Re: crop marks in PDF for printing

[Alexander Kobel]

On 2016-11-07 08:16, Henning Hraban Ramm wrote:
> Am 2016-11-06 um 22:56 schrieb Alexander Kobel <address@hidden>:
>
> > > > In many brochure-bound volumes of more than two or three sheets (say, 60+ 
> > > > pages), the paper is cut to align flush when the brochure is closed.  So the 
> > > > inner sheets are (sometimes significantly, say in the order of 5mm per page or 
> > > > 10mm per sheet) narrower than the outer ones.  Does / should this impact the 
> > > > layout of the page?  And if so, how?
> > >
> > > It should affect the layout insofar as the page contents (should) get moved a 
> > > few millimeters.
> > > That’s a task for the imposition software at the printshop, or previously for the 
> > > "Druckvorlagenhersteller" (lithographer?).
> >
> > Should the contents be moved towards the binding or towards the outer edge?
>
> Oh my, I gave away all of my technical literature years ago...
>
> See e.g. "Seitenversatz" at 
> https://helpx.adobe.com/de/indesign/using/printing-booklets.html
> in English: "Creep" at 
> https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/printing-booklets.html
>
> You can either move the contents of the outer pages of a fold *away from* the 
> gutter/spine, or move the contents of the inner pages *to* the gutter/spine.

I see. So it's up to the designer/typographer to decide.
For text, I can imagine that this makes sense, in particular increasing 
the inner margin - after all, the edges of the other pages of an open 
book create another kind of optical outer margin that adds to the existing.
For music, the situation is slightly different; margins are typically 
smaller, since the requirements for long lines are totally different 
from text; visibility of everything and practicality for holding the 
book without covering content are more important there IMHO. Form 
follows function.

> > > Interesting approach – I never heard of anyone doing this, but it makes sense 
> > > and could even be applied to text layout.
> > > [...]
> Yes, TeX has issues with changing line widths (even in columns) and additional 
> variables that affect line breaking, but modern computers are good enough WRT 
> speed and memory, and esp. LuaTeX allows for enough control to cope even with 
> irregular layouts (as ConTeXt can do, i.e. that *you* can do using ConTeXt).
>
> I can imagine it would be possible to tell TeX (ConTeXt) which column or 
> horizontal layout area to adapt to the binding correction to achieve pure 
> harmony in book design ;)
>
> > But at least I'm glad that an experienced typesetter agrees with my idea. :-)
>
> I’ll try to infect some TeX gurus with the idea.

Keep me in the loop... ;-) I wonder whether this will be worth the effort.

> > > Usual layout correction affects only the margins.
> > Pure lazyness. ;-)
>
> Call it efficiency. A typesetter (or imposer/lithographer/printer) is no artist 
> who can work for years at one piece. Even in Gutenberg’s era, production 
> efficiency was crucial - since the printers tried to provide the quality of 
> writing monks (copy writers?) for much lower costs, while work time had a much 
> lower value than today.

Of course. Lazyness and efficiency are closely related. :-)
Given the advent of e-ink readers, I'm afraid we'll no longer have to 
think about such issues for everything except extraordinary design 
projects anymore in due time...


Cheers,
Alexander