News + Events

Find out what's happening.

Posts Tagged ‘Publishing’

Publishing Lessons from the Long History of the PDF

Marie Gollentz
Project Manager, Typefi

The Portable Document Format (PDF) has come a long way since it was launched by Adobe in 1993. What started as a little-known technology to keep page layout from going wonky has now become a feature-rich format that is used by people the world over.

In 2020, Adobe estimated that there were more than 2.5 trillion PDFs in existence – that’s more than 320 PDFs for each person on Earth! In that same year, about 303 billion PDFs were opened using Adobe Document Cloud.

The PDF can offer those of us in the world of publishing and content some interesting blueprints for success. In this piece, learn more about what the development of the PDF can teach us when it comes to developing our products, driving popular appeal and soaring above competitors in the marketplace.

Promo for Damian Gibbs' blog post about standards providing a foundation for innovation and creativity in publishing.

Standards: The foundation for innovation and creativity in publishing

Damian Gibbs
Solutions Consultant, Typefi

The word “standard” does not appeal to the creative spirit of publishing. With connotations of enforcing rules and guidelines on people, it appears to be the very antithesis of creativity!

Looking at the broad variation of beautiful publications available, this surely is proof that publishing thrives on non-conformity and thinking outside the box?

Title page of of the JavaScript for InDesign Book Excerpt in the April 2020 issue of InDesign Magazine. There is a short block of text, a photo of Peter Kahrel, and a shot of the book cover.

Book excerpt: JavaScript for InDesign

There are many repetitive and labour-intensive Adobe InDesign tasks that can be solved with scripting.

If you want to learn how to access Adobe InDesign’s hidden scripting riches, Peter Kahrel’s book JavaScript for InDesign is a great place to start!

Thanks to the team at InDesign Secrets, you can now download an excerpt which first appeared in the April 2020 edition of InDesign Magazine.

Title page of of the JavaScript for InDesign Book Excerpt in the April 2020 issue of InDesign Magazine. There is a short block of text, a photo of Peter Kahrel, and a shot of the book cover.

The excerpt also includes an exclusive set of simple one-liner scripts that Peter came up with to give you a quick taste of success!

Cover image for blog post 'The publishing machine'

The Publishing Machine: How automation makes space for creativity

Damian Gibbs
Solutions Consultant, Typefi

It is a curious thing, publishing books. I’ve never been sure if it is more art or science; either way, there is no doubt that both are involved, and one without the other amounts to naught.

Access to literature has come a long way since early handwritten manuscripts, thanks to moveable type and the printing press, largely attributed to Johannes Gutenberg. The “technology” Gutenberg leveraged was his own trade of blacksmithing. This is as far from being a scribe as you could imagine—metal versus paper, a loud, hot workshop versus the quiet library environment.

Stock photo of an antique printing press.
The printing press—an early industry disruptor!

It is unknown how or why Gutenberg formalised the concept of moveable type and the printing press, but it is an early example of “disruption” by someone “outside of the business”.