🚀 go-pugleaf

Oops, sorry John Kalios for attributing M Blackburn's post to you. My point(s) still stands.

Nevertheless, whether it's an "old-time" service bureau, "film house," copy center or in-house imagesetter at a print shop, most people usually save money, time and effort by ASKING beforehand what's the best way to set up their file for press. Most designers that have been doing this for a while knows to ask, at the very least, about stock, press, dot gain, and of course, how many "up" do they need the art. This is part of the process. And, at times, imposition is part of this process. Should it be for the "professionals" only at this point? Without saying, it depends whether we're talking about my July issue of Communication Arts at 216 pp ran on a web press versus the elementary school's one-color, 36-page recipe book ran on a duplicator. Both need imposition. Should InDesign include at least basic imposition functionality? Yes. (NOTE: I'm not using the PM Plugin Pack nor CS2 so if CS2 includes imposition then this all moot.)

M BLACKBURN wrote and JOHN KALIOS endorsed: "...Generally, having the file in printers spreads is an annoyance rather than a help..."
     TERRY VEIGA responds: After rereading your posts, you two sound jaded and it seems you've lost that loving feeling about your clients and their ability to work with you and learn the trade. I'd bet if you penalized a client a couple of times when bringing a file in your shop for something they should've pre-flighted or set-up differently, my guess is that most clients would ASK you beforehand how to avoid your "professional" fees. Would you be willing to teach the "amateur" or tell them not to worry about it in InDesign, you'll just charge them your "professional" fee to solve it? Think of it this way, they just might be able to actually produce the job you quoted over their budget only if they had the basic tools to do the imposition themselves.

John, M Blackburn and Dov, I see your heads nodding "no," but I hear you saying "yes." Yes, basic imposition can be performed by "amateurs"; yes a print shop/film house/copy center will use imposed files even if you think it's an "annoyance"; yes, imposition software functionality does exist in InDesign (in some form) for "amateurs"; and yes, there are cost and time savings even it you think it's only "99% of the time." Hmmm, then what's the problem again?