Getting a Handle on Photos is Key Ingredient of Asset Management “Asset Management” is a hot term in our business. Ten years ago, most newspaper designers had never heard the term. Now, one of the most frequently asked questions when I visit a newspaper is “What are our options for asset management?” Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, 2004 - 1 opinion posted

Three Books to Help Newspaper Designers Take Control Peachpit Press recently released several excellent books which would fit well on any newspaper designer’s shelf. I’ve picked three of my favorites. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, October 2004

ALAP Offers Useful Plug-ins for InDesign Users When potential users hear about all the bells and whistles available in Adobe InDesign, they sometimes get the mistaken impression that the application includes all the features they could ever want for newspaper design. ALAP brings that possibility closer to reality. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, September 2004

Map Resources Offers High Quality Maps to Spark Newspaper Design Map Resources publishes digital maps created in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Each map is fully editable, allowing users the ability to add and remove features such as rivers, street names and more.  Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, September 2004

Mariner Write: A Word Processor For the Rest of Us Mac-based writers and designers can spend a lot of time searching for a word processor that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, yet has all the features they need. The answer may have arrived in Mariner Write 3.6.4. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, November 2004

Reference Guides Offer Training and Support Peachpit Press recently released three books which would make nice addition to any newspaper designer’s library. Two for Mac users and one for everyone. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, November 2004

Remembering basic settings crucial to quality photo output When you spend your life teaching classes most of the time, it’s easy to forget that most folks don’t spend a lot of time thinking about things like preferences and color settings. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, July 2005

Roxio Toast 6 Titanium: The Best Keeps Getting Better If you’ve been reading this column very long, you know that I’ve been a big fan of Roxio’s Toast for a long time. Toast has been the best utility for creating CDs on the Mac ever since the beginning of CD creation.  Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, September 2004

Slimp Recommends Three Books for Newspaper Designers Three new design-related books caught my eye in recent weeks. These titles would make great additions to any designer's collection. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, November 2005

Adobe Studio Exchange: Gems for the Designer Adobe Studio Exchange is a website where designers can get all kinds of free software to enhance InDesign, Photoshop and other Adobe applications. No strings attached. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, September 2005 - 1 opinion posted

Favorite Product List Summer 2004 Each year I take the opportunity to create a list of my favorite software and hardware products for newspapers.In many cases product titles remain the same, while versions change over the years. Occasionally there is a noticeable change, as was the case when InDesign replaced QuarkXpress on this list a few years back. With this in mind, here is my list for 2004: Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, June 2004

Kevin reviews hardware, software and book for newspaper designers So many products, so little time. With the release of several major software titles over the past few months, we’re beginning to see a plethora of related products designed to take the use of these applications to new levels.  Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, July 2004

Latest Books Offer Training in Creative Suite and QuarkXPress What request do I receive most often from newspapers? Lately, it’s been for advice or assistance in moving up to full pagination using the Adobe Creative Suite. Fortunately, you don’t have to wait for me to come to your town to start learning to use these applications.  Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, April 2004

Updated Utilities Ease Use of OS X and Windows More publishers are using OS X and Windows XP these days. Learn about a few utilities that can make life with OS X and XP a little easier. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, May 2004

A Little Relief for Powerbook and Notebook Users There are no desktop computers on my desk. I like the freedom of taking my computer wherever I go. There are some disadvantages to working on a notebook system. One is that there are fewer USB and Firewire ports to plug external devices into. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, August 2004

Adding Ports, Without Adding a Hub, to G3 and G4 Macs There are few times I envy my PC using friends. I used to wonder why many Windows-based computers came with USB ports on the front, while Mac users had to move to the back of the computer to plug in an external device. With the G5, all that changed. Now there is an option for all of the G3 and G4 desktops in newspapers throughout the land.  Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, August 2004

Adobe improves a good thing with Creative Suite 2.0 Adobe began shipping the first copies of Creative Suite 2 in May and newspapers have a vested interest in this latest crop of design tools. Eighteen months have passed since the initial version of Creative Suite (CS1) hit the market and Adobe promises significant advancements in CS2. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, May 2005

InCopy CS: Bringing newspapers into the world of managed workflows I’ve become very excited about two new processes recently made available by Adobe Systems. The first, Version Cue, I’ll address in a future column. Today I’d like to spend some time telling you about an application known as InCopy CS. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, March 2004

