I would like to make a key point that the author of the article "The New Rules of Pagination" [TechNews, May/June 1999, p. 8], and most others, have missed in the Quark vs. InDesign debate.

In my opinion, one of the most important technological advantages of InDesign is Adobe Graphics Manager (previously known as Display PostScript), a technology invented by Adobe, I believe, and licensed by Steve Jobs while at Next Computers.

AGM is far more important than any particular feature in an individual application. For the developer, AGM means less code writing. Screen displays have long been written in Quicktime in the Macintosh environment and Microsoft's Bitmap in the Wintel world. The screen image then has to be translated into PostScript—another Adobe invention—for output. Up until now, what we have seen on our screens is not necessarily what we get printed. Hence the birth of the preflighting industry.

Since InDesign includes AGM, you see a raster-image-processed image on the screen. What this means for the user is true WYSIWYTG (what you see is what you truly get)—reliable output.

For example, Digital Technology International first became involved with Adobe and K2 (now InDesign) because of the benefits AGM would bring to its newspaper customers—not any particular features. However, its open, object-oriented design has the added benefit of making it simple to drop in newspaper-specific features and, in DTI's case, incorporate InDesign into its well-proven database systems architecture.

Although integration with other Adobe software will be important, in my opinion the key advantage for most users will be derived from AGM. And guess which other pagination programs can boast the advantage of this most important technology? None.

Richard Hall
Proprietor
Media Matters

London

Another Parser

While at NEXPO, I read TechNews' "Parsing Classifieds" article [TechNews, May/June 1999, p. 19] and had a couple of comments. I was disheartened to see that Edgil Associates Inc. was not mentioned. Our AdParse product has been used by newspapers to parse classifieds since 1994. We were doing this in conjunction with major daily newspapers—even before the big World Wide Web "boom"—to get indexed classifieds out of newspapers' advertising systems and onto the Web in a searchable format.

AdParse is also bundled with our WebCentral system, which parses millions of classified ads a year for newspaper groups such as Advance Publications, Lee Enterprises and Tribune Co.

It is one of the most widely known and robust solutions available. Our continuing marketing campaign solidifies this stand.

Our strategy has always been to be at the forefront of innovation and technology. I look forward to future articles regarding online advertising.

Jeff Kosiorek
Marketing Manager
Edgil Associates Inc.
N. Chelmsford, Mass

TechNews Volume 5, Number 5: September/October 1999

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