72DPI in Indesign?

[bpz]

Hey Guys,
I was wondering if there was a way to design in Adobe InDesign or Quark at 72DPI. I am doing an online magazine that I will be publishing on Issuu and would like to save some file space and loading time by designing in 72DPI.

Thanks,
Brian

[Craig B]

???

I suppose you could simply by using 72 dpi images, but I assume that Issuu needs you to upload JPEGs of the individual pages or a PDF. And if that's the case you can set your JPEG export from InDesign to be 72 dpi, and likewise with the PDF.

[Audentia]

You can import your items into InDesign at 72 dpi (photos, logos etc.)

Depending on your export needed for the program you are using you can then just export out at 72 dpi. I assume it's jpegs or something that are the final if it's an online magazine? The InDesign file itself cannot be changed to 72 like photoshop can. But it won't be that big. The links are what are usually the space eaters.

[Audentia]

Craig... it's like you read my mind. :D

[Craig B]

And what a beautiful read it was ...

[Broacher]

>>I will be publishing on Issuu and would like to save some file space and loading time by designing in 72DPI<<

You can also reduce (and resample) images directly in Acrobat in various ways, if you have the pro version.

There's a lot of tricks to getting PDFs down too that depend on what you're trying to include. Example: let's say you have a map, or a circuit diagram that needs to be crisp in a printout. 72 dpi isn't going to do it any favours. Okay, move to vectors, right? Hmm... maybe. Not always. Sometimes vectors actually chew up more bytes/square inch than high rez 1-bit raster. Depends on a lot of things, of course. But you have to be careful. Notice I didn't say black and white raster? That's because PDF supports the colorization of 1-bit images which, admittedly are black and white 95% of the time, but they don't have to be. And the CCITT compression in PDF is incredibly efficient. And fonts? Subsetted or whole? Or converted to outlines? Again, a judgement call.

Then there's metadata, and PDF structure, content streams-- a lot of junk can add up. The pro version allows you to 'audit' a PDF to see where the bytes lie. And the Optimizer function allows you to selectively remove what you want.

[PrintDriver]

Quark has a web page export function. I've never used it. Quark messes up print so much I can't imagine what the code it exports would look like. Besides, I don't do websites.
:D
I think you can export InD CS3 to HTML as well.

[eugenetyson]

I think you can export InD CS3 to HTML as well.

You can - but it's not very intuitive.

You have to tag each paragraph style with xml tags. Then go to the structure of the xml and restructure everything (unless you tag from the start to finish without skipping a beat)

You can name each tag whatever you like even, H1, H2, p, strong, emphasis etc. You can put your own name in for the tags.

Then you can export to XHTML with empty CSS declarations, but you have to write CSS for each of the tags.

You won't get any div tags or anything like that and positions aren't remembered or anything like that.

So you can get a very raw code out, but you still need to code it properly.

[eugenetyson]

Hey Guys,
I was wondering if there was a way to design in Adobe InDesign or Quark at 72DPI. I am doing an online magazine that I will be publishing on Issuu and would like to save some file space and loading time by designing in 72DPI.

Thanks,
Brian


One point equals 1/72 of an inch.

So for a 72 dpi image 1 point = 1 pixel.

When I make presentations in InDesign, I make them 1024 x 768 pt, then export at 72 dpi


So what you need to do is set up your document using Points as your measurement - remembering that 1 point = 1 pixel at 72 dpi.

You're uploading to ISSUU which takes PDFs, so when you export to PDF make sure you downsample your images to 72 dpi.


You don't even need to worry about this. Just design your magazine as normal using all the images you want in any colour space that you want.

When you export to PDF go to the

Compression Section:
Bicubic Downsampling to 72 dpi for images above 73 dpi
Compression: Jpeg
Quality: MaxOutput section

Colour Conversion: Convert to Destination
Destination: sRGB


And your PDF will be RGB and 72 dpi for all images used.

