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First attempt at making a handmade book - laughable

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DavidMillier

DavidMillier

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There is a big difference between the virtual world and the real world of handicrafts.

My first attempt is an accordion style book where the covers have no spine and the pages are all joined together and folded concertina style.

The first problem is coming up with a grid layout to print the pictures on a single A3+ page. I came up with two columns of 4 square images separated by white space.

Mr AI helped me out by suggesting suitable Linux software to handle the layout. I chose Showfoto. This has a module called Print Creator. The first problem was that although it ships with a wide range of grid layouts, it did not have an 2 x 4 square image layout. You can make custom layouts, but not via a GUI interface. Instead you have to edit the templates.xml page and either tweak an existing layout or create your own handcoding the xml. This caused me a great deal of problems which I eventually traced to a bug in the software. The section of the xml which defines the paper size seems to throw a wobbly if you put in the dimensions of A3+ in millimetres and the layout would refuse to display in the selection window. Turned out it wasn't even necessary: I got around the problem by making up my own numbers that were smaller than whatever caused the issue and it just ignored the numbers anyway.

Next problem was that during the set up process in Showfoto, everytime you adjusted a setting it reverted to A4 paper size. Easy to fix, just keep checking, but until I realised that, my large paper ended up with very small pictures!

The next problem turned out to be that although I programmed equal borders at the edges, I didn't take into account the size of the gap between the columns (where I had to cut the page in half). Because that gap appeared at the bottom of one column and the top of the other, the two cut halves didn't align. My daughter solved that one: rotate the images in one column so they were upside down, then the margins aligned.

The real problems then started - entering the physical world and folding the strips up to make an accordion. i have a bone folder which is good at scoring the fold lines but it is incredibly difficult to get the score lines exactly between the prints. The folder is quite thick so you can't just align a ruler down the middle and score against it - you have to align the ruler a bit to the left. I found this impossible and my score lines are very wobbly. And because you fold the strip first one way, then the other, any misalignment gets magnified.

My folded stack of pages is hilariously mis-aligned. Not sure how you deal with that.

Then there are the joins. I can fit a column of 4 images on a page and need to join the strips every 4th image. Getting that join aligned and scoring across it is quite difficult. Mine worked out very badly indeed.

Laid out, it looks respectable:

66dcbffd04c54abf98b7eab31e72379e.jpg

But folded up, the alignment is a joke:

3d976b6aae8a4351bc99e6dffe484001.jpg

I prefer the virtual world, at least you can edit out your mistakes!

Ah well, practice makes perfect, as they say...

--
2024: Awarded Royal Photographic Society LRPS Distinction
Photo of the day: https://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/photo-of-the-day-2025/
Website: https://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/
DPReview gallery: https://www.dpreview.com/galleries/0286305481
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidmillier/ (very old!)
 
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With a career in commercial printing, one of the most difficult aspects was that people simply could not understand or picture the layout of the most simple brochure or greeting card. The concept that in a simple one-fold "booklet," page 1 and page 4 are printed on the same side of the (yet to be folded) sheet and that page 4 is on the left side befuddles everyone. Pages 2 and 3 (for the other side) are easier for the typical person to "see."

A greeting card that folds at the top is just impossible for the average human being to comprehend. Customers always supplied the job with the inside and outside of the card upside down to each other.

The problem was that so many people insisted on designing their jobs themselves (usually in some page lay-out program totally unsuited for printing) and submitting files for us to output for our printing presses.

On a printing press, or a desktop printer, a job more complex than a business letter or Fax cover sheet requires that the paper be larger than the final product. The entire "image" must include crop marks at the boundary of the finished piece to allow for final trimming to size.

Put another way, if all you've got is A2 paper, the finished booklet cannot be the full paper size.

Out in the margins between those corner crop marks is also placed information such as fold marks. Does your software provide that capability?

You can't fold a booklet the way you did and expect anything but frustration.

Folds are created by first scoring the paper. That's usually accomplished automatically in a commercial folding machine by a thin wheel with a radiused edge pressing on one side of the sheet directly over a shallow channel on the opposite side.

With accurate fold marks printed on the untrimmed job, you can score manually with a straightedge, a tool such as a thick butter knife and a backing board with "give" such as picture frame mat board. There are jigs made for such purpose that utilize a rolling paper cutter fitted with an embossing wheel in place of the cutting wheel.

