31 December 2010

PMS colors cart


The Pantone Color Matching System is largely a standardized color reproduction system. By standardizing the colors, different manufacturers in different locations can all refer to the Pantone system to make sure colors match without direct contact with one another.

One such use is standardizing colors in the CMYK process. The CMYK process is a method of printing color by using four inks—cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. The vast majority of the world's printed material is produced using the CMYK process, and there is a special subset of Pantone colors that can be reproduced using CMYK. Those that are possible to simulate through the CMYK process are labeled as such within the company's guides.

However, most of the Pantone system's 1,114 spot colors cannot be simulated with CMYK but with 13 base pigments (15 including white and black) mixed in specified amounts.

The Pantone system also allows for many 'special' colors to be produced such as metallics and fluorescents. While most of the Pantone system colors are beyond the printed CMYK gamut, it was only in 2001 that Pantone began providing translations of their existing system with screen-based colors. (Screen-based colors use the RGB—red, green, blue—system to create various colors.) The Goe system has RGB and LAB values with each color.

Pantone colors are described by their allocated number (typically referred to as, for example, 'PMS 130'). PMS colors are almost always used in branding and have even found their way into government legislation (to describe the colors of flags). In January 2003, the Scottish Parliament debated a petition (reference PE512) to refer to the blue in the (saltire) as 'Pantone 300'. Countries such as Canada and South Korea and organizations such as the FIA have also chosen to refer to specific Pantone colors to use when producing flags. U.S. states including Texas have set legislated PMS colors of their flags.

Download PMS colors chart: PMS Colors
Source : WIKI

27 December 2010

Sambil Ngopi

Saat pikiran sedang blank memang aktifitas yang enak adalah ngopi, rokok sambil browsing. Salah satu pelepas penatku adalah buka-buka thread di kaskus, forum ini adalah salah satu forum favorit saya.

Selain bisa melepaskan penat, juga bisa dapet ilmu, pengetahuan. Salah satunya ini, salah satu widget untuk web yang bisa memperkirakan harga sebuah website. Jadi kita tinggal masukan nama website yang kita pengen tau harganya. Lalu keluar dech harganya.

Buat anda ang sedang iseng lumayan untuk ngetest, berapa harga website facebook, yahoo, MSN, google, kaskus, twitter.

alamat url: bizirformation.org

Silahkan selamat mencoba!

26 December 2010

Estimasi harga pembuatan website

Memang sulit untuk menghitung estimasi biaya pembuatan website, apalagi kita awam dengan bidang ini. Makanya dengan adanya ini saya juga pernah bingung untuk menentukan estimasi harga pembuatan website yang saya tangani. Maka buat teman-teman semua yang mau menawarkan harga pembuatan website atau buat teman-teman yang mau membuat sendiri dengan menggunakan jasa developer, mungkin link website ini akan bisa membantu, paling tidak kita sudah bisa membuat kisaran harga website pada umumnya. Walaupun dalam kenyataannya budaya Indonesia (red : ewoh-pakewoh) tetap ada.

Dan saya yakin kalau teman-teman semua yang sudah punya website sendiri, atau teman-teman yang sudah berpengalaman dalam pembuatan website penentuan estimasi harga pembuatan website nya banyak yang tidak sampai pada kisaran yang tertera di website yang akan kita bahas ini. Walaupun mungkin bisa mencapai pada kisaran harga tersebut, itu memang karena banyaknya fasilitas atau aplikasi yang mendukung di website tersebut.

Website ini adalah website developer web yang sudah profesional. Mereka membuat aplikasi estimasi pembuatan website tersebut bertujuan untuk memperkirakan kisaran harga yang akan mereka tanggung apabila menggunakan jasa mereka. Saya sampai mempunyai perkiraan website ini sama kaya budaya indonesia, daripada tanya terus tidak jadi orderkan pakewoh. Nah mungkin klien nya nanti ga perlu lagi tanya estimasi harga. Tinggal mereka masukin form spesifikasi website yang di inginkan, terus baru dihitung detail lagi oleh perusahaan tersebut.

Jadi mungkin sama saja, pada akhirnya tetap hitungan real nya ga akan jauh dari estimasi tersebut. Mungkin tambah mahal atau jauh lebih murah dari estimasi tersebut.

Nah bagi anda yang mau menghitung estimasi harga pembuatan website, silahkan kunjungi website ini.
Selamat mencoba!

ini alamat link url nya: dotlaunch.com

estimasi ini sudah lengkap dengan option pilihan penggunaan animasi, logo, hosting, domain, dll.

25 December 2010

Kode-Kode di Command Prompt (cmd)

Ketika saya harus memperbaiki computer temen di USA, dari rumah di Jakarta. :) Alangkah hebatnya dunia ya... walo jarak memisah kita tp tetap bisa berhubungan. Sampe service komputer aza di remote. Ini pengalaman pertama saya service komputer dengan remote desktop. Lho koq ngelantur, :)) Disini yang pengen saya bahas bukan service komputer dengan remote desktop itu, tapi jurus-jurus yang saya pakai mengingatkan saya pada pelajaran dasar komputer dulu, yaitu command prompt atau cmd. Nah saat ini saya mau share jurus jadul dari komputer yang mungkin udah lama banget ga di gunakan lagi. Sekedar mengingat masa lalu saja. Nah saya hanya share beberapa kode command prompt yang saya ingat, karena hanya mengingat mohon koreksinya kalau ada yang salah.

