Classified Sales (904)359-4321

Retail Sales (904)359-4277

Pre-press technical support (904) 359-4392

DIGITAL ADVERTISING SUBMISSION GUIDE

Advertising Customer Services provides advertisers the opportunity to send “camera-ready” ads digitally on computer disks and other means. This is our current software, system capabilities and requirements for advertisers wishing to send ads in digital format. We use Macintosh computers integrated into Unix-based pre-press pagination system. We use 100 line screen and output directly to film.

SOFTWARE:
Adobe Photoshop 5.5
Adobe Illustrator 7.0
Acrobat 4.0
Creator 4.0/Multi-Ad Creator 2
Fetch 3.0.3
Netscape Communicator 4.7
Quark Express 4.03
Stuffit Lite 3.5
Stuffit Expander 5.5

ACCEPTED FORMATS:
Native Quark/Creator files with all fonts and artwork included PDF (Portable Document Format) with fonts embedded EPS files with fonts embedded and placed art included.

TRANSFERABLE MEDIA
100 MB Zip Drive CD-Rom 3.5” floppy drive 5.25” Syquest Drive capable of reading 44, 88 and 200 megabyte Syquest disk.
ALL DISKS MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A LASER PROOF AND RECEIVED BY NON-PROOF DEADLINES.

ELECTRONIC AD DELIVERY SERVICES

The Times-Union subscribes and uses the following Ad delivery services.
To use these services advertisers must contact them directly.
AP Adsend (www.adsend.com) SITE CODE ID is FLJAJ
AdDirect (www.addirect.com)
Ad Transit (www.adtransit.com)
MediaPassage (www.mediapassage.com)
Whamnet (www.whamgate.com)
Florida Press Service (www.printplacement.com)
Premier Datavision (303-232-1901) AdExpress

The Times-Union offers our own ftp site at ftp.jax-tu.com where advertisers can upload their ads for us to download. Advertisers can connect without the need of a login or password. All that is required is the host name above. The directory is “Advertising”.

Advertisers can “FTP” an ad using a variety of software programs including Netscape, Microsoft Explorer, WinLE, or Fetch depending on the computer platform they choose to build their ads and their software preferences. The general rule is that if an advertiser has email capability they can “FTP” also.

As with all electronic delivery methods the PDF file format is the preferred format. PDF (PORTABLE DOCUMENT FORMAT) is the only format used by our current Ad Delivery Services that we subscribe to. If sending multiple files all files should be collected and compressed using a file compression utility such as Stuffit to create a single file for uploading.

Once an advertiser posts an ad on our ftp site they should fax a copy of the ad to their Advertising Sales Rep. who in turn can provide the necessary processing information to the pre-flight area in Ad Customer Services. As with all ads delivered electronically, a proof will be provided to the Rep. with information were the ad can be picked up. (i.e. the Adsend DT ticket or “Download Area” folder name).

E-mail
Advertising Customer Services will accept advertising through email. However, ads should be complete ads in the PDF format with all fonts embedded. For individual artwork such as a photo or logo please contact your sales rep for the appropriate routing information and email address.

Although we do have email capability, email is discouraged because of file size limitations, computer virus concerns, and general reliability of some ISP’s (Internet Service Providers). Also, unlike the ad delivery services we subscribe to or uploading to our FTP site, it is difficult for advertisers to confirm the arrival of email. Our email address for ad transfer is adserv@mh1.jax-tu.com.

Advertising Customer Services also provides a Digtal Ad Checklist to assist our advertisers in producing digital advertising available as hard copy or PDF format for electronic distribution.

Advertisers can call Ad Customer Services directly at 359-4392 if they have any questions or need further information or help in sending files electronically.

Before submitting your ad, check the following items:
(further explanation/infomation included)

For all submissions
The ad in your document is the exact size of the ad you ordered. Your ad has been proofread for typographical and grammatical errors. All rules are at least .25 points thick. No hairline rules, please. All shapes were created using the geometrical tools within the application (i.e. rules were not used to create a box). All required files have been included in a single compressed archive file or included on the disk. A laser proof of the ad must be provided with all disks.

If your ad is black & white
All artwork is line art or grayscale and not color. Please do not scan in line art as grayscale (8 bit).

If your ad is color
All elements are CMYK. (Check the mode in Photoshop) All graphics are properly separated for color. Color used in the ad is the color ordered with the sales representative. If not, please explain.

If you are sending a PDF (Portable Document Format) file
Acrobat Distiller was set up properly. Your ad was distilled with fonts embedded. All images are CMYK images, not RGB.

