ALAP
Imposer
Imposition
software for QuarkXPress (Mac/Win)
by
J.V. Bolkan
Special
to Digital Media Designer
jvbolkan@home.com
Not every
publishing job requires the imposition step. Even when imposition
is required, it has almost always been done by a technician
in the back of the service bureau or print house using expensive,
often custom imposition software as the last step before ripping
and generating film or a proof. Quark can't even do imposition
without forcing the designer to jump through hoops—unless
you've added ALAP's (A Lowly Apprentice Production)
Imposer 2.1.3.
At about
$200, Imposer is almost a no-brainer when compared to the imposition
software commonly used in professional print houses and service
bureaus, which often cost many thousands. Although Imposer isn't
going to replace these industrial products, it does give the
mid-level bureau a powerful tool and helps bring self-publishing
a bit closer to being practical.
Almost as
refreshing and easy as the price is the Imposer's installation
routine. ALAP software is sold online—you download the
software, pay for the serial number that unlocks the full functionality
and get to work. You can use the unregistered software in demo
mode for 15 days. Note: The demo mode used to cause QuarkXPress
to go into demo mode as well, but this has recently changed.
You now get a full 15-day evaluation. Once you've gotten the
download onto your drive, you run the self-extracting, self-launching
application, and, after you fill out a brief form with your
serial number, Imposer snoops around to find QuarkXPress, installs
itself and even adds a shortcut to QuarkXPress in the Imposer
folder.
What
it does
When you next run Quark, you'll see a new item in the File
menu, directly below the Print option. Choosing Imposer from
the File list brings up the deceptively simple Imposer dialog
box (see screenshot). A pair of tabs enable you to switch between
print preview and layout dialog boxes. Simply input your specifications
and print. The actual QuarkXPress document is untouched; the
pages are shuffled and arranged in the print-spooling phase.
The Preview
tab shows a thumbnail of your job and gives you the option of
adding printer's marks either centered or off-center, choosing
a signature size from 8 to 64 in multiples of 8 with a count
of one or two. Obviously, this means that if you're printing
a document beyond 128 pages, you'll need to do imposition
in multiple passes. If you're looking for precise, custom
printer's mark location, you're out of luck. ALAP
does have another extension for QuarkXPress (MarkIt) that does
enable custom printer marks from within Imposer, but MarkIt
is currently available only for Macintosh systems.
The Layout
tab offers more choices and controls. Your document can be 2-up,
4-up, Work & Turn or Work & Tumble—a proxy-page
preview shows how your pages will be arranged depending upon
your choice. You can choose from three binding types: saddle-stitched,
perfect or cut-sheet. You can also set margins, gaps (horizontal
and vertical), bleed, creep and crossover. Margin settings are
represented in inches; the other settings are all points. There
is no option for customizing the units of measure.
Printing
is fast, trouble-free and familiar. You do want to ensure that
you've chosen a PostScript printer though. This is the only
unacceptable problem I had with the XTension itself: I forgot
to switch from my default printer, a non-PostScript inkjet,
a couple times and was unceremoniously dumped not only from
Imposer, but from QuarkXPress as well, losing my unsaved document
once. In fact, the first time it happened I wasn't sure what
the problem was, even though I had read the Imposer requirements
clearly. The need for a little more elegant (to say the least)
error handling is solely needed.
Little annoyances
are perhaps to be expected from a $200 product in a $4,000 category.
The only other problem I had wasn't with the program itself,
but with the documentation—specifically the fact that it's
a little difficult to print, with a completely black cover and
back page. But it's certainly forgivable.
The bottom
line
At less than 10 percent the cost of most professional Imposition
software, Imposer is a heck of a deal, if it will do what you
need and you don't have to go out and buy the expensive
stuff anyway. The good news is that you can try the demo version
first; the bad news is that you can't really test the program's
full capabilities and performance without registering it. Once
you're convinced, you can buy in bulk and save—ALAP
offers five- and 10-pack pricing.
If you use
QuarkXPress, need imposition software and are willing to work
within the relatively narrow parameters of the program, Imposer
could be the best buy you've had in a while. In our traditional
review parlance, that translates into a "strong buy"
recommendation.
Incidentally,
InDesign users aren't out in the cold either; there is a separate
version for that program (not reviewed at this time). Macintosh
users can choose between the InDesign and QuarkXPress 3.x or
4.x versions of Imposer.