ADDUSERS – Memasukkan/ menambah user ke/dari file CSV.
ARP – Address Resolution Protocol
ASSOC Change – file extension associations
ASSOCIAT – One step file association
AT Schedule – Perintah untuk membuat shedule program (utk dijalankan kemudian waktu)
ATTRIB – Mengganti atribut file
BOOTCFG – Edit boot setting windows
BROWSTAT – Mencari info domain,browser dan PDC
CACLS – Mengganti/mengubah file permissions
CALL – Memanggil sebuah program batch
CD – Memindahkan ke sebuah folder tertentu.
CHANGE – Mengubah Properties pada Terminal Server
CHKDSK – Memeriksa dan memperbaiki file system
CHKNTFS – Memeriksa NTFS file system
CHOICE – Menerima input keyboard ke dalam sebuah batch file
CIPHER – Encrypt-Decrypt files/folders
CleanMgr – Membersihkan secara otomatis Temporary files, recycle bin
CLEARMEM – Membersihkan memory
CLIP – meng-Copy STDIN ke Windows clipboard.
CLS – Membersihkan layar CMD
CLUSTER – Windows Clustering
CMD – Membuka layar CMD/ command prompt
COLOR – Mengganti warna pada window CMD
COMP – Membandingkan isi dari 2 atau lebih file
COMPACT – kompres file/folder di dalam partisi NTFS
COMPRESS – kompres file individu di dalam partisi NTFS
CON2PRT – Connect atau disconnect sebuah Printer
CONVERT – Convert FAT drive menjadi NTFS.
COPY – Copy 1 atau lebih file ke lokasi tertentu
CSVDE – Import/Export Active Directory data
DATE – Menampilkan/mengatur tanggal
Dcomcnfg – DCOM Configuration Utility
DEFRAG – Defragment hard drive
DEL – Menghapus 1 atau lebih file
DELPROF – Menghapus User Profile NT
DELTREE – Menghapus sebuah folder beserta subfolder
DevCon – Device Manager Command Line Utility
DIR – Menampilkan daftar file/folder dari sebuah drive
DIRUSE – Menampilkan disk usage/kapasitas disk
DISKCOMP – Membandingkan isi dari 2 buah floppy disk
DISKCOPY – Copy isi dari sebuah floppy disk ke floppy disk lainnya
DNSSTAT – DNS Statistics
DOSKEY – Mengedit command line,recall commands,dan create macros
DSADD – Menambah user (computer, group..) ke dalam active directory
DSQUERY – Menambah item ke dalam active directory
DSMOD – Modify user (computer, group..) di dalam active directory
ECHO – Menampilkan message pada monitor
ERASE – Menghapus satu atau lebih file
EXIT – keluar dari window CMD
EXPAND – Uncompress file
EXTRACT – Uncompress CAB files
FC – Membandingkan 2 buah file
FDISK – Disk Format dan partition
FIND – Mencari sebuah text string di dalam sebuah file
FINDSTR – Mencari strings di dalam files
FOR /F -Loop command: untuk beberapa files sekaligus
FOR – Loop command: all options Files, Directory, List
FORFILES – Batch process multiple files
FORMAT – Memformat sebuah disk
FREEDISK – Menampilkan free disk space (dalam bytes)
FSUTIL – File and Volume utilities
FTP – File Transfer Protocol
FTYPE – Menampilkan/mengubah file types yg digunakan dalam file extension
GLOBAL – Menampilkan daftar anggota dalam global groups
GOTO – Mengarahkan sebuah program batch untuk melompat ke labelled line
HELP – Online Help
HFNETCHK – Network Security Hotfix Checker
IF – Conditionally perform a command (perintah bersyarat)
IPCONFIG – Configure IP
KILL – Menghapus program dari memory
LABEL – Memberi/mengubah label disk
LOCAL – Menampilkan daftar anggota local groups
LOGEVENT – Menulis text ke dalam NT event viewer.
LOGOFF – Keluar dari system / Mengeluarkan user dari system
LOGTIME – mencatat tanggal dan waktu dalam sebuah file
MAPISEND – Mengirim e-mail dari command line
MEM – Menampilkan memory usage
MD – Create new folders
MODE – Configure a system device
MOUNTVOL – Mengatur Mount point dalam sebuah volume
MOVE – Memindahkan file dari sebuah folder ke folder lain
MOVEUSER – Menindahkan user dari sebuah domain ke domain lain
MSG – Mengirim message
MSIEXEC – Microsoft Windows Installer
MSINFO – Windows NT diagnostics
MSTSC – Terminal Server Connection (Remote Desktop Protocol)
MUNGE – Mencari dan Menganti text di dalam sebuah file (find & replace)
MV – Meng-copy file yang sedang/sementara digunakan
NET – Mengatur network resources
NETDOM – Domain Manager
NETSH – Configure network protocols
NETSVC – Command-line Service Controller
NBTSTAT – Menampilkan networking statistics (NetBIOS over TCP/IP)
NETSTAT – Menampilkan networking statistics (TCP/IP)
NOW – Menampilkan current Date and Time
NSLOOKUP – Name server lookup
NTBACKUP – Backup folders
NTRIGHTS – Edit user account rights (wilayah akses yg diizinkan oleh admin)
PATH – Menampilkan atau mengatur search path untuk executable files
PATHPING – Melacak route plus network latency dan packet loss
PAUSE – Menahan proses sebuah batch file and menampilkan message
PERMS – Menampilkan permissions (wilayah akses) user
PERFMON – Performance Monitor
PING – Menguji (test) network connection
POPD – Restore previous value dari sebuah directory yang di-save oleh PUSHD
PORTQRY – Menampilkan status ports dan service
PRINT – Print text file
PRNCNFG – Menampilkan, mengatur, atau mengubah nama printer
PRNMNGR – Menampilkan, menghapus, atau menambah daftar printer; set default printer
PROMPT – Mengubah command prompt
PsExec – Menjalankan proses jarak jauh (remote)
PsFile – Menunjukkan file2 yang dibuka dari jarak jauh
PsGetSid – Menampilkan SID sebuah computer atau user
PsInfo – Menampilkan informasi dari sebuah system
PsKill – Menghentikan proses melalui process ID
PsList – Menampilkan detail informasi dari sebuah proses
PsLoggedOn – Who’s logged on (mengecek secara lokal atau melalui resource sharing)
PsLogList – Event log records
PsPasswd – Mengubah account password
PsService – Menampilkan dan mengubah services
PsShutdown – Shutdown atau reboot computer
PsSuspend – Suspend/menahan proces
PUSHD – Menyimpan/Save dan mengganti current directory
QGREP – Mencari kata/kalimat di dalam file yg sesuai dgn pola/line yg ditentukan.
RASDIAL – Mengatur RAS connections
RASPHONE – Mengatur RAS connections
RECOVER – Memulihkan/Recover damaged file dari sebuah disk defective (rusak).
REG – Membaca, mengatur, atau menghapus registry keys dan values
REGEDIT – Mengimport/mengeksport registry settings
REGSVR32 – Register/unregister file DLL atau ocx
REGINI – Mengubah Registry Permissions
REM – Merekam/mencatat comments (remarks) di dalam sebuah batch file
REN – mengubah nama file
REPLACE – Mengganti/Replace atau meng-update sebuah file dengan file line
RD – Delete folder
RDISK – Create Recovery Disk
RMTSHARE – Share folder atau printer
ROUTE – Memanipulasi network routing tables
RUNAS – Menjalankan sebuah program dgn menggunakan user account lain.
RUNDLL32 – Menjalankan sebuah DLL command (add/remove print connections)
SC – Service Control
SCHTASKS – Create or Edit Scheduled Tasks
SCLIST – Display NT Services
ScriptIt – Control GUI applications
SET – Display, set, atau remove environment variables
SETX – Set environment variables secara permanent
SHARE – Mendaftar atau edit sebuah file share atau print share
SHORTCUT – Create windows shortcut (.LNK file)
SHOWGRPS – Menampilkan daftar NT Workgroups atau user yang telah joined
SHOWMBRS – Menampilkan daftar Users yg merupakan member dari sebuah Workgroup
SHUTDOWN – Shutdown computer
SLEEP – Menunggu selama beberapa saat
SOON – Menjadwal(schedule) sebuah command untuk beberapa waktu kemudian
SORT – Sort input
START – membuka sebuah window baru, untuk menjalankan program atau command tertentu
SU – Switch User
SUBINACL – Edit file & folder Permissions, Ownership serta Domain
SUBST – Menyesuaikan sebuah path dengan drive letter
SYSTEMINFO – Menampilkan daftar system configuration
TASKLIST – Menampilkan daftar aplikasi dan service yang sedang berjalan
TIME – Menampilkan atau mengubah waktu pada system
TIMEOUT – Delay processing sebuah batch file
TITLE – Menentukan judul window untuk sebuah session CMD.EXE
TOUCH – mengubah timestamps sebuah file
TRACERT – Melacak route ke sebuah remote host
TREE – Tampilan grafis dari struktur folder
TYPE – Menampilkan isi dari sebuah text file
USRSTAT – Menampilkan daftar domain usernames dan last login
VER – Menampilkan version information
VERIFY – Memeriksa apakah files telah ter-save
VOL – Menampilkan disk label
WHERE – Mencari dan menampilkan files di dalam sebuah directory tree
WHOAMI – Menampilkan current UserName dan current domain
WINDIFF – Membandingkan isi dari dua atau lebih file.
WINMSD – Windows system diagnostics
WINMSDP – Windows system diagnostics II
WMIC – WMI Commands
XCACLS – Mengubah file permissions (hak akses)
XCOPY – Copy files dan folders

Nah itu saja yang saya ingat, mungkin teman-teman mau menambahkan?
silahkan dan semoga berguna.

