LAYOUT : the newsletter of page design

Following up our story from 2 June (Adobe Announces Acrobat 9), Adobe is from today now shipping Acrobat 9 in all its editions. Creative Suite has also been updated to version 3.3 to include the software in Design Premium, Design Standard, Web Premium and Master Collection editions.  Mac and Windows editions in English, French, German and Japanese are being shipped. Pricing of Creative Suite 3.3 is as follows:

• Creative Suite 3.3 Design Premium - £1,249 + VAT
• Creative Suite 3.3 Design Standard - £1,051 + VAT
• Creative Suite 3.3 Web Premium - £895 + VAT
• Creative Suite 3.3 Master Collection - £2,313 + VAT
• Upgrade Creative Suite 3 to 3.3 - £135 + VAT
• Upgrade any Creative Suite Design Premium to 3.3 - £1,089 + VAT

Linotype has updated its free font management program to version 1.2.3 (build 833). The release fixes bugs and ensures that the ‘Clean System Fonts Folder’ command also works on the System folder in Mac OS X 10.5. The font auto-activation plug-in for QuarkXPress 6 has also been updated. Version 1.2.3 of FontExplorer X is Mac-only: the promised Windows edition, previously in beta, is due for an “imminent release” according to Linotype.
www.linotype.com/fontexplorerX

Markzware has updated FightCheck Professional, its flagship preflighting program, to version 6.10. The update corrects some earlier limitations in its support for certain QuarkXPress 7 files, and Markzware says that the software can process layouts four times faster than version 6.0. The update is free to registered users.
www.markzware-europe.com
For new purchases, Markzware is currently running a €100  discount offer for anyone buying FlightCheck Professional if you order before the end of December 2007.
www.markzware-europe.com/flightcheck_save100

Extensis has developed a Mac OS X 10.5 ‘Optimization Update’ for its font management software, Suitcase Fusion. The update improves compatibility with Mac OS X Leopard and brings Suitcase Fusion to version 12.1.7. As well as automating the necessary settings update for Leopard, the updated software fully supports new fonts provided by Apple with its latest operating system.
www.extensis.com/font-management-for-pros

Mac users who have experienced recent problems getting Adobe Update for CS3 to complete its own downloads or even connect at all should try again now. Adobe Update is a utility that is installed by default with all Adobe CS/CS2/CS3 programs to automate the process of checking for and downloading free bug-fixes and other relevant updates from Adobe’s support servers. However, a number of Creative Suite 3 owners reported that Adobe Update has been producing connection errors, often claiming that the user’s computer was not connected to the Internet. Some (arguably misguided) discussion of this issue took place on Adobe’s forums.

Here at LAYOUT, we also suffered the problem: Adobe Update has always worked fine in the past but stopped connecting in August when the latest Illustrator CS3 update became available. Whatever was causing the problem appears now to have been cleared, and Adobe Update is working normally again.

Linotype has updated its free FontExplorer X font management program for Mac to version 1.2.2. The update changes the Font Store interface and, more importantly, includes new automatic font activation plug-ins for QuarkXPress 6.5 and 7.x users. Previous releases of these plug-ins have been causing problems to some users, so it’s a worthwhile update just for this as well as a number of other bug-fixes.
www.linotype.com/fontexplorerX

Lemkesoft has released a free update to GraphicConverter 6.0. The update includes some relatively minor additions, changes and bug-fixes — always worth having, nevertheless. For a full list of changes in version 6.0.1, go to this page.
www.lemkesoft.com/gc-en.html

Adobe has issued a minor update to its Illustrator CS3 vector graphics package, allowing it to import FreeHand-format files more cleanly. Adobe acquired FreeHand, at one time Illustrator’s most direct competitor, when it purchased Macromedia at the end of 2005. Adobe has admitted that the stagnating FreeHand would no longer be developed by the company, so the ability to import FreeHand files into Illustrator is currently the only way to ensure old FH graphics are not marooned in the past.
Creative Suite 3 owners should be able to download and install the update using the built-in Adobe Updater program, but if you are having trouble with this (and many people are at the moment), you can download it using these links: Mac version, Windows version.

Quark has announced that it will shortly release an update to its Quark Print Collection pack of XTensions that will make it fully compatible with Adobe Acrobat 8 as well as version 7. Quark Print Collection comprises Markit (custom registration marks), Item Marks (custom crop marks and placement) and Imposer (multi-page print imposition for QuarkXPress and Acrobat). The updater is expected to be made available as a download from Quark’s website from 19 September.
euro.quark.com/en/products/printcollection

Markzware has updated FlightCheck Professional, its flagship prepress preflighting package, to version 6.02. The free update speeds up PDF scanning, fully reports and collects anchored graphics in Adobe InDesign CS2 and CS3 layouts, and can handle certain ‘difficult’ QuarkXPress files that the previous version had trouble with. Other improvements include colour reporting in Adobe Illustrator CS3 files (including when they have been placed into QuarkXPress or InDesign layouts), and better AppleScript support. A progress bar has also been added to the page layout window. Mac only.

www.markzware.com/flightcheck_professional