With an accurately made score line, the piece can be folded very accurately. The score is created by embossing (unintuitively) on the back of the fold. That is, the debossed (raised) line in the paper goes to the inside of the fold.

Trim the job to the crop marks, then gently start the folds by hand. They'll follow the score lines. Then use a bone folding tool to make the folds sharp (but not too sharp), keeping the edges aligned as you move the tool along the fold.

An accordion folding job as you've created is a nightmare to get to behave.

--
Rich
"That's like, just your opinion, man." ;-)
 
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Years back I used to produce brochures for leisure premises. This included everything from concept to final delivery of the brochure. Before going to the expensive four colour print , sometimes five or more with spot colour and UV, I would produce a full proof.

The proof was created , after many trials, by building a stiff paper frame of the folding pages , and then attaching the images to these . When the folding takes place obtaining perfect registration is a pig, but at least without the encumbrance of picture alignment, the possibility is more achievable with trimming.

I used to get the client to sign each page to accept its content and design, a life saver when thousands of pounds worth of print is paid for.
 
I think they call it burnishing and there are tools specifically designed to do this.
 
It sure is tricky, especially for someone as clumsy as me!

The bone folder is quite effective at creating a groove. The problem is knowing where to put the groove. You have to guess how much to offset the ruler from the centre to account for the thickness of the bone folder.

Jointing seems to be an even bigger problem. Doing it by eye is hopeless, I think I was about 5-6 mm out. It needs to be measured. Those lovely alignment crop marks would be very handy. I suppose I could learn how to use Scribus...
 
DavidMillier said:
It sure is tricky, especially for someone as clumsy as me!

The bone folder is quite effective at creating a groove. The problem is knowing where to put the groove. You have to guess how much to offset the ruler from the centre to account for the thickness of the bone folder.

Jointing seems to be an even bigger problem. Doing it by eye is hopeless, I think I was about 5-6 mm out. It needs to be measured.
Click to expand...
DavidMillier said:
Those lovely alignment crop marks would be very handy. I suppose I could learn how to use Scribus...
Click to expand...
My experience is that using the right tool is sometimes so critical to a particular task, that anything else is just an exercise in frustration and failure.

In the printing industry anything other than Adobe InDesign or Quark XPress is a joke. Everything else . . . everything . . . is amateur time. Waisted time and effort.

Laying out a job as "simple" as the one you're trying to do requires a surprising level of spatial thinking ability, that trips up even professionals who do it every day.

Actually, what you've created is the first round of a "dummy" booklet (a necessary mock-up that's part of every such printing job), that often takes several iterations before going ahead with a real layout.

Those "lovely alignment crop marks" aren't "very handy." They're absolutely necessary. They're not an afterthought or a luxury.

As indispensable as InDesign and XPress are for page layout, they are themselves inadequate for most printing jobs involving more than a few pages, binding and folding.

Printers use page imposition programs to take the output of page layout programs to actually put the job on the printing plate. Imposition is not known outside the industry. Such programs are the real heavy lifters, cost thousand of dollars and are worth every cent, every hour of the day.

You wouldn't believe the realities involved in positioning things on a printed page that has to be folded into its final form. (Well, maybe now you do!) There is very little that's intuitive about manipulating and folding paper.

Linux is not the OS on which to be doing what you're trying to do. Sorry, that's the truth. It has never been an OS that encouraged any kind of graphical control. And programs for it show that lack of understanding at every level. Very disappointing. And short-sighted.

Using the software that you've used or contemplate using reminds me of a quote about a dog walking on its hind legs.

To paraphrase: "Sir, it's not done well, but one is surprised to find it done at all."

I admit I'm not an expert in Linux software, because I've avoided it for stated reasons. But life's too short to be banging one's head against barriers.
 
Rich42 said:
DavidMillier said:
It sure is tricky, especially for someone as clumsy as me!

The bone folder is quite effective at creating a groove. The problem is knowing where to put the groove. You have to guess how much to offset the ruler from the centre to account for the thickness of the bone folder.

Jointing seems to be an even bigger problem. Doing it by eye is hopeless, I think I was about 5-6 mm out. It needs to be measured.

