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Writing and Publishing, Part 14:
Creating the book:
Utility Software and Peripheral Devices:
In this essay, I simply want to finish up with computer issues.
Some of this may be of interest to you, some may not. Take what
you need and leave the rest.
In addition to the word processor, page layout, and graphics software, we have a number of programs which I call utilities. Some of these are functions of the operating system, like copy and paste. Others come as separate packages.
Internet browsers may be the most used of these type of programs. The two major browsers, Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape's Navigator, are both free. All you need to do is download them from the vendor's web site. I have older versions of both programs. Functionally, they seem quite similar. I normally use Netscape Navigator, but it's just a matter of personal preference. When I'm checking out my web site for compatibility, I test it with both programs.
For bookkeeping, I use a program called Quicken. There are several others which do the same or similar things. One is Microsoft Money. Another is called Peachtree Accounting. Quicken allows me to keep track of my business accounts and my personal financial records. When my business grows, I will probably look into programs which can do what Quicken does and also track inventory and production.
Another program I have is WinZip. This is a data compression program which allows me to archive files in a very compressed format. Hence, they take much less space on my removable media. When working with files for books, this is a very useful capability. Once a book is produced, we want to save the files even though we may never use them again. It's the safe thing to do.
Many people will also want a virus detection and correction program. There are several available. I don't know if they work or not. It may be just dumb luck, but I have never experienced a computer virus. Of course, I am careful. I don't download stuff from unfamiliar sites. I don't open E-mail if I don't know where it came from and it contains script. I hardly ever open E-mail attachments. And I do not load copied software. There is another reason for this. Copied software is almost always stolen property. I have already covered ethics. The same principles apply here. Stealing is stealing. You know it and I know it.
For E-Mail, I use a shareware program called Poco. It has all of the functionality I need and the security is solid. There are many other E-mail programs available. Netscape has one built in and Microsoft gives Outlook Express away. AOL has its own proprietary E-mail software. This is really a case of personal preference.
There are many other programs which you may or may not want to use. There are a variety of web authoring programs. These let you create web sites. I'll get into web authoring in a future essay. There are uninstall programs for removing programs and residual trash from your system. There are a plethora of dictionaries and encyclopedias available. There are also legal and medical reference materials. Which, if any, of these you select will be determined by what your own goals are.
There are a great deal of other utility programs which are normally hidden from you. Some of these are the operating system (OS) functions like paste and copy. Others are what are called drivers. This is the interface software which functions between the peripheral devices and the OS. You will usually only notice these when you install hardware and find you also have to install device specific drivers. Otherwise, these programs work in the background when called upon by the OS.
If a computer is just an electronic device until it has software, it is still somewhat useless without peripheral devices. Again, which of these you select will depend on your specific goals. Whether you are writing or publishing, a printer will be essential. In addition, you may need a scanner, a camera, and some kind of video capture device.
Printers
The main two issues in printers, used to be color or black and
white. If you are only going to have one printer, your only real
choice is color. Businesses can sometimes dedicate a fast printer
for dedicated, text only, printing. At Wesoomi we do just that.
We also have a tabloid size (11" x 17") color inkjet
printer. However, most people will just need a color ink jet printer.
The printer issues to look at are print speed, color quality,
price, and cost per page. To be sure, we would like to consider
the manufacturer's reputation, if we could only find it out. Asking
our friends is the only way I know of.
Balancing all of these factors, we find that all of the major manufacturers offer good color ink jet printers in the $100 to $300 range. Generally these printers do an outstanding job on photo and special papers and an adequate job on plain paper. Many of them also offer t-shirt transfers and other novelty item printing.
One thing to look for and ask about is the stability of the inks. Some of the inks still smear in moist conditions, even after they have dried. About alleged printing speeds, don't expect it. Usually we only print one page at a time. These alleged speeds are based on continuous printing after the initial data transfer. Quite simply, they do not count the data transfer time, which will be significant for single page printing.
Printers will normally connect through the parallel or the USB port. They will also come with software which needs to be installed. It will be the drivers, for sure, and probably some maintenance software and fonts. You will also probably receive some kind of paint and graphics software. This is all a matter if inserting a disk and following the on-screen instructions.
Scanners
The argument for a scanner is to get photos and documents into
our computer. This is imperative for a publisher and sometimes
useful for writers and others. The issues to consider for a scanner
are price, resolution, scan area, and bit depth. The bit depth
will determine the number of colors a scan can have. The resolution
is simply the number of dots per inch which the scanner can distinguish.
The scanner will also have a number called interpolated resolution.