MultiAd Creator Professional Worthy Contender in Battle for Newspaper Ad Design MultiAd continues to update and improve Creator. The latest version, Creator Professional 7.01, proves to be a worthy contender in the design market. Version 7.01 is a cross-platform application written on a platform-independent code-base, meaning Windows users have the same capabilities as Mac users. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, April 2005

Stopping the Spread of Spam to My PC Recent surveys indicate somewhere between 60 and 85 percent of all email is spam. This led me to search for the perfect (well, almost perfect) spam filter for Windows users. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, August 2004

Adobe Acrobat Upgrade Hard to Resist Honestly, I don’t know where my memory has gone. When I heard that Adobe was upgrading Acrobat to version 7.0, my first thought was, “Didn’t they just upgrade to version 6 a few months ago?” Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, March 2005 - 1 opinion posted

Books for the Acrobat and AirPort Aficionado Three books hit the shelves in March that will be of great interest to newspaper techies. The first, Adobe Acrobat 7 Tips and Tricks, by Donna Baker, guides readers through tips and tricks related to the latest version of Adobe’s preeminent application related to our industry.  Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, March 2005

Fixing Problem PDF Files Easier With PDF Enhancer Every now and then you come upon a software application that makes you ask yourself, “How did I make it without you all these years?” PDF Enhancer, from Apago, Inc. is just such an application. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, January 2004

These Plug-ins Are Anything But Lowly Our friends at A Lowly Apprentice Production have been coming up with good ideas for years. I call them "friends" because they create products that make the designer's life a lot easier at prices that don't break the bank. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, December 2005

Newspapers Find Alternative to Microsoft Office Software is no place to pinch pennies when there’s a newspaper to get out. A lot of designers spend countless hours trying to complete a task with the wrong tools. There are times, however, when it makes sense to look for a less expensive alternative.  Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, December 2003

Creating PDF Files That Work In Newspapers I spent the weekend in Edmonton, Alberta with the staff of the newspaper association. The task was pretty straightforward. Jeff Beardsworth, association advertising director, wanted an in-house method of preflighting PDFs that arrive from ad agencies.  Click Here for More ... Kevin Slimp, November 2003

Peachpit Releases Titles For Newspaper Paginators With all the new versions of software on the market, newspaper designers find themselves looking for training on a regular basis. With this in mind, Peachpit has released new titles with the newspaper paginator in mind. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, December 2003

More Information Concerning Adobe's Creative Suite Adobe's Creative Suite, announced in October, is making waves in the newspaper industry. What changes have been made? What is Version Cue anyway? We'll take a look at these questions and more in this week's column. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, October 22, 2003

InDesign vs. Quark Debate Headlines Annual Software Picks Last month, we took a look at hardware available to newspaper professionals. This month, I’ll place my reputation on the line again as I share my list of favorite software applications. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, February 2005 - 1 opinion posted

My Dell Story Click Here for More ... September 16, 2005

A comforting - and unnerving - upgrade to this industry giant QuarkXPress 6.0 Review For those who have been patiently awaiting the long-anticipated release of the latest incarnation of QuarkXPress, there is good news and bad news.  Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, August 2003 - 1 opinion posted

Mask Pro 3 Before and After Extensis Releases Mask Pro 3 for Experienced Photoshop Users Advanced Photoshop users, a group which includes a lot of newspaper designers, deal with the process of masking quite often. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, September 2003

Kevin's Favorite Hardware Products for 2005 As I travel throughout the U.S. and Canada, I’m always amazed at the number of people who stop to tell me they keep this particular column taped to the wall in front of their desks. There’s no magic in this list. These are simply the products I’ve found most valuable as I work each day with newspapers of all sizes. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, January 2005

Acrobat Professional 6.0 Takes Publishing to New Level This month Adobe released Acrobat Professional 6.0 and the resulting cheers from the publishing community will be heard for months and years to come. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, July 2003

Adobe upgrades 4 major applications at one time. Adobe Announcement Reverberates Through Newspaper Industry As Kramer, of Seinfield fame, would say, “Adobe just blew my mind!” This morning, Adobe announced new versions of four of their flagship applications: Adobe InDesign 3.0, Adobe Photoshop 8.0, Adobe Illustrator 11, and Adobe GoLive 7.0. The impact on the newspaper industry should be swift. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, Sept. 30, 2003