Those lovely alignment crop marks would be very handy. I suppose I could learn how to use Scribus...
Click to expand...
My experience is that using the right tool is sometimes so critical to a particular task, that anything else is just an exercise in frustration and failure.

In the printing industry anything other than Adobe InDesign or Quark XPress is a joke. Everything else . . . everything . . . is amateur time. Waisted time and effort.

Laying out a job as "simple" as the one you're trying to do requires a surprising level of spatial thinking ability, that trips up even professionals who do it every day.

Actually, what you've created is the first round of a "dummy" booklet (a necessary mock-up that's part of every such printing job), that often takes several iterations before going ahead with a real layout.

Those "lovely alignment crop marks" aren't "very handy." They're absolutely necessary. They're not an afterthought or a luxury.

As indispensable as InDesign and XPress are for page layout, they are themselves inadequate for most printing jobs involving more than a few pages, binding and folding.

Printers use page imposition programs to take the output of page layout programs to actually put the job on the printing plate. Imposition is not known outside the industry. Such programs are the real heavy lifters, cost thousand of dollars and are worth every cent, every hour of the day.

You wouldn't believe the realities involved in positioning things on a printed page that has to be folded into its final form. (Well, maybe now you do!) There is very little that's intuitive about manipulating and folding paper.

Linux is not the OS on which to be doing what you're trying to do. Sorry, that's the truth. It has never been an OS that encouraged any kind of graphical control. And programs for it show that lack of understanding at every level. Very disappointing. And short-sighted.

Using the software that you've used or contemplate using reminds me of a quote about a dog walking on its hind legs.

To paraphrase: "Sir, it's not done well, but one is surprised to find it done at all."

I admit I'm not an expert in Linux software, because I've avoided it for stated reasons. But life's too short to be banging one's head against barriers.
Click to expand...
No doubt very wise advice for those in the pro or semi pro print shop world.

Fortunately, hobby stuff that is not for sale doesn't quite need that level of precision :-) Individuals all over the world make handmade books in their kitchens. It is part of the charm that the edges don't quite meet at the corners...

I'm following this site https://davidtravisphotography.com/blog/concertina-book.html

He has the same gear as me except he has something called Infinity Publisher that provides those lovely crop marks. I also think he can measure and draw straight lines a bit better than me. Although I have better taste in book coverings :-)
 
DavidMillier said:
Rich42 said:
DavidMillier said:
It sure is tricky, especially for someone as clumsy as me!

The bone folder is quite effective at creating a groove. The problem is knowing where to put the groove. You have to guess how much to offset the ruler from the centre to account for the thickness of the bone folder.

Jointing seems to be an even bigger problem. Doing it by eye is hopeless, I think I was about 5-6 mm out. It needs to be measured.

Those lovely alignment crop marks would be very handy. I suppose I could learn how to use Scribus...
Click to expand...
My experience is that using the right tool is sometimes so critical to a particular task, that anything else is just an exercise in frustration and failure.

In the printing industry anything other than Adobe InDesign or Quark XPress is a joke. Everything else . . . everything . . . is amateur time. Waisted time and effort.

Laying out a job as "simple" as the one you're trying to do requires a surprising level of spatial thinking ability, that trips up even professionals who do it every day.

Actually, what you've created is the first round of a "dummy" booklet (a necessary mock-up that's part of every such printing job), that often takes several iterations before going ahead with a real layout.

Those "lovely alignment crop marks" aren't "very handy." They're absolutely necessary. They're not an afterthought or a luxury.

As indispensable as InDesign and XPress are for page layout, they are themselves inadequate for most printing jobs involving more than a few pages, binding and folding.

Printers use page imposition programs to take the output of page layout programs to actually put the job on the printing plate. Imposition is not known outside the industry. Such programs are the real heavy lifters, cost thousand of dollars and are worth every cent, every hour of the day.

You wouldn't believe the realities involved in positioning things on a printed page that has to be folded into its final form. (Well, maybe now you do!) There is very little that's intuitive about manipulating and folding paper.

Linux is not the OS on which to be doing what you're trying to do. Sorry, that's the truth. It has never been an OS that encouraged any kind of graphical control. And programs for it show that lack of understanding at every level. Very disappointing. And short-sighted.

