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Yes, probably InDesign. However, check with your printer and be sure
they are prepared to handle the files.
(I presume by "stapled booklet" you mean one which is stapled in the
center at the fold--what is known in the trade as "saddle stitched"
even when metal staples are used rather than binding thread.)
I have not looked at InDesign for several years--however, unless it
includes a facility for adjusting for signature creep, it would be
best to be able to give the InDesign files themselves to the printer
and let them do the adjustments appropriately, rather than simply a
.pdf--unless, of course, the prepress operators want the .pdf instead.
It all depends upon their workflow. However, using the original files
they can do a better job, as a rule, especially if there is color
material anywhere.
For those who do not know, "signature creep" happens because the pages
are stacked on each other, then stapled in the middle. The outside
pages must have a larger gutter--the white space between printed
areas--than the inner ones, to compensate for the width of the various
pages in between. Obviously, this varies somewhat depending upon the
thickness of the paper itself.
Generally, the pages are originally somewhat oversized, since the
margins on the outside of the pages vary. Thus, they are all trimmed
once they are printed into a finished form to give even appearance all
the way around each page.
(The largest production laser printers, such as the DocuTech, can do
the signature adjustments automatically when it is set to produce a
finished booklet. This is impossible, generally, in offset--primarily
because press sizes determine how many sheets are printed on one large
page, to be cut down after the press run into the appropriate sizes.
Thus, commercial prepress shops have special software to figure all
this out rather than the laborious and exacting manual method used in
years past.)
David
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>
> To: TECHWR-L Writing <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
> Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 10:46:58 -0700
> Subject: Best tool for prepress?
> Which tool would you use for a manual to be distributed only as a
> slick-looking offset-printed stapled booklet?
>
> InDesign?
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Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
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