Most scanner software can give you a higher number of dots based
on doing some kind of averaging between the optical resolution's
dots.
Another consideration is how the scanner is connected. There are many Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) scanners available. There are also USB/EPP scanners which can be hooked up to the USB port, if you have one. If not, they can be hooked up to your parallel (EPP) port. If through the parallel port, they will usually have a feed-through connector which still allows your printer to remain connected.
The prices range from $100 up through several thousands for graphics professional versions. For us mortals, we can get a pretty good scanner for about $200 to $250 with a 600 X 1200 optical resolution, a 8&1/2" X 14" scan area, and a 36-bit color depth. Even for publishing, the very expensive professional models are no longer necessary. At Wesoomi, we get adequate results from a model which cost less than $1000. This was not possible even ten years ago. The state of the art has improved dramatically in recent years.
Several manufacturers make scanners for both USB/EPP and SCSI. Some come with SCSI adaptor cards and cables. Some don't. The 14" scan area allows us to scan legal documents. The price we pay is in desktop real estate.
Scanners will normally come with software which needs to be installed. It will be the drivers, for sure, and probably some maintenance software. You may also receive some kind of paint and graphics software. Just as with the printers, this is all a matter if inserting a disk and following on-screen instructions.
Cameras
In the last few years, digital cameras have become quite popular.
How good are they? Let's look. The advantages of the digital camera
are quite clear. First, there is no film, thus no development
expense and delay. Second, like Polaroid, you get to see your
photo immediately, or at least as soon as you can get to a computer.
On some cameras, you may even review the photo on the camera's
LCD. Third, you only need to save and print the good ones. If
you are like me with a camera, that's a big plus. With my 35mm
Minolta, which is smarter than me about photography, I feel lucky
to get two or three good photos out of a 24-shot roll.
The down side of digital photography is not so clear. In fact, if you listen to some of the peddlers, there is none. The truth is, the big down side is the photo's resolution. I know of no digital camera which will produce true photo quality output. This is true, regardless of price, although some very expensive professional models come very close.
This is not as bad as it sounds. Many of the consumer models produce very acceptable output, assuming we have a decent color printer. By decent, I mean 600 dots per inch (DPI) or better. In many cases, it takes a very discerning eye to see the difference. In addition, I have found the resolution to be quite adequate for web publishing and some print publishing. The reasons are in the technical details. Let me explain.
If you look at a 17" computer monitor you will see a lighted rectangle about 13" wide and 10" high. The most probable display resolution is 1024 X 768 pixels. What does that mean? It means that in about 13" of screen, there are about 1024 dots to make up one line of your picture. Do the arithmetic. 1024 divide by 13. That gives about 79 dots per inch (DPI). Some of the pixels are outside the viewing area, so our real resolution is figured at 72 DPI. A rather low resolution for photos. Still, it looks quite good.
It turns out that most digital cameras have at least the same pixel dimensions as your monitor. Sometimes higher. A camera with the same resolution would take a photo of 1024 X 768 pixels. When I display that photo on the monitor, it will look quite good. Even if I reduce the size and increase the pixel density, it won't look any better than that because of the monitor's limitations. Thus, for web publishing, a camera with a 1024 X 768 resolution is as good as it gets.
Now, when I go to print the picture some adjustment is necessary. If I reduce the photo width to 4", I can raise the resolution to 300 DPI with very little loss of detail. (Photo edit programs can be used to do these adjustments.) On a good ink jet printer, this will produce a very good output. The printer will interpolate to fill in the dots it doesn't have.
Of course, there are limitations. Where the problems will occur, is in attempts to produce enlargements. I have found that quality does suffer noticeably above a printout size of 6" X 4". Below that, I can print very nice pictures using input from my digital camera. Since I bought my camera, the resolution (pixel density) has almost doubled on some very affordable cameras. Eventually, digital photography will displace film photography completely.
For cameras with zoom, there are two methods. An optical zoom takes you closer to the subject by changing the magnification in the lens while maintaining image quality. A digital zoom simply reduces the number of pixels. This, of course, reduces the image quality. Enough said.
If you already have a video camcorder, there is another way to get pictures into your computer. There are a number of video frame capture devices on the market. With one of these, you simply run your tape on your camcorder while connected to the computer through the capture device. You monitor the video and click a button when you see the frame you want. The capture device grabs the frame and allows you to save it.
Next time, I will get into the actual prepress work. We will
look at what happens to your manuscript once the decision is made
to publish it. These are the necessary steps to prepare a book
for the manufacturing process.
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