Using the software that you've used or contemplate using reminds me of a quote about a dog walking on its hind legs.

To paraphrase: "Sir, it's not done well, but one is surprised to find it done at all."

I admit I'm not an expert in Linux software, because I've avoided it for stated reasons. But life's too short to be banging one's head against barriers.
Click to expand...
No doubt very wise advice for those in the pro or semi pro print shop world.

Fortunately, hobby stuff that is not for sale doesn't quite need that level of precision :-) Individuals all over the world make handmade books in their kitchens. It is part of the charm that the edges don't quite meet at the corners...

I'm following this site https://davidtravisphotography.com/blog/concertina-book.html

He has the same gear as me except he has something called Infinity Publisher that provides those lovely crop marks. I also think he can measure and draw straight lines a bit better than me. Although I have better taste in book coverings :-)
Click to expand...
👍🏻
 
I've redone the whole print grid layout in Scribus DTP.

I think it is more precisely centred than the original layout.

I've also added a visible cut line to divide the two strips of 4 images. I've tried to add fold lines between each image, but even with AI's help I've only managed lines between the second and third images on each strip. I may have to draw the others manually, but really I want marks outside the printed area rather than visible on the print. I haven't worked out how to do that yet. One step at a time. These are prototypes.

I also decided to cut my first prototype in half and try and redo the join line. Can't say it's much better. The trouble is you need leave a small strip at each end you can glue together, but you also need a fold line that is accurately aligned but not on top of the double thickness glued strip.

Kinda of tricky to figure out. Specially as I have no visual imagining ability at all.
 
DavidMillier said:
I've redone the whole print grid layout in Scribus DTP.

I think it is more precisely centred than the original layout.

I've also added a visible cut line to divide the two strips of 4 images. I've tried to add fold lines between each image, but even with AI's help I've only managed lines between the second and third images on each strip. I may have to draw the others manually, but really I want marks outside the printed area rather than visible on the print. I haven't worked out how to do that yet. One step at a time. These are prototypes.

I also decided to cut my first prototype in half and try and redo the join line. Can't say it's much better. The trouble is you need leave a small strip at each end you can glue together, but you also need a fold line that is accurately aligned but not on top of the double thickness glued strip.

Kinda of tricky to figure out.
Click to expand...
DavidMillier said:
Specially as I have no visual imagining ability at all.
Click to expand...
The software doesn't show the page layout with every element in it? Stop using it!

When I bought my printing company (and brought it into modern technology at the end of the 20th century), the typesetters were using a (then, already ancient) "computer" typesetting system that required them to type "in-line formatting code" before and after lines of text on character-only (green screen) CRT monitors.

They were trained to picture the finished page in their mind's eye and predict the effects of their code on the formatting of all the type-matter (typeface, type size, special characters, bolding, italics, line spacings, wraparound images, etc., etc., etc)

They were incredibly good at it. They could type 100 wpm without error, coding as they created the page copy. And the results were pretty good on the first pass. And very good after tweaking. They were frightening.

When I demonstrated Pagemaker, Adobe Illustrator and an early version of Quark Xpress they tried to act unimpressed. "Real" typesetters don't need to actually see the page they're creating!

"We don' need no stinkin' WYSIWYG!"

Yeah! Right! That nonsense lasted about a day!

Please get a program that shows you what you're doing!
 
Rich42 said:
DavidMillier said:
I've redone the whole print grid layout in Scribus DTP.

I think it is more precisely centred than the original layout.

I've also added a visible cut line to divide the two strips of 4 images. I've tried to add fold lines between each image, but even with AI's help I've only managed lines between the second and third images on each strip. I may have to draw the others manually, but really I want marks outside the printed area rather than visible on the print. I haven't worked out how to do that yet. One step at a time. These are prototypes.

I also decided to cut my first prototype in half and try and redo the join line. Can't say it's much better. The trouble is you need leave a small strip at each end you can glue together, but you also need a fold line that is accurately aligned but not on top of the double thickness glued strip.

Kinda of tricky to figure out.

Specially as I have no visual imagining ability at all.
Click to expand...
The software doesn't show the page layout with every element in it? Stop using it!