[eugenetyson]

Forgot to mention - I wouldn't bother with doing 72 dpi it would be too low in my opinion, I'd go for 96 dpi for images above 97 dpi.

[Jam]

isn't issuu pdf or flash based anyway - therefore design it as you like and when you come to print it as a pdf reduce it then.

MCN newspaper use this service - I am sure they wouldn't redesign each page at 72 dpi but rather export or send to print.

[eugenetyson]

You don't even need to worry about this. Just design your magazine as normal using all the images you want in any colour space that you want.

When you export to PDF go to the

Compression Section:
Bicubic Downsampling to 72 dpi for images above 73 dpi
Compression: Jpeg
Quality: Max
(later on I replied that 72 might be a bit low so go with 96 dpi for compression)


Output section

Colour Conversion: Convert to Destination
Destination: sRGB


And your PDF will be RGB and 72 dpi for all images used.

isn't issuu pdf or flash based anyway - therefore design it as you like and when you come to print it as a pdf reduce it then.

MCN newspaper use this service - I am sure they wouldn't redesign each page at 72 dpi but rather export or send to print.


That's what I said :D

[Broacher]

Just for the record, 'images' can still be vectors and therefore NOT covered by the same compression rules. Vectors can still be PDF file size hogs. Had one submitted just last week AAMOF. The vector 'halftone' effect on a poster. A monster file, simple enough looking image.

[eugenetyson]

You can convert vectors to raster using the transparency flattener.

If you give the vector a 99.9% transparency - to force them through the flattener.

Then go to Edit>Transparency Flattner Preset Options

Select HIGH and choose New (makes a duplicate)

Put the slider all the way to 1 (or type in 1 it's easier)

Then save it as a name you know it is.

Then use the Transparency Flattener Option when exporting to PDF. It will have to be a PDF Version 4 (1.3) for the option to select a Flattener preset.

When you File>Export>PDF

Go to Advanced

And choose the Flattner Preset.


The reason you pick "1" for the option is that it was rasterise everything in the document - except for the text.

So it's a good way to reduce the file size, but you jeopardise the quality depending on your compression settings and Flattener settings.

[Broacher]

Flattened PDFs work fine (for me) in a postscript environment. I've found though that in many cases, pre-flattened PDFs for document distribution commonly suffer from the dreaded 'white lines' syndrome.

Plus, rasterizing vectors is not always a good idea-- and not always a good way to cut down on file size. To really design and prep for general PDF distribution, you have to analyze what each page contains and work out the best ways to optimize the results.

[eugenetyson]

Turn off "Smooth line art" and "Smooth images" in Acrobats Page Display preferences and the white lines will vanish.

It's just an onscreen thing as a result of the image being "sliced" into regions where it is flattened.

It's kinda a misconception that vector files make for smaller file sizes, sometimes a vector-dense pdf will be way too large, so using the above trick you can rasterise the PDF to make a smaller version for showing clients, distributing on web etc., but you always want to make the best pdf possible when going to print, so you wouldn't do the above trick. If you're distributing to the web then giving them images high enough resolution for screen would be enough.

If you need people to print out these pdfs then you may want to set your pdf to Acrobat 5 or above as it supports transparency and your pdf.

But it's not just transparent objects that get flattened, it's also objects that have bevel and emboss, drop shadows, etc. applied. If the text is near some of these objects it can be rasterised if the text is not on the upper most layer (or at least above the layer with the effects applied).

There's a multitude of ways to make a PDF, it's know the options and limitations each of these options that make a good PDF.

[Broacher]

Um... thanks.

Anyhow, the white line thing goes beyond display issues though--- they will pass through to print on many non-postscript printers-- a concern for publicly distributed pdfs. Oh yeah, you can send to the printer as an image but in my experience, you have to design for Acrobat Readers default settings as much as possible.

[eugenetyson]

I've never seen it printing out before, it's just an onscreen thing. Very bizarre if it does show up printed, but that has not been my experience.