Until recently, most prepress tasks—such as scanning color
photographs, trapping, imposition, color correction, and halftone
screening—were performed exclusively by skilled specialists
working manually or on expensive proprietary systems. Today
many of these tasks can be accomplished on the desktop.
The flexibility and direct control offered by this new technology have
blurred the traditional roles of designer and prepress professionals.
Designers who have the knowledge and the equipment can do their
own prepress work. The prepress industry has changed to support the
new requirements of the desktop publisher. Most commercial print
shops are now equipped to image a file directly onto lithographic
plates without requiring film as an intermediary, or even directly from
a digital file to press.
Managing these changing relationships to achieve output of professional
quality requires a knowledge of the processes and relevant
issues. As a guide to the preparation of electronic files for commercial
printing, this book addresses these issues and supplies the information
you will need in deciding whether to perform a particular task
yourself or to leave that task in the hands of a prepress professional.