When I bought my printing company (and brought it into modern technology at the end of the 20th century), the typesetters were using a (then, already ancient) "computer" typesetting system that required them to type "in-line formatting code" before and after lines of text on character-only (green screen) CRT monitors.

They were trained to picture the finished page in their mind's eye and predict the effects of their code on the formatting of all the type-matter (typeface, type size, special characters, bolding, italics, line spacings, wraparound images, etc., etc., etc)

They were incredibly good at it. They could type 100 wpm without error, coding as they created the page copy. And the results were pretty good on the first pass. And very good after tweaking. They were frightening.

When I demonstrated Pagemaker, Adobe Illustrator and an early version of Quark Xpress they tried to act unimpressed. "Real" typesetters don't need to actually see the page they're creating!

"We don' need no stinkin' WYSIWYG!"

Yeah! Right! That nonsense lasted about a day!

Please get a program that shows you what you're doing!
Click to expand...
And scanner operators used B&W monitors and did a good job.
 
Where did Quark express go ?

I used it for all my page layout stuff , and so did the printers I used .

A friend became involved in a newsletter thing and came to me for advice on how to correct the errors she had using word processing software for trying to create pages for the newsletter. We solved it by throwing the word processing idea , and doing the thing in Quark.
 
I don't know anything about DTP, so any initial problems won't be software problems but my ignorance problems.

Scribus is available for Linux and free and AI is slowly teaching me to use it. If it turns out not to be up to the job, that'll be a shame, but I've no intention of returning to the windows world.

Looking at my Scribus print layout, it looks better spaced and aligned/centred than the Showfoto version I used for my first prototype. The only things missing are fold lines between two pairs of the images and at the ends where the joins occur. I need to figure out how to do this in Scribus.

If I can do that, I then need to either make the lines very faint or position them somehow so they are not visible in the final folded product. The AI keeps wittering on about how fold lines are supposed to visible on screen but not on the printed output. It says that crop marks that are visible need to be outside the printed area on something called the "bleed". I have no idea what that means TBH.

Cut me some slack, I only installed DTP at 11.30pm last night and I already have 90% of a working layout (thanks to AI instruction). Such a harsh taskmaster :-) :-) :-)

--
2024: Awarded Royal Photographic Society LRPS Distinction
Photo of the day: https://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/photo-of-the-day-2025/
Website: https://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/
DPReview gallery: https://www.dpreview.com/galleries/0286305481
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidmillier/ (very old!)
 
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DavidMillier said:
I don't know anything about DTP, so any initial problems won't be software problems but my ignorance problems.

Scribus is available for Linux and free and AI is slowly teaching me to use it. If it turns out not to be up to the job, that'll be a shame, but I've no intention of returning to the windows world.

Looking at my Scribus print layout, it looks better spaced and aligned/centred than the Showfoto version I used for my first prototype. The only things missing are fold lines between two pairs of the images and at the ends where the joins occur. I need to figure out how to do this in Scribus.

If I can do that, I then need to either make the lines very faint or position them somehow so they are not visible in the final folded product. The AI keeps wittering on about how fold lines are supposed to visible on screen but not on the printed output. It says that crop marks that are visible need to be outside the printed area on something called the "bleed". I have no idea what that means TBH.
Click to expand...
When you open a new document you can set the bleeds in Scribus. You also can add bleeds to an existent document at File -> Document setup -> Margins and bleeds. I think 4-5 mm is a good amount and you can correct that later if needed.

When printing or exporting from Scribus set crop marks' Offset to 5 mm. So those are in the bleed area which will be cut away from your book pages.

Set in Document setup -> Printer or Document setup -> PDF Export -> Pre-Press.
DavidMillier said:
Cut me some slack, I only installed DTP at 11.30pm last night and I already have 90% of a working layout (thanks to AI instruction). Such a harsh taskmaster :-) :-) :-)
Click to expand...
 
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TimoKoo said:
DavidMillier said:
I don't know anything about DTP, so any initial problems won't be software problems but my ignorance problems.

Scribus is available for Linux and free and AI is slowly teaching me to use it. If it turns out not to be up to the job, that'll be a shame, but I've no intention of returning to the windows world.