23 December 2010

Cara memaksa percepatan propagate

Pada saat perubahan settingan pada server akan membutuhkan waktu untuk perpindahan settingan domain yang banyak disebut dengan propagate. normalnya waktu yang dibutuhkan untuk proses perpindahan settingan domain server tersebut membutuhkan maksimal 2 hari. Nah bagi kita yang ingin menggunakan dengan cepat maka kita bisa merubah settingan pada host komputer kita sendiri agar bisa membantu percepatan propagate tersebut.

Pertama yang diperlukan adalah alamat IP dari domain kita, biasanya kita akan diberikan no IP atas nama domain kita dari penyedia layanan webhosting.

Kedua, setelah no IP dari domain kita telah siap maka kita siap untuk mempercepat proses perpindahan settingan server domain itu. selanjutnya silahkan buka windows explorer anda cari cari file host di C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\host

file host

Ketiga, kira2 tampilan dari isi file tersebut seperti gambar diatas, nah pada baris terakhir tulis no IP domain yang telah kita siapkan tadi, dan nama domain anda. kira2 penulisannya sebagai berikut

209.85.175.103 namadomain.co.id
209.85.175.103 www.namadomain.co.id

setelah selesai memasukan data tersebut diatas maka proses propagate sudah bisa dipergunakan.

keempat, terakhir untuk mencobanya apakah proses memaksa percepatan propagate sudah berjalan buka command prompt dengan klik start >> Run >> ketik cmd ato command >> tekan enter. lalu ketik 'nslookup -type=all namadomain.co.id' tanpa tanda kutipnya ya..... lalu tekan enter lagi. nah kira2 ntar hasilnya kaya gini....

nslookup result

nah sekarang anda sudah bisa menggunakan untuk kirim email ato untuk menambah konten di website anda.

Selamat Mencoba.

03 December 2010

Setting Up Your POP or IMAP Email Address with Mozilla Thunderbird

This tutorial will help you set up the Mozilla Thunderbird™ e-mail client to work with your e-mail account.



To Set Up Your E-mail Account in Mozilla Thunderbird




  1. In Mozilla Thunderbird, from the Tools menu select Account Settings.


  2. Select Email account, and then click Next.




  3. Enter your name and e-mail address.



  4. Select POP or IMAP as the type of incoming server you are using. Your incoming server is pop.secureserver.net for POP, or imap.secureserver.net for IMAP. Click Next.



  5. Enter your e-mail address for the Incoming User Name, and Outgoing User Name. Click Next.

  6. Enter a name for your email account and click Next.




  7. Verify your account information and click Finish.

  8. In the Account Settings window, select Outgoing Server listed below your new account.


  9. Type smtpout.secureserver.net for the Server Name and change the Port setting to 80.


  10. NOTE: "smtpout.secureserver.net" is an SMTP relay server. In order to use this server to send e-mails, you must first activate SMTP relay on your e-mail account. Log on to your Manage Email Accounts page to set up SMTP relay. If you do not have SMTP relay set up and your Internet Service Provider (ISP) allows it, you can use the outgoing mail server for your Internet Service Provider. Contact your Internet Service Provider to get this setting.


  11. Select Use name and password and enter your e-mail address. Thunderbird will ask you for your password the first time you try to send mail. Click OK.






NOTE: As a courtesy, we provide information about how to use certain third-party products, but we do not endorse or directly support third-party products and we are not responsible for the functions or reliability of such products. Thunderbird™ is a trademark of the Mozilla Foundation in the United States and/or other countries. All rights reserved.



Original article : secureserver.net

Setting Up Your POP or IMAP Email Address in Microsoft Outlook

Setting Up Your POP or IMAP Email Address in Microsoft Outlook


This tutorial shows you how to set up Microsoft Outlook 2003® to work with your e-mail account. This tutorial focuses on setting up Microsoft Outlook 2003, but these settings are similar in other versions of Microsoft Outlook. You can set up previous versions of Microsoft Outlook by using the settings in this tutorial.



To Set Up Your E-mail Account in Microsoft Outlook




  1. In Microsoft Outlook, from the E-mail Accounts menu, select Tools.


  2. On the E-mail Accounts wizard window, select Add a new e-mail account, and then click Next.




  3. For your server type, select POP3 or IMAP, and then click Next.



  4. On the Internet E-mail Settings (POP3/IMAP) window, enter your information as follows:



  5. Your Name

    Your first and last name.

    E-mail Address

    Your email address.

    User Name

    Your email address, again.


    Password

    Your email account password.

    Incoming mail server (POP3)

    POP, Pop.secureserver.net or IMAP, imap.secureserver.net.


    Outgoing mail server (SMTP)

    Smtpout.secureserver.net


    Click More Settings.


    NOTE: "smtpout.secureserver.net" is an SMTP relay server. In order to use this server to send e-mails, you must first activate SMTP relay on your e-mail account. Log on to your Manage Email Accounts page to set up SMTP relay. If you do not have SMTP relay set up and your Internet Service Provider (ISP) allows it, you can use the outgoing mail server for your Internet Service Provider. Contact your Internet Service Provider to get this setting.




  6. On the Internet E-mail Settings window, go to the Outgoing Server tab.

  7. Select My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication.

  8. If you did not change the SMTP relay section, select Use same settings as my incoming mail server. If you changed the user name and password in the SMTP relay section of your Manage Email Accounts page, select Log on using and enter the user name and password. The following example assumes you did not change your SMTP relay section in your Manage Email Accounts page.




  9. Go to the Advanced tab, and then change the Outgoing server (SMTP) port to 80 or 3535.

  10. Click OK.




  11. Click Next.



  12. Click Finish.




NOTE: As a courtesy, we provide information about how to use certain third-party products, but we do not endorse or directly support third-party products and we are not responsible for the functions or reliability of such products. Outlook 2003® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All rights reserved.


