Off with their heads

The immortal yearbook photo… brings back ugly memories for many of us. That awkward age captured in perpetuity. The hair-do you’ll never live down.

But here’s one you wouldn’t expect: head switching.

A Texas high school had requested that the heads on all student photos be made the same size with the eyes at the same level.

Can’t you just hear the prepress staff’s muffled screams of agony? People come in different shapes and sizes so why shouldn’t their heads?

I guess the prepress staff found a way to escape the boredom and have some laughs.

But it was, "an unfortunate lapse in judgment by an employee” that landed them all in the unemployment line.

How’s that saying go? He who laugh’s first…...

Firefox: Fantastically Fantastic

I can't say enough good things about Mozilla's Firefox. In fact, I enjoy and use both Firefox and Thunderbird; Mozilla's seemingly limitlessly customizable web-browser and e-mail client. In the coming posts, I will likely do small features on certain aspects or neat tricks I enjoy about both of them. For, now... I've got one to share with you that's easy and a time-saver.

Did you know that you can quickly and easily open your favorite or most-frequented websites without having to type in the entire URL or selecting its bookmark? Again, this is a really simple, little-known feature (among the many) that Firefox affords its users! If you're interested, I'll give you a step-by-step (there are only two) example:

Say you want to make it easy to get to Gmail. Firstly, you'd make a bookmark of the sign-in page and, from there, you would go into your Bookmarks drop-down option at the top of your Firefox browser.

1.) Hovering your cursor over the bookmark for Gmail, you right-click on it and select 'Properties.'
2.) In the field named 'keywords,' you enter your shortcut for the site. Let's say you chose the letter 'g' to represent Gmail. Click OK and you're done!

Then, to make use of your handy-dandy shortcut for Gmail, in any tab, in the URL field, type the letter 'g' and press . Viola! Gmail begins to load, automagically!


Hope this little tip makes things a bit more fun and streamlined for you! More to come, in the future. Have a great weekend!

Minority Report, anyone?

Steven Spielberg's movie Minority Report was a fun, exciting flick that pushed the ideas of the future. After Apple came out with the multi-touch surface for the iPhone, it would be expected that other companies would release similar technology.

Without further adieu, here is Microsoft's take on touch interface control.



Read the entire article at Engadget.com.

Can it be true? File > Export > Flash?

Will all your InD files become fodder for Flash? Supposedly, Macromedia is working on incorporating a Flash export setting for InDesign, making it easy for every Joe Schmoe layout artist/designer to easily transform their InDesign files into functional Flash pieces. We'd love to see this become a reality. Sooner rather than later, please.

InDesign's Future Flash Export Function

A tip-of-the-hat to Creativepro.com and Terri Stone.

Training Online vs. Face to Face

A recent Graphic Arts Online article caught my attention, Online vs. Face to Face Training by NAPL expert Howie Fenton. I think Howie brings up a good point-– too often online education is disguised as online training, leaving the learner frustrated. Corporate education is important, but is not ideally delivered via e-learning. So, I agree with Howie’s comments, from that standpoint.

However, work flow, or process training is best delivered through a consistent, repetitive environment, which often cannot be accomplished one-on-one, and if it is, it is typically not cost effective.

The important thing, no matter what type of training delivery you are using, is that the training program should meet certain criteria. We’ve created a couple to tools to help you out, if you are considering implementing a training program or if you want to evaluate your current training efforts:

The Ideal Training Program

Management Decision Maker Checklist

If you are leaning toward an online delivery, here’s a great evaluation tool I found: Measuring the Total Cost of e-Learning by Kevin Kruse.

We also offer an ROI calculation specific to your company. Just contact us at info@prepresstraining.com to get yours.

Training is extremely important as the economy tightens, so no matter what type of training you do – just do it!

What in the World?

Surely, you have heard about Google Maps "satellite feature", by now. Maybe you have even flown across the world with Google Earth. Thanks to the folks over at MapOfStrange.com you can now surf the globe for the weirder things out there captured by the satellite!

Be sure to check out some of our personal favorites:

1. Hot Air Balloon


2. Another Tipped Truck


3. Burning Field


4. Superbowl Corn Maze

What do these companies have in common?

Crescent Printing Company, Onalaska, WI
CRW Graphics, Pennsauken, NJ
McNaughton & Gunn, Inc., Saline, MI
Midland Information Resources, Davenport, IA
Royle Printing, Sun Prairie, WI
PrintingForLess.com, Livingston, MT
Schawk, Inc., Des Plaines, IL
Source4, Chicago, IL
St Ives Inc USA, Hollywood, FL
The Sheridan Press, Hanover, PA
Communicorp Inc., Columbus, GA

1. Each of them won a 2007 Best Workplace in the Americas Award.
2. Each of them has utilized Prepress Training Solution.

Now, you might ask yourself what the big deal is, but if you think about it, happy employees make loyal employees and that is generally good for your business. Employee attitudes ARE conveyed to your customers and DO effect the bottom line.

Ron Davis, PIA/GATF Chief Economist, named specific areas in which profit leaders outspend profit challengers, and one of those key areas is training.

As the list above proves, employee training and development IS a key factor in making your company successful.

Deadline for 2008 entries is September 30, 2008.