Is the End nigh for Classic Desktop Publishing?

(NPES International Printing E-commerce Website 2008-09-11) Back in the 80s the appearance of the first Apple Macs with the PageMaker typesetting and layout program, complete with PostScript-capable Laser writer printer, started a revolution, but one that was not at first perceived as such.
Photosetting and page assembly professionals wearily smiled at the initially rather limited capabilities of the newcomer and its disappointing performance, whilst missing the point that for the first time a full page layout complete with text, pictures and graphics could be accurately displayed and produced by an integrated system.
Compared with previous solutions, desktop publishing was cheap and the equipment compact. Ad agency creatives, however, were quick to see the potential. Finally, they could cast off their dependency on typesetters and repro shops, save costs and offer their customers greater flexibility. The shackles fell, revolt became revolution and the rest is history.

Ad agencies and prepress under pressure
Today, it is the ad agencies themselves who are under pressure because advancing database publishing, catalogue and web-to-print solutions can now cover broad swathes of printed product creation. Alas for the agencies, their services are less and less frequently required for adaptations and the placing of new content. It is precisely in this area, where creatives once often earned good money, that large companies are discovering considerable potential for savings through the use of publishing servers and web-to-print systems. By following a few sensible rules the customer's project team can process the material itself. Even the prepress department of the in-house printer is increasingly often left standing idle as the team itself handles an additional language version for a brochure.
So, is desktop publishing on its last legs as some pundits would have us believe and are we on the verge of a new network and Internet-based typesetting and layout future? The trend is really only getting started but the direction is clear. The big winners should be those service providers who take the offensive and who firmly grasp both the new technologies and what they offer customers.

Layout tools and trends
Amongst the designer-oriented setting and layout programs, QuarkXpress and Adobe InDesign dominate the market, with InDesign having clearly gained ground in recent years. For the sake of the users one has to hope that there is room in the market for two major solutions, otherwise Adobe might be tempted into the selfsame arrogance that Quark was once accused of.
In a head-to-head comparison, InDesign has won the features race in a large proportion of usage scenarios, but whether over the long term what matters is more and more functions or enhanced usability remains to be seen. Already, ordinary, day-to-day work requires just a fraction of the refinements and functions packed into both solutions. With Office 2007, Microsoft has shown that a rethink can really only be achieved through a radical, fresh approach.
Besides the programs in the spotlight there are some alternative layout programs that offer the necessary features for creative projects. One such is Viva Designer, whilst Corel Draw is at home in both the illustration and layout field.
For specific tasks such as technical documentation and structured documents there are applications like Adobe Framemaker, Arbortext Advanced Print Publisher (previously 3B2) from PTC and Ultra XML from Thomas Mai. Whilst Adobe has lavished attention on the latest versions of InDesign, one can unfortunately not say the same for Framemaker, whose ongoing development is languishing on the back burner.
XML binds worlds together
The XML metalanguage is certainly not a new trend but it continues to be a very hot topic and the possibilities that it has opened up are far from exhausted. XML is the binding agent between proprietary systems, and today's collaborative workflows are inconceivable without it. At the same time, XML is the key to the automated preparation of content for different forms of output such as print, the web and mobile devices. Cross-media is the buzzword here.
XML also forms the core of many database publishing solutions because it is highly suitable for the representation of structured data. XML will undoubtedly increase in importance.
Intelligent data handling
Creatives in particular are well aware of the value of DAM (Digital Asset Management) systems. Here too there is a clear trend away from pure desktop solutions and towards server-based ones. The new RIA (Rich Internet Application) technologies are widening the separation between the server and the front end (user interface).
As computer systems and network connections get ever faster, so prepress operatives are also accessing ever greater volumes of stored data, and the amount of data to be processed grows exponentially. File servers with several terabytes (1,000 gigabytes) of storage are far from a rarity today. The demands imposed on data back-up and archiving increase accordingly. Once again, this is another area where desktop applications are in retreat, as back-up or archiving services are run over servers accessed via a web browser interface. Metatags play a major role in improving the archiving of data. For working files such as pictures, graphic and layout files, Adobe's XMP (Extensible Metadata Platform) is tried and tested, whilst for PDFs the ISO PDF-A standard is becoming increasingly established.

Input, output and color management
ICC color management has established itself as a cross-man ufacturer system that, whilst it still offers scope for improvements, has certainly proven itself in practice. Device link technology is making high quality CMYK to CMYK adjustment possible. Many experts have been forecasting the end of flatbed and drum scanners for years. Ever more powerful digital cameras are increasingly rendering the digitization of much reflection and transparency copy unnecessary. Nevertheless, scanners have not disappeared entirely. In many cases old high-end scanners have been made compatible with new computer systems.
The main problem is that the scanner software has long since ceased to be developed and now, after numerous operating system and computer updates, it is no longer functional Lasersoft of Kiel has leapt into the gap, and with Silverfast it offers software that is compatible with virtually all major scanner models and which, unlike its competitor Vuescan, also covers high-end models.
    Some years ago, CRT monitors with calibration functions from the likes of Barco or Quato were widely used for monitoring color processing. Gradually, these have been supplanted by high resolution and high contrast flat screen monitors. However, the color accuracy of these new devices has been severely criticized by professionals. Now, special fiat screen monitors with suitably large gamuts and higher tonal value dynamics have been introduced for the professional graphics sector, with Eizo and Quato being in the van. In the professional segment, whether it be for print or video, there is a marked trend towards such devices, even though they are significantly more expensive.
     Anyone who, after the radical changes in press and creation, believes that the end of the process has been reached, should prepare to be disabused. Constant ad-vances in software and hardware, as well as the dynamic spread of network and Internet-based systems mean that after the digitization of every working stage, further advances remain to be made, primarily through co-operative work and communications (see the 'Web-to-Print' and 'Networked  Print  Production'  Technology Guides).