Original article : secureserver.net

19 November 2010

Tips on Choosing Website Designers

Before you generalize all the web designers as simply designers, you need to know that there are many genres of website designers. A website is composed of several parts - the layout, the pictures and graphics, links, content, site maps and underlying programming to make the website work properly.
A website designer will take care of the above- mentioned areas. The programming will be done by a programmer. He/she will act as a bridge between technology and the end-user interface. A graphic designer on the other hand will design logos, dynamic animations, dynamic elements of the websites, colours schemes, themes, etc.
Another kind of designer is a SEO consultant. He/she is not exactly a designer, but knows the pulse of search what will make the website tick in the eyes of the search engines and the users. A SEO consultant will know exactly how to place the contents and balance them so that they make a good combination. So while searching for a cheap web designer, you need to look for all these qualities.
It is very difficult for one person to be everything. However, in most cases you will find that the same designer is a programmer and also a graphics person. This means you just need a SEO consultant, which you can easily find if you go in for search engine optimisation of your website.
To choose the right designer, there are certain qualities you need to look for and how they go about doing their work.
A good designer needs to be original. The previous works must speak of originality. No copied content should form part of the designer's work. Ask for their portfolio and testimonials from previous clients. Nobody can vouch better than a satisfied customer can.
A good designer should listen intently to what you say. He/she should understand what your business is all about and what exactly you need to project. The designer should be able to come up with at least three or four different designs in the same lines with no extra charge for showing these samples.
The designer should design the website in such a way that an independent manager can easily manage the website without the help of the original designer. The original editable files should be handed over to you.
Each page designed should have something informative and valuable to offer to the user. Along with this, the content and designing should be both user and search engine and SEO friendly. This will help in pushing your website rank up.
Finally, the designer should hand over all the rights to you. You cannot be possibly stuck in legal issues when you already have so many other issues to look into.
Cheap website designers are many in numbers. Choose the person who is in accord with your ideas.
For more information on cheap website design, check out the info available online; these will help you learn to find the cheap web site designers!

Promote a Business Through 3D Animation Design


There are plenty of opportunities and creativity found in the field of 3D animation. It is most challenging field for a creator. Today's competitive environment forces us to use latest technology in the field and 3D animation is one of them.

Use of 3D animation design has several advantages. The first and foremost is the retention of your visitors. 3D animation holds the visitor for a long period on your website. Thus, it can be easily converted into the prospective customer. 3D animation leaves a long lasting impression over the minds of your website users. In compare to flat 2D images 3D images are more memorable. It is fact that you have an extra edge when you use cartoon animation or character animation in your advertising campaign.

3D rendering and animatronics technique is quite useful in so many areas and some of them are as follows.

  • 3D Modeling Animation
  • 3D Graphics Animation
  • 3D Design Animation
  • 3D Animation Rendering
  • Architectural 3D Animation and Rendering Design
  • 3D - Animation Movies
  • 3D Animation Presentations
  • 3D Animation Images
3D animated design is perfect presentation of your services or products. When you use 3D modeling or 3D animation design in your modeling of a car or a house it becomes the perfect presentation for your products or services. You can animate a product using 3D rotating or 3D walkthrough and you will have full control over the product display. You can show its all facets or aspects.

You can simplify any hard concept with the help of 3D animatronics or 3D modeling. You can easily do the things with 3D images which is quite difficult to do verbally. Architectural design in 3D or character animation is the intricate idea of simplifying the things using visual cues.

It is not easy thing to find a good 3D animator. You have to search it in outsourcing companies because they have such talent available for affordable rates. You can hunt especially for the companies that offer their services for hire an animator. These companies are working in competition so their rates are reasonable and they are reliable too. They use latest software for 3D animatronics design and 3D modeling. They have good infrastructural facilities including latest rendering instruments.

Learning How to Set Up a Free Website So Simply


There are all these free tools to set up a website. For example, WordPress provides great free hosting services, free website domain names - which will all last for years where you don't have to pay a penny. This is what you need to do: Go to WordPress.com and sign up there for a free account. Once you have done this, you need to know what market you're going to target. Once you have this in your mind, you can move on to building your new website.

Setting up your website takes nothing at all. Just select your niche. With your computer and an internet connection, the rest is straight forward. Just write some unique content and upload it. Remember put "tags" in each post. This will help you get found in the search results by the search engines! A few tips on how to get found by the search engines:

In your post title, have the keyword in the first four words. This way in each new page you create the keyword will be the first four words the search engines will see. Then have your main keyword in the first sentence, once in the article, and once in the last sentence. In total, the keyword will be mentioned three times in this article.

You want to add as much unique content to this website as you possibly can. Go to Google keyword tool and type your main keyword in there and all the results will show up. Copy all of them and each day take two keywords and write an article on them. Use only one keyword per article and then upload it to your site.

Once you write your articles, ping them out using "Ping FM." This is a free tool that can help you send all your post out to about 20 plus sites with just a click of a button! Then when you have this done this, try another free tool to book mark you site. You will a post your info. Use a tool called Onlywire.com it's a free software website, that you have to download. It will bookmark your posts to 42 different places at once and its jut by clicking one button. They are ton of free traffic methods to be used, you just have to find out how other people are driving free traffic to their sites - and do them too!

15 October 2010

Vector Calender 2011 Free Download

If you search some calender 2011 designs for re-editing again, this you can download here. but nothing template, just calendering only. complete with Islamic calender, Java Calender, tharikh sunrise, shalat, etc...
Feel free to download... nothing paid, but you has paid me if you have download it.....

Download link:
Kalender 2011 vektor

18 June 2010

74 simply stunning line art logos for inspiration

The first time I heard the word line art was in 1998 at a web development studio where Nick and I used to spend our college breaks, working on projects. I was instantly intrigued and fascinated by it. Line art is a style of graphics that consists of distinct straight or curved lines placed against a white or plain background. The graphic is essentially made up of just strokes and there are no fills or gradients applied. There are various techniques of creating line art graphics, the most compelling and challenging being the monoline technique where a single, continuous line is stretched into submission to create a recognizable, beautiful piece of artwork.
Line art logos are more difficult to master because they are not rescued by color or a solid form. Using line art in logos and branding is a skill that a lot of designers have mastered to a hilt. Lovers of minimalistic logos will appreciate the sparse nature of a line art logo in conveying the brand message effectively. I have rounded up some great line art logos for your inspiration today. Most of them are open designs, the lines usually end in white space and don’t form an enclosed shape. A few are continuos designs, undulating beautifully without a break to form a masterpiece. There are sharp angles and curves and a variety of stroke weights all paired perfectly with some good typography.

Read more : visit here she is a beautiful designer.

35 Great Social Media Infographics

Here’s a collection of terrific social media infographics that might come in handy. As you probably know, infographics are visual representations of information, data, or knowledge. They illustrate information that would be unwieldy in text form and they act as a kind of visual shorthand, making information easy to understand and consume. They are driven by the same information as charts, but they’re often a better form of communication because of their pleasant aesthetics — charts and graphs can communicate data, but infographics turn data into information.
It’s very helpful to use infographics in presentations, reports, articles, etc., to convey concepts. Instead of poring over figures and long reports to decipher data, an infographic can immediately explain what the data actually means.
Most of these have been scaled down or cropped. Each one has been linked to the original, so please visit the links to view them full-size.
If you know of any good ones that I’ve missed, please leave a comment and let me know!

03 June 2010

Appendix M - Color Separation for Printing




CMYK Plate Separation Dialog



Overview



Creating color separations is a process that depends on a number of factors, from the source image, to the paper and the inks used, and all the steps in between. While it is definitely a science, not an "art", the process is complex enough and involves enough factors under the control of your print shop (and not you!) that good (or great!) results are reliably obtained only by those who have had some experience. So if this is your first foray into color separation for printing, be prepared to make more than one try at this - even if you're the smartest person you know.