Looking at my Scribus print layout, it looks better spaced and aligned/centred than the Showfoto version I used for my first prototype. The only things missing are fold lines between two pairs of the images and at the ends where the joins occur. I need to figure out how to do this in Scribus.

If I can do that, I then need to either make the lines very faint or position them somehow so they are not visible in the final folded product. The AI keeps wittering on about how fold lines are supposed to visible on screen but not on the printed output. It says that crop marks that are visible need to be outside the printed area on something called the "bleed". I have no idea what that means TBH.
Click to expand...
When you open a new document you can set the bleeds in Scribus. You also can add bleeds to an existent document at File -> Document setup -> Margins and bleeds. I think 4-5 mm is a good amount and you can correct that later if needed.

When printing or exporting from Scribus set crop marks' Offset to 5 mm. So those are in the bleed area which will be cut away from your book pages.

Set in Document setup -> Printer or Document setup -> PDF Export -> Pre-Press.
TimoKoo said:
Cut me some slack, I only installed DTP at 11.30pm last night and I already have 90% of a working layout (thanks to AI instruction). Such a harsh taskmaster :-) :-) :-)
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Thank you! I'm on the way to the dentist, but when I get home I'll give it a go. It's starting to sound almost professional :-)

--
2024: Awarded Royal Photographic Society LRPS Distinction
Photo of the day: https://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/photo-of-the-day-2025/
Website: https://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/
DPReview gallery: https://www.dpreview.com/galleries/0286305481
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidmillier/ (very old!)
 
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DavidMillier said:
TimoKoo said:
DavidMillier said:
I don't know anything about DTP, so any initial problems won't be software problems but my ignorance problems.

Scribus is available for Linux and free and AI is slowly teaching me to use it. If it turns out not to be up to the job, that'll be a shame, but I've no intention of returning to the windows world.

Looking at my Scribus print layout, it looks better spaced and aligned/centred than the Showfoto version I used for my first prototype. The only things missing are fold lines between two pairs of the images and at the ends where the joins occur. I need to figure out how to do this in Scribus.

If I can do that, I then need to either make the lines very faint or position them somehow so they are not visible in the final folded product. The AI keeps wittering on about how fold lines are supposed to visible on screen but not on the printed output. It says that crop marks that are visible need to be outside the printed area on something called the "bleed". I have no idea what that means TBH.
Click to expand...
When you open a new document you can set the bleeds in Scribus. You also can add bleeds to an existent document at File -> Document setup -> Margins and bleeds. I think 4-5 mm is a good amount and you can correct that later if needed.

When printing or exporting from Scribus set crop marks' Offset to 5 mm. So those are in the bleed area which will be cut away from your book pages.

Set in Document setup -> Printer or Document setup -> PDF Export -> Pre-Press.
DavidMillier said:
Cut me some slack, I only installed DTP at 11.30pm last night and I already have 90% of a working layout (thanks to AI instruction). Such a harsh taskmaster :-) :-) :-)
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Thank you! I'm on the way to the dentist, but when I get home I'll give it a go.
Click to expand...
I don't get those crop marks visible in Scribus previews. But in PDF they are at right places.
DavidMillier said:
It's starting to sound almost professional :-)
Click to expand...
You'll have a lot to learn! Go through File -> Preferences to to set your defaults. There's many things to think. Later you can set them per document and also you can make templates for different kind of documents. Good Luck! :-D
 
How about purchasing an accordion blank book (I have seen beauties at good art supply stores with linen covers) and mounting your photos to it? Reinventing the wheel of bookmaking seems above and beyond…
 
JimKasson said:
Rich42 said:
DavidMillier said:
I've redone the whole print grid layout in Scribus DTP.

I think it is more precisely centred than the original layout.

I've also added a visible cut line to divide the two strips of 4 images. I've tried to add fold lines between each image, but even with AI's help I've only managed lines between the second and third images on each strip. I may have to draw the others manually, but really I want marks outside the printed area rather than visible on the print. I haven't worked out how to do that yet. One step at a time. These are prototypes.

I also decided to cut my first prototype in half and try and redo the join line. Can't say it's much better. The trouble is you need leave a small strip at each end you can glue together, but you also need a fold line that is accurately aligned but not on top of the double thickness glued strip.

Kinda of tricky to figure out.

Specially as I have no visual imagining ability at all.
Click to expand...
The software doesn't show the page layout with every element in it? Stop using it!

When I bought my printing company (and brought it into modern technology at the end of the 20th century), the typesetters were using a (then, already ancient) "computer" typesetting system that required them to type "in-line formatting code" before and after lines of text on character-only (green screen) CRT monitors.

They were trained to picture the finished page in their mind's eye and predict the effects of their code on the formatting of all the type-matter (typeface, type size, special characters, bolding, italics, line spacings, wraparound images, etc., etc., etc)

They were incredibly good at it. They could type 100 wpm without error, coding as they created the page copy. And the results were pretty good on the first pass. And very good after tweaking. They were frightening.

When I demonstrated Pagemaker, Adobe Illustrator and an early version of Quark Xpress they tried to act unimpressed. "Real" typesetters don't need to actually see the page they're creating!

"We don' need no stinkin' WYSIWYG!"

Yeah! Right! That nonsense lasted about a day!

Please get a program that shows you what you're doing!
Click to expand...
And scanner operators used B&W monitors and did a good job.
Click to expand...
Yup.

And people did color correction and created color separation negatives, working on B&W monitors going only by CMYK numbers. A la Dan Margulis.

Truth be told, color printing was terrible back then.
 
campo said:
How about purchasing an accordion blank book (I have seen beauties at good art supply stores with linen covers) and mounting your photos to it? Reinventing the wheel of bookmaking seems above and beyond…
Click to expand...
Probably the most sensible thing. But I want to make my own, then move on to proper casebound books. It's all about producing tangible outputs rather than throwaway digital files.
 
Well, that was an experience. I learned plenty including that I still have plenty to learn and plenty of refinements to make.

Badly designed, badly made, lots of mistakes, demonstrated my inexperience, my cack-handedness, how easily I get muddled and confused, how I still need to improve the software layout, how hopeless it is to try and make accurate measurements and cuts on a foldup camping table in a room with insufficient elbow room to make a straight cut without colliding with something halfway through the cut etc etc etc.

But...

.... even so, it's an output, and despite all the very obvious flaws and incompetence, there is still something satisfying about having made something physical with my photos. As a proof of concept, it convinces me that producing a range of hard copy outputs from photo projects including a book is a viable goal to aim to for.

Much to work on, though, for prototype #2 of 286...

Lessons learned so far:

- Arches 88 is too thick for making little books. Hard to score, hard to fold, hard to flatten. Thinner paper next time.

- Prit stik is not the ideal glue...

- You need lots of room and desk space

- I need to refine my layout so that the top and bottom margins are even (I think the crop marks are in the wrong place) and I need to choose a specific book size rather than making it to the size it happens to come out of the printer

- I need some nice materials to make the covers

- I need a way to put a title on the front

- I need to double the number of photos, which means more joins (the hardest bit)

- I need to add some kind of text title page and foreword

- I need better materials for the end sheets

- Prit stik is really a glue for kids

- it's a bad idea to glue paper then drop it on the carpet...

- I need a better way to cut pages to size and square than my Logan straight cutter. The board is not made for making very small pages and it all gets a bit loose when you are cutting small pieces of paper right at the end of the guides when there isn't enough paper to square up against the guides

Some pics (don't laugh, it's a first try!):

e440c31fc7a94ebc843a8751141112de.jpg

Measuring the required sizes would help in lining up everything
Measuring the required sizes would help in lining up everything

Arches 88 is too thick to work with easily, although you can make folds that work
Arches 88 is too thick to work with easily, although you can make folds that work

Some better materials for the end papers would be nice. Also need to learn how to cut and fold cover materials neatly
Some better materials for the end papers would be nice. Also need to learn how to cut and fold cover materials neatly

Still, despite all the crafting issues, accordion photo books actually do work. Image #3 somehow ended up upside down!
Still, despite all the crafting issues, accordion photo books actually do work. Image #3 somehow ended up upside down!

--
2024: Awarded Royal Photographic Society LRPS Distinction
Photo of the day: https://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/photo-of-the-day-2025/
Website: https://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/
DPReview gallery: https://www.dpreview.com/galleries/0286305481
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidmillier/ (very old!)
 
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