New Books Valuable to Designers There has been such a plethora of software hitting the shelves over the past few months that I haven’t given much attention to all the great books on the market. The linked article includes important information for newspaper designers. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, August 2003

Photoshop Plug-ins Offered at Significant Discount Three of the top plug-in makers and one of the largest stock imagery companies have partnered together to create a unique bundle of products being marketed as The Big 4 Graphics Bundle. Click Here for More ... Press Releasee - August 27, 2003

AbleStock Photos by Hemera Hemera Introduces Online Stock Photo Service Over the years, I’ve become accustomed to acquiring stock photos from Multi-ad, Dynamic Graphics and Metro. Wake up. There's a new photo kid on the block. Click Here for More ... Kevin Slimp, June 2003

Font Doctor 5.5 The Font Doctor is In Morrison SoftDesign recently updated its signature product, FontDoctor, to version 5.5. FontDoctor is the industry standard software for font problem diagnosis and repair on the Mac platform. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, June 2003

Peachpit Press, 2003 Book Review: InDesign for Quark Users Peachpit Press has released a new book for QuarkXPress users making the move to Adobe InDesign. While Quark is still the dominant player in our industry, InDesign is gaining popularity quickly.  Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, May 2003

PhotoFrame 2.5 Extensis Lets Users Gain an Edge in Photos Admit it. you're probably shy about jazzing up the edges of your photos. Read about this new plug-in for Photoshop to add pizzaz to your photo edges. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, May 2003

Latest Version of Quark Shows Significant Improvement Somebody pinch me. I think I’m dreaming. I just downloaded and used Quark’s latest update of it’s publishing software, QuarkXPress. And I like what I saw. Taking clues from Adobe’s layout application, InDesign, Quark seems to have gotten a lot right in version 6.5. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, November 2004

Extensis Portfolio 6.1 Portfolio Provides Asset Management for Newspapers Since 1997, Extensis has been creating great programs and plug-ins for the graphic design professional. Portfolio 6.1 is no disappointment when it comes to software for the graphic designer. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, March 2003

Nik Sharpener Pro! Nik Gets Rid of the Guess Work in Sharpening Nik Sharpener Pro! sharpens an image in any color mode (RGB, CMYK, Lab, & Grayscale) and focuses on sharpening an image specifically for the intended output process. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, February 2003

Digital Cameras have come a long way. 1993 - 2002 A Decade of Incredible Change in Newspaper Technology The past two decades have introduced unparalleled changes in technology, which have significantly altered the way we create newspapers.  Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, December 2002

Custom Maps For Community Newspapers Now Available Every now and then I receive e-mail from readers looking for quality maps to use in their newspapers. Map Resources (mapresources.com) has been my preferred map vendor since I first reviewed their products several years ago. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, September 2007

Newspaper Institute Celebrates 10th Anniversary Since 1997, newspaper designers, publishers, IT professionals and editors from throughout the United States and Canada have attended sessions of the Institute of Newspaper Technology. The 2007 session of the Institute is scheduled for October 11-13, 2007. Classes will take place on campus at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. We've already filled our spaces for the 2007 session, but keep on the lookout for information concerning the 2008 session of the Institute. Click Here for More ...

Photoshop Master Class Adobe Offers Photoshop Master Class Most of the books I recommend are basic “how to” publications, taking readers through steps to master a specific software program. Every now and then I have the pleasure of finding something to stretch me a little further.  Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, February 2003

Andromeda RedEye Pro Andromeda Gets the Red Out of Photos Many Photoshop users never venture into the realm of plug-ins. Plug-ins, referred to as “extensions” in Quark, add capabilities to programs. Most Quark users, for instance, are familiar with an extension that allows them to place PDF files onto a Quark page.  Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, February 2003

Dave 4.0 by Thursby Software Dave 4.0 Helps PCs and Macs Get Along I was speaking at a conference in Louisville, Kentucky over the weekend when I mentioned Thursby Software’s latest incarnation of their utility, DAVE 4.0, which allows Macs to connect to Windows networks and share files and printers.  Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, January 2003

New Books Fit Nicely on Newspaper Library Shelf Three excellent books for newspaper designers and technology staff persons arrived in my mailbox this week. All three should be available by the time you read this. Click Here for More ... by Kevin Slimp, March 2006