Re: Binding question

[Stuart Burnfield <slb -at- FS -dot- COM -dot- AU>]

Elna Tymes wrote:
>If you shop around, you can probably find a local printer who knows how
>to do "lay flat" binding.  This is a form of perfect binding that leaves
>the cover part of the spine free from the actual binding, and the
>binding is done using a special glue on the signatures so that the book
>will indeed lay flat when opened.

I find this works better for larger books. There's a chunk of pages at
the beginning and end that still won't lay flat. In a big book like
Using FrameMaker, it's only 70 pages (35 sheets) at either end out of
about 700. In a smaller book the proportion is higher, so you might
not be able to lay the book flat in the first or last quarter.  Sun's
'Read Me First' (260 pages) doesn't lay flat anywhere.

If the start and end of the book don't contain 'read and type' material,
it probably doesn't matter. For example, in my Frame manual it's just
two overview chapters, Appendix C, the Glossary and the Index.

For shorter books, or for a command references that you need to lay flat
almost from the first page to the last, concealed Wire-O is a good
option.

Regards
---
Stuart Burnfield
Functional Software Pty Ltd
mailto:slb -at- fs -dot- com -dot- au

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