About the Process



Beginning with a standard RGB image, the additive red, green and blue data is transformed into four (or very rarely, three, there is no black channel in this case) subtractive color channels: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. Or, C, M, Y, K: CMYK. These four subtractive colors can be reproduced on paper by inks of the same color (or as close as possible to the same colors.)






Key:


defintions...

Additive colors are colors that add together over black to create colors, where the addition of all the maximum color values makes white. This is true for an RGB image; adding 100% red, green and blue results in white.


Subtractive colors are colors that subtract from white to create colors, where the subtraction of all the maximum color values makes black. This is true for an CMY image; subtracting 100% cyan, magenta and yellow results in black.


Ermm... So... Why use black at all? That's because the black that is created by CMY inks is sort of... muddy. It looks more brown than black. The math works fine, so CMY images on screen can be perfect, but the actual inks just don't mix that well when there's a whole bunch of ink of all three colors. So where an image has blacks, greys and darkish colors of all tonalties, typically, the CMY inks are not used as much, and instead black ink is used to "boost" the image into a darker appearance. This results in very high denisity (good looking) dark colors of all types.



One of the key elements of color separation is to decide exactly where to use black ink, and how much to use, and what that means in terms of reducing use of the CMY inks.








Offset Lithography Schematic

for just one of the four color plates




So it is that four "monochrome" files that contain images which carry intensity information that describes how much to use of each of the cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks are provided to the printer. Then the printer "screens" or "halftones" the density information into dots that can easily be printed. Finally, these dots are placed on a metal plate (the Lithoplate Roller), which, through a really neat mechanical process involving other rollers, ink, water and even knives, creates a reproduction of the picture from your original RGB image.



It's really fun to watch - if you ever get a chance, try to visit your print shop (but warn them first!)



That's the basic process. But it's not really that simple, because the CMY ink colors aren't as "pure" as the colors in the channels, because the inks interfere with each other on the paper, because the colored inks don't make very good blacks when combined in equal amounts, and because each of the components: the paper, the ink, the press that prints the ink to the paper, and how the subject matter of the images is turned into "dots" (screening or halftoning) all affect the output. Whew!



All of this means that the objective of creating high quality color separation plates intended to be used on an offset press can only be reached by accomodating all of these factors, and more. And that's what all that "stuff" in the dialog is there to help you do.



How to Approach this Appendix



In the following sections, each of the various issues is covered in some detail. It is very complicated - there's just no way around that - so take your time, read each section as many times as it takes to "wrap your head around it", and feel free to question your print shop or our

technical support people

on anything that seems unclear after you've studied all the material provided. Just keep in mind this is a highly technical area and you have to make a significant effort to deal with it at all.

Work with your Print Shop



This point cannot be emphasized strongly enough. Your print shop knows (or should know) all about the process of preparing image files for printing. They'll be converting the files you save to the film and then the film to the color plates themselves, and finally using the plates and screens to transfer the colored inks to the actual paper.



Any good print shop should be able to give you the facts and figures you need to set up WinImages F/x to give you fabulous results. WinImages F/x provides the settings you really need to control the parts of the process you as the image creator are responsible for, and allows you to save your separations in any image format you like, which means the output files can be made to be compatible with almost any print shop. Then they can do the part of the job that they are responsible for well.



Plan the Separation



Separation Format



Ask your print shop: What image file format should the plate separation images be saved in? TIFF is common, but any lossless format is appropriate. Don't use JPEG, and don't reduce the number of colors in the separated data files. If you're going to write 8-bit output files (this is common), set the output color reduction dialog to use a grayscale palette and no dither.

Image Pixel Resolution



To prepare images in the optimum resolution for your printing project, you'll need to know what the Screen Frequency will be for the output plates. Ask your print shop. Then create your output images with a pixel resolution per inch of between 1.5 and 2 times the screen frequency. So (for instance), if the screen frequency is 100, then an image resolution of 200 DPI is excellent. If the image is ten inches high, it will have to be 2000 pixels high (that's 200 pixels per inch.) At a minimum, it would be 1500 pixels high.



If you use an image of less than DPI = 1.5 times the screen frequency, you'll begin to see "stair-stepping" on the edges of elements of the image. If you use an image with a higher resolution than DPI = 2 times the screen frequency, you'll begin to lose pixels - some won't show up on the output plate at all.



DPI is literally "Dots Per Inch". So if you know you'll need 200 dpi, and you want the image to cover an area three inches across, you'll need an image that is 600 pixels wide. The math to figure this out is easy enough - just multiply the DPI times the number of inches you want to cover.



The actual screen frequency can vary widely, depending on what you're trying to print. Talk to your print shop about what would work best for what you're attempting.



Image and Bleed Areas



You need to remain aware at all times of what parts of the image are meant to go on the paper, and what parts will be cut off. If you expect to "print right up to the edges of the paper", then you need to talk to the printer about the amount of the image you'll need to provide in this bleed area.

Positive or Negative Plate Files



Just ask your print shop what they prefer.

Multiple Images



Typically, you'll get better results if you create separations for each image on a page independently. If you create a separation that contains all the images on one page, you definitely run the risk of a poorer quality result.



Plate Separation Settings



UCR and GCR



UCR stands for "Under Color Removal". GCR stands for "Grey Component Replacement."








Note:


Keep this in mind...

If you want to use only UCR or GCR processing, enter zero in the setting you are not going to use. In other words, to use the setting for GCR, enter zero for UCR. You probably don't want to use both settings unless your printer specifically says that's ok, or you're so technical you completely understand the implications of the two different kinds of ink management. You definitely can use both, and it definitely can be of benefit to you, but it is not "basic" use!



UCR is a process by which black ink (the K channel) is used to darken areas that are either grayscale, or where colors are fairly neutral. This works well for images that need to keep a tight rein on grayscale values.



GCR, in contrast (pun intended), uses more black ink on colors that are not neutral. This tends to work better for images that have dark colors that are nonetheless quite pure - they seem richer and more vivid with a GCR separation.



WinImages F/x allows you to use either, or both(!) processes; but you need to talk to your print shop and see what they suggest. The choice between the two is also affected by the inks in use, the paper that the image will be printed on, and perhaps limitations of the print shop - some will definitely get better end results with the process they suggest.











Tip:

...a little something from the propeller-heads at Black Belt Systems
The percentage settings in the dialog for these two features act to control the maximum amount of black ink (K) that will be output to the K separation using the method(s) that is/are non-zero. Many presses have trouble generating screens denser than 75%, and so we suggest that you view any setting higher than 75 for either UCR or GCR as inadvisable unless your print shop assures you such a high setting is ok.


In some software, such as Photoshop ®, these settings are called the "Black Ink Limit" settings, and typically you would choose UCR or GCR and then set a single setting for the Black Ink Limit. WinImages F/x's plate separation engine is more sophisticated than this in that it allows you to use both UCR and GCR. However, to get the same results as those other programs, you simply set the unused separation mode to 0 and the one you do set will act as the Black Ink Limit.




Undercolor Threshold



If you're using UCR, then this setting is used to limit the total amount of ink that (eventually) is placed on the paper. The default is 300%. It is common to see maximum ink limits equal to four times the Black Ink Limit, so 300% is four times a 75% UCR setting. If the UCR setting for Black Ink Limit was 70%, then as a rule of thumb, you could reasonably expect the Undercolor Threshold to be 280%. As always, consult your print shop to see what they prefer to use.



Remember, for the Undercolor Threshold to be applied, you must use UCR.

Ink Corrections



In a perfect world, inks would be pure colors. Alas, it's just not so.



Cyan (blue) inks contain trace amounts of magenta pigments, and magenta inks contain trace amounts of yellow pigments. Professional yellow printing inks, however, are quite pure and do not require compensation.



WinImages F/x's printing separation allows you to compensate for the impurities in the cyan and magenta inks. As usual, you'll need to consult your print shop for suggested settings - this depends entirely upon the inks used in the final printing stage.



Dot Gain



Dot gain, also known as "Tone Value Increase" (TVI), is really a fancy name for a simple idea: When you put a medium to heavy dot of ink on paper, it spreads out. That makes the spot larger, and perceptually darker, than intended. The word "gain" means to increase, and that's what happens - the dot "gains" in size. And remember, when a press prints an image that has been screened or halftoned, it's printing nothing but dots!



The tricky thing about dot gain is that the larger the amount of ink put down for a dot, the more gain results. So for a small dot - in an area of an image where the ink coverage is light - there will be little or no dot gain. In fact, it tends to go the other way. Really small dots of ink can be absorbed into the paper, and so they make a smaller spot than intended, resulting in areas that are too light. Also, for very large dots, although dot gain occurs, because the dot was large in the first place, the percentage change is not that high. It boils down to dot gain having the most visual effect at a dot size that would, if perfect, provide 50% grey.



Here's an example showing how a 50% screen can go to 70% as a result of the effect of dot gain:




 

50% actual screen resulting in a 70%


effective screen due to dot gain




WinImages F/x's dot gain correction, in the final analysis, involves lightening medium to fairly heavy areas of ink coverage. This tends to result in an image that will look "washed out" if you recombine the CMYK plates using the add as CMYK layer modes, but the dot gain at the printing press reverses the effect and you get a good final image this way, so don't be concerned if you see this effect. This only works correctly, of course, if you've got the right setting.



Also, as you might well imagine, the press, screens, inks and papers used can greatly affect how much dot gain is a factor for any one image or project. For instance, the greater the number of lines in the screen, the more dot gain is a factor. So this is definitely one of those issues that you want to keep aware of on a per-print-shop basis!



Because a CMYK color separation actualy isolates the inks - the four plates are literally used with four matching inks - even manual adjustments for ink coverage are really very easily made to the separated results. For instance, in WinImages F/x, you could use the Histogram or ChannelMap operators for custom adjustments, or even the Gamma operator for a "pre-cooked" curve that would do a good job. Or you could use the Scripting operator to create repeatable, precision custom results. But... making the correct adjustments - now, that is the trick!



Rather than trying to struggle through this manually, most people will be better off using the simple setting in the plate separations dialog. This controls a "knee" at the 50% intensity point that reduces the ink output to the percentage specified at the 50% point, and linearly returns to zero percent at both ends of the intensity range. No compensation is applied for dot loss, but dot gain may be adequately controlled with the correct setting.



First (of course!) talk to your print shop. They should be able to give you some figures. 7% gain in the midtones is a decent starting assumption if no one is willing to hazard a guess for you. If the resulting image is too dark in the midtones, increase the dot gain setting. If it is too light in the midtones, decrease the dot gain setting. A setting of zero is no dot gain. We should also point out that the 20% dot gain example above would usually be a very high value; you're more likely to see values under 10%. But with fine screens, you might even see more.







Warning:


Careful!!!
Don't try and use dot gain to increase or decrease overall image brightness; dot gain primarily affects the midtones and you'll almost certainly end up with results you don't like this way.




Save your Settings!



Once you have settings that work well for a particular paper, ink, and print shop, save them! Name them so you can easily find them and this will enable you to reliably produce high quality output again and again using these particular components: paper, ink, press, and screen frequency, all at this particular print shop. This point cannot be emphasized too strongly - it can be quite a job to get everything set just right, so saving your settings under an easy to recognize name can save a lot of time for you later on.



Unsupported CMYK Mechanisms - what, and why






UCA - Under Color Addition



WinImages F/x does not support UCA.


UCA is a process that adds cyan, magenta and yellow where black ink is present in a CMYK composition.


UCA is generally not desirable in offset printing. Furthermore, unless the dark areas are absolutely devoid of those ink colors (meaning the region must actually be greyscale in the first place), using UCA will almost certainly destroy the color balance of the region.


The idea of UCA is that adding the colored inks in order to replace the black inks changes the underlying black to a black that is brownish, and that, in the view of some folks, can improve the occassional photo. Generally speaking, for the vast majority of images and projects (sets of images) it is a terrible idea, and WinImages F/x does not support it at all. But - if you really want browns in the areas where the image is black, then use the color key modifier to limit application, and fill the darkest regions with the brown you want prior to separation.


Halftone Creation



WinImages F/x does not create halftones.



Optimum halftone creation is a very tricky endeavor for the operator. It is intimately related to both the actual screening and the specific printing press in use, and your print shop is best qualified to perform both of these steps of the printing process. It is a fact that more low quality printed output results from improper halftoning than any other single step.



The plate separations output from WinImages F/x are ready for halftoning by the print shop. They contain pure ink density information.



Trapping


WinImages F/x does not automatically "trap".



Trapping is a process used to compensate for misregistration of the color plates in the printing press. This can cause gaps to appear between edges of areas that have colors that use different plates; if the cyan plate is a little off from the yellow plate, for instance, an image of the sun (yellow) in the sky (blue) the blue may overlap the yellow on one side and present a gap on the opposite side and create unintended ink mixing, or "mud."



You can, if absolutely necessary, compensate for this by blurring the edges of the sun and/or the sky in the specific color separation plate or plates after the separation has been created. In taking this approach, keep firmly in mind that the only places where you should try to compensate are where plates differ markedly from one another. Areas of continuous ink coverage don't need (and should not receive) any compensation even if the edges are sharp. Look for sharp transitions in color that cause one separation to suddenly pick up and another to leave off in ink coverage.



This is by far a better approach than "automatic" trap generation because trapping, by its very nature, reduces the quality of the actual image data, which (of course!) you don't want. It is worth noting that some print shops always seem to want traps, and others don't - and of course, the shop that doesn't need traps to get good results is the one to go with.



While trapping is presented by software that supports it as a means to "solve a problem" (plate misregistration) it does so always at the expense of the printed image quality. Problems such as hatching and muddy edges are typical (though unintended) results of trapping. We feel that the best approach is to solve the actual problem (misregistration) rather than introduce a new one (blurring plate edges where colors overlap) to solve the first.








1 - Overlap caused by misregistration


2 - Gap caused by same misregistration



Trapping would fill the gap at (2), but would also exacerbate
the muddy edge created by the overlap at (1).
A much better solution is to get the plate alignment fixed.
Watch for this type of error in magazines and books;
it is the mark of a shoddy and careless print process.


Author : BlackbeltSystem

Advertising As A Fundamental Brand Promotion Tool

Advertising is important and essential for any brand owner to drive sales for the product or service. Advertising provides a major contribution to brand competition in the market. Advertising not only provides information about a product or service but also promotes innovation. Besides advertising also facilitates consumer satisfaction. The hidden fact is that no brand can progress without advertising. Big and small companies, individuals of all walks of life, major and minor events, concepts etc lay their base on advertising to get recognised in the market. Government and NGOs even use advertising to raise health awareness such as Conjunctivitis, Dengue, Swine flu etc.


The objective of an advertising campaign varies from one company to another. Some companies indulge in advertising to promote their product or service or to create buzz about their product while some companies indulge in advertising activities to launch new product in the market


Today in India, Advertising is a big business for every single organization. With a uniform economic stint in the country, Indian Advertising industry has witnessed a prominent globalization. Also, with the inception of various divisions, the advertising industry has undergone a sea change. Indian consumer's deep pockets and blooming markets for ad-spends have touched new heights in India. Advertising India companies are creating stories and brand experiences in a way that engages and involves the target audiences with a mass appeal.



The history of advertising India is traced back to the early 20th Century when the first advertising agency- B. Datram and Company was established in 1905. Since then, Advertising is the most common tool widely used by advertisers and brand owners. Amongst the various means of advertising, outdoor or OOH advertising is the oldest and yet the most effective tool for brand promotion. Also known as out of home advertising, this type of brand promotion provides a flashy communication to audiences simultaneously rendering a captivating message to the TG. Outdoor advertising or OOH advertising or Out of home advertising, whichever name one calls it, offers a discreet tool for brand promotion.


OOH Advertising or Out of home advertising campaigns have to be tactfully carried out. One popular subset of outdoor advertising is Airport advertising. Considered as one of the budget friendly mediums of brand promotion, airport advertising reaches its target audience in an effective manner. Airport advertising offers low cost mode of advertising as compared to other means. Those people who are ‘on the go' tend to spend quality time at the airport and it is one reason why airport advertising is one of the most effective means. Exclusive features about airport advertising include its high-glamour look, attention-grabbing duration, high-tech etc. Airport is a place where people from all across the world arrive or depart from, hence, this mode of promotion is an ideal means for promoting a brand or service to potential buyers who are on transit mode.


Reference Website: www.tdiindia.com

Black vs. Black

Not every black is same. Some blacks are different than others. What am I talking about? Fair question.

When you do four color process separation from your RGB images for print, you can control the amount of the different colors of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y) and black (K) to print your blacks. By default PS will convert your RGB black to C91%, M81%, Y81%, K88%. But this depends on your Color settings in PS. Why only 88% balck and not 100%? That's because every printing house has a limit to how much ink they can apply to that particular paper that you choose. Usually you can't go above 350% of total ink. It's usually better to give up some black so that we can print more colors and still fit into the 350% barrier. So, the separated CMYK black is made up of all four colors and it has a very high density of color.

You may wonder, why not print 100% black and we are done? That's a good question and this is exactly what we will do. 100% Black doesn't produce a deep black that you might want to achieve when printing four color process images and the 100% black has much less density, but it's still gives complete coverage.

You can play with these two blacks to create amazing effects in print without any extra cost of lamination or UV varnish. The two different blacks will react differently to different lighting conditions, so you will be able to make out the difference quite easily.

You can even take this further and try to mix other blacks such as 100%M and 100%K to get a black with a purple cast.


Adobe Photoshop tutorial


While you can't reproduce the printed effect on the screen, this is a simulation of what you'll get.


[tutorial and images © Ivan Raszl of CreativeBits]

Calibrate and Profile Your Monitor Before Printing

So you have bitten the bullet. You've decided that your crisp new product collection is just too special to be advertised with amateur photography, so you've called in a photographer to help record your products finest visual assets and help enhance your corporate brand image.

The disk arrives and as guessed the photography is flawless! All you need to do now is enhance the images a bit in Adobes Photoshop, FTP them to the printers and then await delivery of your beautiful new brochure.

Your brochure comes back from the printers but all is not Ok! The photography looks nothing like it did on your monitor and now your products are sporting a rather unwanted yellow caste.

This is an really prevalent concern and one I hear customers agonize about on a regular basis. The natural response would seem to be, 'blame the photographer', after all they were the suppliers of the original image files. But in truth it is most likely to one of or a mixture of the following issues:

1. Coarse Image Editing.
Inexperienced or incompetent Photoshop users will often engage in excessive and damaging image manipulation methods that will often result in poor quality printing.

2. Conversion to CYMK.
The image files your photographer provides you with are commonly in a RGB colour space and will need conversion to a relevant CYMK colour profile before printing. The picture files will require careful colour conversion and ideally proofing if exact colour accuracy is needed. Generally a professional designer or pre-production house will carry out this procedure but if executed badly the resulting prints can diverge immensely to what you saw on your screen.

3. Absence of or Insufficient Monitor Calibration and Profiling.
This is the big problem and the one that I suspect produces the most discontentment and problems. If your monitor isn't properly calibrated or indeed you simply use the manufacturers canned factory settings, there is a good possibility that your monitor is deceiving you!

Monitor Calibration is the method of altering your monitors controls to achieve the most neutral display possible, including modifying its luminance (brightness), white point (colour temperature) and gamma settings. If you don't work with photos on a frequent basis or you hire a graphic designer (who understands the importance of strict colour management) to do your pre-press work then you may well choose to simply alter your monitors controls manually, nonetheless remember not to change the image files as what you observe on your screen will be different to what your designer and printer sees! In any case I strongly advise that you invest in some basic monitor calibration apparatus that will come bundled with compatible profile software. You won't have to invest thousands, indeed for the price of a full set of inkjet cartridges you'll be able to buy a basic calibration device, but it will transform your digital workflow and give you the end results you deserve.

These relatively cheap devices will calculate your monitors imperfections and in combination with the software will work out a profile that is unique to your screen. Think of this profile as a 'filter' or 'mask' that once utilized to your screen will eradicate any imperfections and will give you a completely neutral view. This unique profile is then saved to your computers relevant libraries.

In conclusion when working with professional images on a recurring basis then I highly urge you invest in some basic monitor calibration equipment. Why spend good money on getting your photos shot professionally only to subsequently ruin them by editing on an poorly calibrated monitor?


Reference Website: ArticleBase.com

Bit by Bit: Why Your Photoshop Color Separations Are Wrong -- and How to Fix Them

Recently I got involved in a project studying the gamut of color available printing with CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) inks versus that of several expanded-gamut printing processes. Expanded-gamut processes are those that use more than the typical four ink colors to express color images with brighter greens, reds, and blues. Pantone's Hexachrome is one example of an expanded-gamut printing process.



When I queried the printer who will be testing the colors in the study about how he wants his color separations made for traditional CMYK pigments, he responded that I should "just make them with Photoshop." When I asked for detail, he said, "Just pull-down the Image menu, then Mode, and then pick CMYK."


And right there is the crux of a problem that besets our industry: Most of us are converting to CMYK wrong. The method he described would result with the wrong default CMYK profile set. That he did not state exactly how to make a separation for his exact printing process indicated to me that he was working with the default settings in Photoshop. That worried me -- and made me think.


The SWOP Meet

I am going to stick my neck out here and guess that as many as 90 percent of Photoshop users in North America (I'll focus on this continent for my assertions in this article) make their color separations wrong. That's because Adobe Photoshop is set by default to make CMYK color separations with the SWOP profile. And, I will also bet that fewer than one percent of Photoshop users should be using SWOP for their separations when there is a far better way to do it located in the same Photoshop folder of available profiles.


