InDesign for QuarkXPress Users [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Printing Overview

Our discussion about the Print dialog box is made more difficult by differences in how printing is handled in each operating system. Adobe has made an admirable effort to make InDesign's Print dialog box look as similar as possible in both Macintosh and Windows, and between Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X (see Figure 93-1). Aside from some minor rearrangements of features within panels, only the buttons at the bottom of the dialog box vary between operating systems: The Macintosh sports Page Setup and Printer buttons; Windows only has a Setup button.

As you make choices for printing by selecting panels from the panel list, most of the dialog box stays the same, including an interactive preview of the printed page. Note that you can jump from one panel to the next by pressing Command-1/Ctrl-1, Command-2/Ctrl-2, and so on.

Choosing a Printer

How you choose which printer to use depends on which operating system you're using. In Windows, the Printer popup menu in InDesign's Print dialog box displays the printers which you've set up using the Add Printer utility in Windows. In Macintosh OS 9, the menu only displays the current selection in the Chooser, which you access from the Apple menu. (You can also click on the Printer button, and select from printers which have already been set up in the Chooser.) Macintosh OS X is more similar to Windows: The Printer popup menu lists printers that you have defined using Print Center (located in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder).

The Printer pop-up menu includes one other option, no matter what operating system you're using: PostScript File (which we'll discuss below).

PostScript Printers and PPDs

Both QuarkXPress and InDesign were designed for PostScript printers. While InDesign 2 also supports non-Postscript printers (like most desktop inkjet printers), many of the Print dialog box choices won't be available. For best results, you may find that exporting a PDF (see Chapter 99) and printing from Acrobat or Acrobat Reader is preferable when printing to a non-PostScript printer.

When you pick a PostScript printer, InDesign asks the printer driver for the appropriate PostScript Printer Description (PPD). The PPD is a text file which lists the specific characteristicsfor example, paper sizesavailable for this printer. You normally select the PPD when you set up your printer using either Add Printer, the Chooser, or the Print Center. InDesign displays the PPD in the PPD popup menu, but the name is dimmed out.

Creating a PostScript File

Writing PostScript to disk is a hassle from QuarkXPress, requiring that you use the printer driver dialog box. InDesign 2 lets you export PostScript easily: Just pick PostScript File from the Printer popup menu. You then have the choice to include or exclude printer-specific PostScript code along with the PostScript code created by InDesign. If you know exactly what printer you're printing this file on, you have its PPD on your machine, and you know what you're doing, then choose the PPD from the PPD popup menu. Otherwise, choose Device Independent.

Previewing Your Printing

While XPress only displays a preview of the printed page in one panel of the Print dialog box, InDesign always gives you an interactive preview in the lower-left corner of the Print dialog box. For example, if you change the page size or orientation, or add printer's marks, that will be reflected in the preview. If you click once on the Preview pane, InDesign displays data about your document; if you click again, InDesign shows you how your page will appear on the paper (most relevant when printing to a roll-fed imagesetter).

Printer-Specific Options

The Print dialog box panels that we describe in this chapter and in Chapter 95 include the features required by almost all printers. However, some printers have special controls which aren't set here (for example, hardware collating features or printer tray selection). You can get access to these options by clicking the Setup button in Windows or the Page Setup and Printer buttons on the Macintosh.

However, if you see choices in the printer driver (for example, page range) which are also in the InDesign Print dialog box, you should ignore the printer driver setting and make that choice in InDesign.