Welcome to TalkGraphics.com
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 11
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Blackheath, Australia
    Posts
    253

    Default multi page text and graphics.

    I have done several small (up to 10 pages) multi page articles with mixed text and graphics using XX4. These have worked very well and are infinitely easier to control than the same size projects in Word. The text format is double column A4 with endnotes.

    Currently I have a 150 page book in the pipeline. The text is in Word at present but it is proving a nightmare to handle since there are dozens of photographs, maps, tables and drawn illustrations to be inserted. Even though I know Word can handle this I do not think my sanity can.

    I am seriously thinking of transporting the whole text into XX4 but I am a bit wary of the size. Does anyone have any experience with preparing such a project in XX? The final product will be a pdf file.

    I want to know if there are any show stoppers lurking about. Maximum number of linked columns? Any problems with lots of text repelling graphics? etc.

    Any thoughts will be valuable.

    Erik

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    Birmingham, England / Javea, Espana
    Posts
    2,343

    Default Re: multi page text and graphics.

    Go for it. I've prepared a number of booklets etc using xara, copying and pasting text from Word as supplied to me and I haven't had any significant problems. As your book gets thicker, if the pages are to be folded, you have to account for the need to adjust the position of graphics and text on the page to allow for the fold on the outer pages which Xara dosen't do automatically but this hasn't given me any real problems to date. If its to remain as a PDF document I can't see any reason why you wont get it finished quicker using Xara than any other program I know. Recently completed one of about 25 pages saved as PDF no problem at all. A few more pages shouldn't make that much difference.
    Derek
    Last edited by masque; 07 November 2008 at 01:42 PM.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Box Elder, SD, USA
    Posts
    4,034

    Default Re: multi page text and graphics.

    Many large graphics (I have a 14MP camera) will gag xara. It might be advantageous to resize and make a bitmap copy at the print resolution you will be using. I had trouble with a little over 50 pics (~50X10MB=~500MB) in one document. Just plain ran out of room.

    Not many documents have more than 50 8X10s tho...
    John Rayner
    For my Photography see:
    http://www.draginet.com
    Facebook

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Sundern, Germany
    Posts
    352

    Default Re: multi page text and graphics.

    The biggest problem with big, multi-page projects (especially with lots of text) in Xara in general is that there are 1) no text styles and 2) no clones / linked objects. That basically means that if you suddenly decide you want all headings with a bigger margin around them, or a certain design element repeating on each page in a different shape, you have to re-do / re-copy them all by hand.

    Other than that, I didn't have big problems

  5. #5

    Default Re: multi page text and graphics.

    Quote Originally Posted by raynerj1 View Post
    Many large graphics (I have a 14MP camera) will gag xara. It might be advantageous to resize and make a bitmap copy at the print resolution you will be using. I had trouble with a little over 50 pics (~50X10MB=~500MB) in one document. Just plain ran out of room.
    .
    John after you import, size and position your 10mp jpegs, use the 'Optimise' feature to reduce the weight in the same way. No need to make bitmap copies.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Blackheath, Australia
    Posts
    253

    Default Re: multi page text and graphics.

    Thanks for the encouragement. The styles problem I knew about but this has not been a hassle so far. The optimise picture hint is very useful. Thanks Sledger, that will come in very handy because there will be a lot of photos.

    In some work I did today I imported Word text and changed the indent distance of the first lines in paragraphs after importing. That seems to work well though it is a bit fiddly.

    However, For some sections I do not want indented paragraphs but would like the paragraphs separated slightly instead. Does anyone know if I can set this up in Xara? I could insert a small point size line but that seems very clunky.

    All in all things are going well.
    Erik

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Sundern, Germany
    Posts
    352

    Default Re: multi page text and graphics.

    Quote Originally Posted by EJ View Post
    However, For some sections I do not want indented paragraphs but would like the paragraphs separated slightly instead. Does anyone know if I can set this up in Xara? I could insert a small point size line but that seems very clunky.
    There's two settings "Spacing before paragraph" and "Spacing after paragraph" in the toolbar of the text tool, which do exactly what you want.

    Edit: I don't know if text from Word is imported correctly though. There's "Paragraph breaks" (inserted when you press Enter in Xara) and just "Line breaks" (Shift-Enter or Alt-Enter, can't remember). It might be that text pasted from Word translates Paragraph breaks into Line breaks and thus the Paragraph spacing options have no effect.
    Last edited by instinctive.de; 08 November 2008 at 03:15 PM.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Placitas, New Mexico, USA
    Posts
    41,487

    Default Re: multi page text and graphics.

    If this is something you plan to do a lot of, I would consider a dedicated publishing application such as Adobe InDesign. It will make your job magnitudes easier and is designed for long documents. You can automate many tasks. And it will not bog down as the page numbers increase.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Dunoon, Scotland
    Posts
    4,778

    Default Re: multi page text and graphics.

    I do this as part of my job on a regular basis and use XPro 4 to do that but with a publication that size with many graphics included will slow XP down to a crawl. Why not buy this months Computer Shopper and use Serif's PagePlus 9 for free as it has the ability to import and export PDF's, has master pages, import filter from word, good table features, styles, colour palettes and many other feature and it is FREE.

    I agree with Gary if you are going to produce booklets of this size use the correct tools!
    Design is thinking made visual.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Box Elder, SD, USA
    Posts
    4,034

    Default Re: multi page text and graphics.

    Thanks Steve,

    Forgot about optimize. Does that also change the copy in the bitmap gallery? That is what fills up and gags Xpro. You do not even need to be using the bitmaps anymore. Import the graphic, delete it and it will still be in the bitmap gallery until you close Xpro. You would have to have over 175 pics from the IST DS* to gag Xpro or 10 shots from the newest Hassleblad.

    I just tested the optimise feature and it is the same as make bitmap copy. You end up having 2 copies in the bitmap gallery (the original and the copy).
    John Rayner
    For my Photography see:
    http://www.draginet.com
    Facebook

 

 

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •