Zine (Pamphlet) Page Layout in Quark

[Brooklyn Frank]

I want to do a half-fold zine (pamphlet) layout (8.5x5) in Quark for a 40-page zine. What are the page layout specifications I need to use? Do I lay out the facing pages as one page split into 2 "columns", or do I do each zine page separately? Also, how would the first, right-facing page be handled?

Any help would be mucho appreciado.

-Frank

[Virgo Nightingale]

Set your document up at the actual size of the individual pages (not as a spread), and use facing pages. Quark will automatically place page 1 on the right hand side (odds will always be on the right, evens on the left).

You say this will be 40 pages... As you get into the design and articles get added/nixed, keep in mind (if you don't already know) that your final page count must be divisible by 4.

[Brooklyn Frank]

cool, thanks

[Brooklyn Frank]

I'm working on this now, and I can't figure out how to do a 4-page layout, making the last page be on the left side of page 1, on the right...

So, if this ends up a 16-pager, page 16 should be on the left of page 1, page 2 on the left of page 15...for the top 4-page layout. (Hope that makes sense.)

So, how do I get page 16 to be where it needs to...every time I try and take a Master Page and put it on the left of page 1, Quark doesn't let me do it.

P16/P1
P2/P15
P14/P3
P4/P13
P12/P5
P6/P11
P10/P7
P8/P9

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

-Frank

[Virgo Nightingale]

how do I get page 16 to be where it needs to...every time I try and take a Master Page and put it on the left of page 1, Quark doesn't let me do it. Quark won't allow a facing page document to start on the left hand side. Like I'd said, Quark automatically places page 1 on the right hand side. If you try to place a page before page 1, Quark will assume it's the new page 1 and will try to place it on the right.

Is there a reason you're setting this up in printer spreads? If you're sending this out to a printer, you should be able to leave the layout in reader spreads and they'll rearrange the pages for you.

If you're printing this yourself and thus need to set this us in printer spreads yourself, here's a little trick: make each page its own section. Go to Page > Section... (or in the Page Layout palette, click on the icon on the top that looks like a page with a downward facing arrow). In the dialog box that pops up, put a check mark before Section Start and enter its page number in the Number field. Do this for each page. Then in the Page Layout pallette, drag that last page to the gutter line just to the left of page 1 - your cursor should look like a little vertical line with an arrow pointing right - then drop the page. Your pages may end up staggered incorrectly, but just drag page 1 up to the right of your last page and everything should fall back into place.

Edit: I just tested this out, you may not have to make every page a new section, just page 1 and your last page. Might save ya a minute or two! ;) If you've already got the pages laid out as you've described above, just do the first and last, but if it's still laid out in readers spreads and you want to rearrange them yourself into the printer spreads, do the Section Start thing for each page before you rearrange so the pages can keep their original page number.

[Brooklyn Frank]

I actually got around this problem by ignoring Quark's Page 1, and using Page 3 as 1, and 2 as 16, and now it LOOKS perfect, but when I print it, I can't get pages 2 and 3 on one physical page. Is there a setting to get this to print out properly, or should I do what I suggested in the original, and lay it out as 1 landscape page with a column split down the middle and use each column as a "page" so that it prints out properly?

(I don't know what you're referring to when you talk about printer spreads vs. reader spreads. I used to do this manually (cutting and pasting the text onto the proper locations), and then take it to the printer to have them make copies and put the cover on card stock. So, I'm not sure what my printer may or may not be able to do.)

[urstwile]

Actually, you'd be better off not setting this up as facing pages, I think. You can still drag spreads up next to each other, but Quark won't force you to have page 1 on the right hand side.

A lot of this depends on how you're getting it printed. Are you going to a professional printer with this, or are you going to a printer that requires you to do the imposition yourself?

[Brooklyn Frank]

I'm just going to a local copy shop. I don't know how much he would be able to do with the Quark files if I gave them to him - in the past I just gave him a "flat master" of the zine, and he ran the copies, put the card stock on the cover, folded and stapled.

[urstwile]

Okay, then that explains why you'd need to set it up as printer's spreads (the way you've set up your other publications).

To clarify, reader's spreads are when page 3 directly follows page 2, etc. Printer's spreads are when the publication is set up the way it's going to impose. For most professional printers, you can set your file up as reader's spreads, and they have software that imposes it properly based on the number of pages in the file. However, a copy shop probably doesn't have that kind of software.

This means that it's going to be tricky for you to print your file on your home printer in the way you want (page 2 and 3 on the same page). You might want to invest in some on the fly imposition software, like Imposer or InBooklet.

[cornfed]

If it's gonna be 16 pages, then the page numbers that are facing each other would always add up to be 17!

16+1=17
15+2=17
14+3=17
etc, etc!

[Brooklyn Frank]

thanks. i'll probably just split a landscape page in half, and lay it out that way.