If you are sending an EPS (Encaspsulated Postscript File)
Your archive file or disk includes the EPS file and the original document. Your archive file or disk includes the fonts used in the document AND the fonts used in the graphics in the EPS file. If you are sending a native application file Your archive file or disk contains the document. Your archive file or disk contains all graphics used in the ad. Please double check that none are missing. Your archive file contains all fonts used in the ad, as well as the fonts used in any EPS files and or other graphics Macintosh users must include both the screen font and the printer font. Windows users must include the .pfm file and .pfb file. Your fonts are PostScript Type 1. Please — no TrueType or bitmap fonts. You’ve not renamed any graphics since placing them in the document.

GRAPHICS

TIFF and EPS are the preferred file formats for graphics. No GIFs, JPEGs,BMPs, WMFs or PICTs.

Create all EPS files with a TIFF preview.

All colors must be in CMYK format, including logos and artwork. No Pantones or spot colors.

Take dot gain into consideration when preparing your ad. Images in the newspaper will appear 20%-35% darker than a laser proof or the image on your screen. All images except those in a PDF file are corrected for dot gain.

You'll get better results going from 10% to 75% instead of 0 to 100% For best photo reproduction correct photos for 36% dot gain and 220 total ink.

Ensure all colors are prepared for process-color (CMYK) separations. Newspaper color separations are always combinations of CMYK inks.

Don't use hairline rules — these may look good on your laser printer, but are difficult for an imagesteer to process. If you want a thin line, use a .25 point rule instead.

Don't do page layout in a word processor like Microsoft Word. Word processors don't handle page layout and font changes very well. They often have trouble printing consistently to PostScript RIPS

Use Photoshop to create clipping paths, not QuarkXpress. Quark clipping paths have a tendency to shift if the image is updated after being corrected by our imaging department.

Don't create complex clipping paths in Adobe Photoshop or complex paths in Adobe Illustrator. Doing so will make your job hard or sometimes impossible to image. A complex path is one that has many control points.

Ensure that the pasteboard surrounding your document is empty and make sure there are no non-printable items in the ad document.

Double check your ad for correct dimensions and zero margins. Your document size should be the same as the ad size.

Lastly, make sure you can print your final ad document. Chances are, if you can't print, we won't be able to either.

TEXT

Use PostScript Type 1 fonts only. Do not use TrueType or bitmap fonts.

Avoid type sizes below 6 points. If it is difficult for you to read this laser-printed 6-point type, imagine what might happen with the variables of newsprint and ink.

All type, especially black type and white type, should have trapping set to “Knockout”

Reverse type smaller than 8 points may not reproduce well. And serif and non-bold fonts smaller than 10 points may disappear into reverse areas. Most typefaces name after cities (Geneva, New York, Chicago, Monaco, etc.) are screen fonts that are not made for imagesetter output. Avoid them. Delete all unused style sheets and colors when you're finished with your document. This can result in “Font Missing” messages when the ad is output. Don't use too many fonts in a single job. Not only is it bad design, but it will also make your job difficult or impossible to print properly. Always supply the fonts you've used in your document, even if they are included in the EPS file.

TERMINOLOGY

RGB vs. CMYK
RGB stands for Red-Green-Blue, which is the name of the color method used on computer displays. CMYK means Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-blacK. For images to be printed in color, they must be saved as CMYK. Our press uses four color plates to produce full color images. If an RGB image is used in an advertisement, it will print black and white — not color. Note: Most color printers will print RGB color. Therefore, it is important to verify that each image in your ad is CYMK before submitting your final ad file.

COLOR PRINTING
Color Registration refers to the accuracy of lining up the four colors (CMYK) during the press run. Ink Coverage refers to how well the ink adheres to the newsprint. Problems in this area are described as heavy or light inking.

RESOLUTION
Vector images are created with mathematical formulas and can be enlarged or reduced without affecting print quality. Freehand and Illustrator create vector images. Raster images are created with pixels. Tiny dots are arranged in patterns to create photos and images. Photoshop can only create raster images, so enlarging or reducing the image can greatly affect quality. Also, type set within a Photoshop file his a tendency to break up and should be avoided.

LINE SCREEN
Is the number of dots that are printed from the imagesetter. If you look at the newspaper under a microscope, you will see that all text and photos are made up of tiny dots. This newspaper uses 100 lines per inch.

GREYSCALE AND COLOR RESOLUTION
Should always be 1.5 or 2 times the line screen. The recommended resolution for photos is 170 pixels per inch for black and white images and 200 pixels per inch for color images (100 lines per inch x 2).

LINE ART
Should always be scanned at higher resolutions - usually 600 pixels per inch. File sizes remain low even though higher resolution is used because there are no shades of gray or color.

DOT GAIN
Images in the newspaper appear 20-30% darker than proofs or the image on your screen. The size of the dot enlarges with every step of the printing process.

Newspapers everywhere are working to eliminate steps in the production process with technology such as pagination and computer-to-plate. By eliminating these steps, dot gain is reduced, thereby improving overall quality of the newspaper.

Photocopier Test
If you're not sure if you will encounter a dot gain problem, test your ad on a photocopier. Make a copy of the ad in regular mode, then darken the copy 2 notches (20%) with the brightness control. If the photocopy is too dark, it will print too dark.

PRINTER’S MEASUREMENTS
Point: Approx. 1/72 of an inch or 72 points per inch. Type is always specified in points. Software applications should be set to an even 72 points per inch

Pica: Used for linear measurement of type. 12 points = 1 pica, 6 picas = 1 inch.

FONTS
Fonts are the most important aspect of the ad document as well as perhaps the most often forgotten and misunderstood. It is easy to select a type style from the font window from within your application. However, for successful output of your document on another computer, our computers must have the exact same fonts installed or accessible. This means you must either embed the fonts you use within the document or supply the necessary font files along with your ad document.

What are fonts?
A complete assortment of letters, numbers, punctuation marks, etc. of a given size and design. Times New Roman, Avant Garde, Helvetica and Franklin Gothic are names of common fonts in use today.

All digital fonts now fall into three categories.
PostScript or Type 1: Scalable outline fonts based on bezier curves. Type 1 fonts are the only recommended font type for use in an ad.

TrueType:
Scalable outline fonts based on quadratic curves that must be converted to Type 1 (often this conversion is invisible to the user). Not recommended for use in an ad.

Bitmap: Non-scalable pixel maps of a given type face. Not recommended for output on high resolution devices. We are unable to accept ads that use bitmap fonts.

When you supply your fonts to the newspaper with your ad document, the Times-Union will not continue to use your fonts. They are removed once your ad document has been printed.

Using your application’s style menu
When you stylize text, this means you have applied the bold and/or italic style. You must supply the corresponding bold and italic fonts for proper output on our imagesetters. Avoid using other styles such as outline or shadow. In Quark, never use the measurement pallete to bold or italicize

SUPPLYING FONTS FOR THE MACINTOSH
PostScript - Type 1 Fonts
PostScript Type 1 Fonts have two parts - an outline file and a bitmap file. The outline file contains PostScript information that creates the text on the printed page.

The outline file is commonly called the Printer Font. The bitmap file contains spacing information and specific font sizes designed for on-screen display only. The bitmap file is commonly referred to as the Screen Font. Screen fonts are often grouped together in a font suitcase.

A PostScript font is available when the screen font is properly installed in the system. Store PostScript screen and printer fonts in the Fonts folder within the System folder.

True Type Fonts
True Type Fonts have one file, where the on-screen information and the printer information are stored. Do not use True Type fonts in your ad document. Font substitution may be required if you use TrueType fonts. Sometimes it is necessary for us to distill your ad in order to get your fonts to print correctly from our imagestters. Some True Type fonts cannot be embedded into a PDF. Note: When supplying fonts to us, you must supply both the printer font and the screen font for each font used in your ad document. Example of a font suitcase

Example of Font Suitcases and PostScript (Outline) Fonts

SUPPLYING FONTS FOR THE WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEM
On a Windows system, each PostScript font uses two files. The .pfb file is used for screen representation; the .pfm is used for printing. When sending fonts to another computer for output, you must include both files.

True Type have only one file, a .ttf file, usually located in the Windows/Fonts directory. Note: It is strongly advised that you refrain from using True Type fonts in your ad document. Please use the equivalent Type 1 font. Otherwise, it may be necessary for us to replace the TrueType fonts in your document to get your document to print properly.

Stylized Text
If you have stylized text in your document, you must also include these Type 1 fonts. For example, if you used Avant Garde, Avant Garde bold, Avant Garde italic and Avant Garde bold italic, you must include 8 separate font files (4 .pfb and 4 .pfm).

Please note that the Times-Union utilizes mainly Macintosh computers in the Advertising Customer Services Department. We strongly recommend to our advertisers that if they are using a Windows operating system that they convert their ad to a PDF file and embed the fonts.

MODULAR TAB (6 Cols x 11 1/2" Deep)
                              Picas                    Inches
2 Col. ..................... 18.9 ..................... 3 1/8
3 Col. ..................... 28.6 ..................... 4 3/4
6 Col. ..................... 58.0 ..................... 9 5/8

NOTE: The only depths available in modular are as follows:
2 Col. x 2.75”      3 Col. x 2.75”       6 Col. x 5.75”
2 Col. x 5.75”      3 Col. x 5.75”      6 Col. x 11.50”
2 Col. x 11.50”    3 Col. x 11.50”