was also considering the purchase of a new computer in the near future, I thought I might be able to get away with an inexpensive display, a version known as a TN type (twisted nematic). To my chagrin, they were right. I did in fact purchase a TN type and found that the color rendering was not going to work for me at all. Specifically, I had a document that I was working on that had a solid colored background, but when viewed on the new display, it looked like a gradation. There was no position that I could put the monitor or my head in that would make that color look like a solid. I was disappointed to say the least.

I then searched for an IPS type monitor and found one from LG that was only slightly more expensive. I have to admit that I was aware of this IPS display before purchasing the other monitor and might have chosen it, however the store I went to, to see it in action, had all their displays turned off due to some technical problem they were having, so I couldn't view them. When I went to another store that did have working monitors, though not an IPS type, I just bought it, as it seemed to work just fine. Live and learn, as they say.

Now, a week later, I'm very happy with the new display (IPS) and would hope that you might gain some insight into displays from my experience, should you find yourself in my situation.

Last Updated on Monday, 15 August 2011 15:20

Logo Formats - How Many Do You Need?

Tuesday, 26 July 2011 08:41 David Schenk

I've run into a recurring problem that I thought might be worth talking about. The problem is that people come to me for design work and when asked for their logo, all too often it turns out that all they have is a low-res version, often a .gif file, which for many uses is not adequate. The solution to this situation may require recreating the logo in a format that's usable for the required purpose.

How does this occur? The problem seems to have two contributing factors: