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Tip 1

Can Your Mac Run Tiger?
To use Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, your Macintosh must have:

• A PowerPC G3, G4, or G5processor

• Built-in FireWire (Not all G3 Macs have built-in FireWire.)

Apple has a helpful Web page that illustrates each model that can run Tiger:

www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/requirements.html


Tip 2

All About Tiger
Apple has released Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger). Below are some of our favorite improvements and new features:

Address Book:
Import contacts from text files; Print custom labels and envelopes; Print a pocket address book.

Dictionary:
A system-wide customizable command key lets you look up any highlighted word in a
built-in New Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus. By default, the command is Command- Control-D.

Spotlight: Indexes everything on your hard drive, and lets you find files by name,
content, dates, and much more. Far more advanced than Panther’s File> Find….
Search for documents and folders directly from Open and Save dialogs. Save queries as Smart Folders that automatically update whenever a new file is added to your hard drive that matches the query, or an existing file is changed to match the
query. (Similar to iTunes’ Smart Playlists.) For example, a Smart Folder can point to every PDF you’ve viewed in the past week.

Dashboard:
Floating “Widgets” that provide a function, usually in a very cool way. The Translation Widget translates words and phrases among 11 different languages.

Faxing:
Now keeps a log of faxes, with an optional archive. Fax Status Menu shows the status of fax jobs in progress.

iChat AV:
Video chat with up to three other people. Audio chat with up to 10 other people.
New H.264 video codec provides much better quality at much lower bandwidth.

Preview application:
Opens files in Adobe’s new DNG (Digital Negative) format, RAW format, and JPEG2000 format. Adjust color, exposure, and more; Access features new to PDF 1.5; Annotate
PDFs; Fill out and print PDF forms; Edit keywords in pictures.

Safari:
View PDF documents directly in the browser window.

Speed:
Tiger runs faster on existing Macs than Panther did. For more information, see
Macworld’s roundup at

www.macworld.com/2005/04/features/tigerhome/ or go straight to Apple at
www.apple.com/macosx/newfeatures/newfeatures.html

For a critique of Tiger and an explanation of its technical underpinnings, we
recommend browsing John Siracusa’s article at Ars Technica:
www.arstechnica.com/reviews/os/macosx-10.4.ars


Tip 3
 
Avoiding and Fixing Clogged Print Heads
The print heads on Epson’s inkjet printers are more prone to clogging than other brands are because the print head is permanent (in contrast, HP includes a new print head in each ink cartridge). Here are a few tips to keep the heads from clogging:

• Use the printer’s power button to turn the printer off when you’re not using it for an extended period of time. This parks the heads in a safe place and reduces their contact with air.

• Don’t use a power strip to turn the printer on and off — use the printer’s power
button. Otherwise the heads won’t park properly, and the printer gets confused
about how long it’s been used, causing subsequent head cleaning routines to be inappropriate. If the heads do become clogged:

• Use the head cleaning routine in the Epson Printer Utility. The cleaning cycles become more aggressive as you repeat them, so running the the cycle several
times in a row is more effective than running it once and then again later.

• Sometimes, gently heating the heads with a hair dryer will help loosen a clog. Use this in combination with Epson’s head cleaning routine.

• www.fixyourownprinter.com offers “Epson Stylus Head Cleaning Solution” for
$9.95. They claim it’s the same chemical used by Epson in their service department.
Valuable links:
www.weeno.com/art/0899/140.shtml

www.fixyourownprinter.com/kits/epson/K70

www.inkjetart.com/tips/cleaning/



Tip 4
 
Defragment in Mac OS X?
Hard drive optimization, or defragmenting, was critical for system performance in Mac OS 9, but not so in Mac OS X. Panther (Mac OS X 10.3) automatically defragments
document files as they are used, and most applications rewrite the entire file
instead of appending new data to the end of the original file. In most cases, optimization yields no improvement, and in some cases can hamper performance.
You can improve performance by keeping at least 1GB free on your drive, and use a
second, freshly-formatted drive for editing large video and audio files. More information is available at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25668



Tip 5

More Reliable Page Size When Making PDFs
If, when creating a PDF from either a PostScript file or by using the Adobe PDF print driver, the resulting PDF has an incorrect page size, try this: in the Print dialog, set your page size to “Custom”. This should let the print driver expand the page as necessary, which can be helpful for crops and bleeds.
David Creamer
Layers May/June 05, pg.91


Tip 6

Print Part of a PDF Page
In Acrobat 7, there are two ways to print just a portion of a page: 1. (This one also works in Acrobat 6) Select the Snapshot tool from the toolbar (it looks like a camera), then drag a selection marquee around the area you want to print. When you choose File> Print, one of the what-to print options will be “Selected Graphic”. Choose that and only your selected area will print. 2. Zoom in and resize your window to surround only the part you want to print. Then, when you choose File> Print, one of the
what-to-print options will be “Current View”. Choose that and only the area in your window will print.


Tip 7

Custom Snap Angles in Illustrator
In Illustrator, when you need to draw at angles other than a multiple of 45°, go to Illustrator> Preferences> Smart Guides & Slices and change the Angles pop-up menu to your required angle. Then, turn on View> Smart Guides and Illustrator will indicate
when you’re on one of your chosen angles. The standard Shift key shortcut for 45° and 90° will still work as well.

David Creamer


Tip 8

A Shorter Printer List in QuarkXPress
In QuarkXPress, if you commonly print to two or more printers, the long list of dozens of PPDs in the Print dialog gets in the way. You can simplify the list by “hiding” the printer descriptions (PPDs) for printers you never use: go to Utilities> PPD Manager
and deselect them.


Tip 9

See Which Plates Print in QuarkXPress 6
The Print dialog box in QuarkXPress 6 lets you select which layers to print, and it also shows which plates would print from each layer. You can use this feature BEFORE printing, to see if your design will create more plates than you need.


Tip 10

Side-by-Side Photos in Photoshop
Photoshop CS 2 lets you see two photos side-by-side. Just choose Window> Tile Vertically. Previous versions of Photoshop let you see them tiled one above the other, but this is a new, welcome feature.


Tip 11

Crop Two Images to Same Size
In Photoshop, an easy way to crop an image to exactly the same size and resolution
as another image is to open both, select the Crop tool, activate the image that has the size you like, and then click the Front Image button in the Options Bar. When you click on your second image and drag with the Crop tool, the cropping rectangle will be
constrained to the same dimensions as the first image. When you press the Return key, the second image will resize to the same resolution and size as the first image.
Peter Bauer


Tips and Tricks Archive

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