Now it's possible that some of you don't know what SWOP stands for (thereby adding to the problem): SWOP is the Specifications [for] Web Offset Publications, a North-American standard adopted by the advertising industry, the prepress industry, and a number of publications printers. It is specifically directed to Web Offset Publications -- and I'm not talking about the World Wide Web, either.


I know we all read web offset publications ("Newsweek" and "Sports Illustrated" are two good examples), but few of us prepare artwork for web offset publications. Of all the designers in my circle of friends and associates, only one produces artwork for web offset. Most are busy preparing for sheet-fed offset, which is the means by which most jobs are printed in the world (web wins in the volume category, but certainly not in the number of jobs). That number includes the printer testing the colors in our expanded-gamut study. We were indeed preparing files for a sheet-fed press.



Yet, I'd wager that most of make separations as if we printed to web presses, and we don't even realize it's a problem.


Photoshop's Dark Ages

How did this come to be? Way back in the Dark Ages (defined as 40C, 30M, 35Y and 100K), Adobe Photoshop assumed that all the color that was reproducible in any document had to be within the gamut of color that could be displayed on the monitor. This assumption was not only incorrect, but it caused Photoshop to be derided by prepress professionals (especially those who had access to very-high-end equipment including drum scanners and proprietary prepress computers that could handle the full gamut of CMYK for quality printing). These experienced craftspeople noticed that the color that came from Photoshop was not as rich as the color produced by their more advanced prepress technologies.


Several people on the Photoshop team noticed it, too. Led by Chris Cox, a member of the software development team for Photoshop, the group came up with a plan to give Photoshop a better grasp of color. The result was Photoshop 5.0, which, in October 1998, decoupled the color in the image from the color on the monitor for the first time. They developed and shipped the first version of Photoshop that used what is called the Working Color Space, effectively an ICC profile that describes a triangular space inside of which an image's colors reside while the observer looks at a monitor with an often-smaller gamut of colors (see Figure 1).



Figure 1: The gamuts of monitors, images, and presses do not match -- no wonder it ws tough to get good color seps from Photoshop!


Instead of heralding this achievement, most of us were left befuddled. It took me months to get a clear picture of what had taken place, and according to one friend at Adobe, the tech-support lines nearly rang off the wall for weeks after version 5.0 shipped. Adobe had unleashed a monster, and the industry wasn't quite prepared for it.


Of the several settings added when Photoshop 5 shipped was the default conversion to CMYK into the SWOP color specifications. The RGB color default was set to sRGB (also incorrect for most professional graphic arts purposes). The Photoshop team adopted SWOP and sRGB as defaults because they were established standards at a time when no others existed. (To date there is no sheet-fed standard, though one is under development; the Adobe CMYK profiles mentioned below are the closest thing we have to an accessible standard today.) The changes to Photoshop caused a minor problem for creative professionals, but once we learned how to use the new tools, we could see that the color is visibly and measurably superior to those color separations from the pre-Photoshop 5 era.



I also applauded the developers for adopting the ICC standard for all color conversions in Photoshop, including RGB, CMYK, Lab, and the internal Working Color Spaces. For the first time it was possible to make accurate and correct color separations using Photoshop. Anyone can do it, and all you need to know is how to set some of the preferences in the application.


SWOP Stories

So the SWOP standard has been, since version 5.0 of Photoshop, the CMYK default for the program, and as a result is the standard to which color gets converted on those 90 percent of users' machines.


Yet because most print-oriented Photoshop users who create color separations print our work on sheet-fed presses, we are blindly making color separations for the wrong process. Let's look at the details.


The SWOP standard includes the following assumptions:


  • Web-offset printing at high speed (20,000-60,000 impressions-per-hour);


  • Heat-set drying;
  • Semi-gloss pulp-based paper stock;
  • 133 lpi halftone frequency;
  • Elliptical-dot halftone patterns;
  • 95 percent maximum shadow dot.


Hmmm. When I look down that list I notice that not even one characteristic is common to the work I prepare. I create art for high-quality sheet-fed offset with these characteristics:


  • Slower press (usually less than 10,000 impressions per hour);


  • Air-dried ink;
  • Fine-gloss or dull-coated papers;
  • High-frequency halftone (usually 150, occasionally 175 lpi) and very tight register;
  • Modified round-dot halftone pattern;
  • Maximum shadow dot determined by the printing process and paper.

No wonder separations don't look as good as they could when we use the SWOP settings. They're very different animals. Separations for sheet-fed printing, made with the correct profiles, are better for the sheet-fed process.



Swapping Out SWOP

As better color is very appealing to me, I want to make a proper CMYK color separation for sheet-fed printing. When you use the right separation profile, you'll get better highlights, measurably deeper shadows on glossy paper, and a larger color gamut. Making the right kind of color separation will yield a result that will make you and your client feel better about printing.


Adobe has made it easy to get it right in the more recent versions of Photoshop (6 and 7). To clarify the many color settings, recent versions of Photoshop classify them into categories of work. This makes much more sense, and guides people who use the program to choose settings that match the work they do. These are the available presets:


  • Color Management Off


  • ColorSync Workflow
  • Emulate Acrobat 4
  • Emulate Photoshop 4
  • Europe Prepress Defaults
  • Japan Prepress Defaults
  • Photoshop 5 Default Spaces
  • U.S. Prepress Defaults
  • Web Graphic Defaults


By choosing from the list the kind of work we do (primarily prepress or Web graphics), the basic settings are closer to being correct than allowing the program to default to an unknown or incorrect set of defaults. By changing one of the defaults in the prepress defaults, I get a very good combination of settings that serves my needs well.


Here is how to do it:


  1. Open the Color Settings in your Photoshop application (depending on the version, this is either under the Photoshop, File, or Edit menu).
  2. Check Advanced Mode.
  3. Choose U.S. Prepress Defaults from the pull-down menu entitled: Settings.
  4. Change the Working Spaces: CMYK to U.S. Sheetfed Coated v.2 (see Figure 2). If your work is designed primarily for uncoated sheet-fed printing, you should choose U.S. Sheetfed Uncoated v.2 as your Working Space.
  5. Save your settings (which until you save it will be called "Custom" -- give the settings a name like "My prepress defaults."
  6. Choose the Adobe ACE engine if you prefer Adobe's software; choose Apple ColorSync (aka Heidelberg on Windows machines) if that is your preference.
  7. Click OK, and then take the rest of the day off.



Figure 2: You can create you own custom settings as I did here, or simply use the defaults for sheet-fed presses -- coated or uncoated. Either way you'll get better results.


The two available sheet-fed profiles that come with Photoshop are extraordinarily effective. Though I prefer to use a custom profile for a particular press and paper combination if one is available, these profiles do a much better job for sheet-fed printing than SWOP will ever do.


And, next time you convert from RGB (digital camera, scanner, original art) to CMYK, from Image> Mode, you'll get a better separation from Adobe Photoshop. The results are visibly better, and should please everyone in the reproduction chain.


And, for the one percent of you who are preparing art for heat-set web-offset printing: use SWOP -- that's what it's for.


Author by Brian P. Lawler.