Two-up printing. (ClickBook from BookMaker) (Software Review) (Art Works) (Evaluation)
by Robert Bixby
A couple of months ago, I mentioned DynoPage from Portfolio Software (10062 Miller Avenue, Suite 201, Cupertino, California 95014; 800-729-3966; $59.95), a Windows product that allows you to print a document in various formats, such as booklets or pamphlets, two-sided or single-sided. Another Windows product accomplishes approximately the same thing, though for my money, it's better organized and easier to use. It's called ClickBook, and it's available from BookMaker (625 Emerson Street, Suite 200, Palo Alto, California 94301; 415-617-1101; $69.95).
ClickBook offers a preview, allowing you to see how a document will look when printed. The preview lacks a zoom (DynoPage's preview is zoomable), which is a bit of a drag since the type usually greeks, making it difficult to tell how your page will look until it's printed. Another drawback to the program (one it shares with DynoPage) is that it won't print just a single page of a booklet. It prints either the whole document or the pages specified in the Print dialog box of your application.
The approaches of the two products are very different. DynoPage replaces the Print Manager with its own spooler. To print a DynoPage document, you select the DynoPage driver in the Print Setup. ClickBook, on the other hand, places itself in the File menu of each of the applications with which it's friendly. (Before purchasing the product, you should check with the manufacturer to confirm that it supports you application.) I tested it with Word or Windows. Whenever I wanted to print a booklet, all I had to do was select Print ClickBook from the File menu in Word.
Another difference between the two programs has to do with printing two-sided documents. ClickBook requires you to flip the entire stack of pages over to print the other side; DynoPage requires you to flip each page individually (which is confusing and an invitation to error).
Both products reduce the point size of the type used in a document so that the lines will fit within the margins of the booklet. The aspect ratio of a 5-1/2- x 8-1/2-inch booklet page is not the same as that of an 8-1/2- x 11-inch page, so your printout may have a wide bottom margin. You can deal with this by trimming the booklet or by expanding the page area within your word processor so that you word processor thinks you're printing on legal paper (which more closely approximates the booklet page's aspect ratio).
If you print instructions, telephone directories, collections of student writing, manuals, or anything else that would lend itself to being assembled in a booklet format, either of these products would serve you well. Using either of them has an advantage over using a desktop publishing package: You probably already know your word processor, and learning DynoPage or ClickBook takes little time.
GST maker of 1st Design, a very low-cost yet very high-powered drawing program. mentioned in the November "Art Works," does have a U.S. address, contrary to my report in that column. Contact GST at 3336 Hemlock Drive, Falls Church, Virginia 22042; (703) 560-2354.
In October I gave an incorrect phone number for Art-Beats, maker of Marble & Granite. The correct number is (503) 863-4429. At one time Art-Beats seemed to have the market for interesting backgrounds to itself, but now it seems as if everyone with an electronic camera is getting into the act. In October I covered Pixar One Twenty Eight, which went beyond stone faces to provide textures like sand and shingles. The latest product of this kind that I've seen is PhotoGear from Image Club Graphics (1902 11th Street SE, Suite 5, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2G 3G2; 406-262-8008; $59), a CD-ROM containing 30 images in three different resolutions.
The images include various marbles and granites, as well as money, bricks, paper, canvas, burnished metal, Formica, cloths, plywood, and particle board. The files are in TIF format, which means that they can be used with nearly all graphics programs.
Have a DTP tip you'd like to share? Let me know about it by calling (900) 884-8681, extension 7010203 (sponsored by Pure Entertainment, P.O. Box 186, Hollywood, California 90078). The call costs 95 cents per minute, you must be 18 or older, and you must use a touch-tone phone. Or write to "Art Works" in care of this magazine. And if you don't have a tip, call to let me know what you're up to, what software you're using, and how I can be of help.