While I try not to focus on one particular subject or promote a specific item in my blogs, I feel compelled to dedicate this blog to the new and rich features made available in the version 7 release of the Pageflex software. This release is full of a great variety of improvements and completely new features that it just screams "blog me!".

If you ask a Pageflex representative what's new in the version 7 release, they might form their answer around the new Adobe InDesign integration. There is now available a Pageflex plug-in to InDesign CS4 that offers pallets similar to what you have seen in PF Studio. This Studio ID plug-in alone moves InDesign closer to Variable Data more than anything in the past. With this plug-in, you can output directly from InDesign to PostScript, PDF, PPML, or JPEG files. The plug-in is available in both Windows and Mac OS formats.

What if you want to take those InDesign files to your Storefront? That, too, is a new feature available in version 7 - Server ID. Implementation of this basically puts an InDesign Server engine under the hood of Storefront as its composition engine - by itself or in addition to the traditional NuDoc engine. Storefront users see no difference in the workflow. They'd be hard pressed to know if the file was from InDesign or Studio - exactly what you want.

Indeed the integration of Pageflex and Adobe products combining to make a unique and powerful solution are worthy of applause, but there is much more in the mainline Pageflex release than that.

Storefront probably inherits the majority of accolade in features obtained in the new release. These features include:
- Ability to drag items in a list up or down (rather than having to click the up/down arrow until you're blue in the face)

- When users need to select an image from a Image Choice, select a datalist, or other action that requires another window, instead of opening a new window, they're now faced with a nifty floating palette

- You now have the ability to remove users, orders, assets, and even deployments in Storefront

- One can now schedule a task to remove Storefront logs (we presume other scheduled tasks may be on the way)

- There are improvements in skinning, specifically in the area of "Inserts" that can be added to more steps than the previous releases

- There are new Pop-up controls in Storefront and Campaign Manager

- Another great feature is the ability to schedule when a Campaign can be mailed in Campaign Manager

- V7 offers a change in the way Pageflex generates PDF files - still using Adobe libraries, but with more Adobe Distiller-like capabilities

- If you're a Storefront administrator like myself and dislike using Internet Explorer, V7 will now let you use Firefox and Safari for these tasks. Chrome users, stand-by

- Several API, Document Actions, programming features, and extensions have been added or improved upon

Of course there are more features and enhancements but the above list would hopefully make you salivate to know more. It's always encouraging to see vendors address customer and client needs and I believe Pageflex has made another step in the right direction with this release.

Like nearly every other industry, the Print and Marketing Services community is not immune to the economic woes the world is facing. As I type, the Boston Globe is struggling to repel Bankruptcy. The Rocky Mountain News had to call it quits just a few weeks ago. Some of the biggest print shops around have gone extinct. I doubt any of this is news to you and I'm certain you're tired of hearing and reading about it.

Despite this downturn, it remains a bittersweet time for those looking to survive. Companies are using innovative technology to help battle the inevitable. I especially see this in the Variable Data, Personalized Publishing, Dynamic Page Publishing, Web-To-Print world! Targeted marketing, while not a new term, is certainly one that is prevalent in order that printers and marketers aren't sending out large quantities of print to just anybody, but rather to the audience that the message is appropriate for. If John Doe doesn't have a cat, I don't want to be sending him coupons for cat food - thus wasting his time as well as precious resources. But if John Doe does like dogs, sending him a coupon for dog food is more likely to gain his attention.

VDP has been near and dear to me for over 10 years and it's an exciting time to see company's swarm to the technology. For myself, it's a busy era not only because NAPC offers the Pageflex product line, but also because we have so many initiatives surrounding it.

Pageflex themselves are looking to release version 7 of their powerful software that will allow users to use Adobe InDesign to create documents that can be posted on Storefront. One would also be able to utilize the InDesign server to serve up these templates. Version seven will offer other features and enhancements that help maintain Pageflexs' best-in-breed status.

NAPC is starting to implement the Pageflex-to-Xinet Connector at beta sites. The Connector allows Storefront users the ability to retrieve a live asset from the Xinet Digital Asset Management system and place it right in the template they are customizing.

Campaign Manager is growing in popularity as well. The ability to send out email and print campaigns and track them is paramount to marketing agencies and printers alike. Yet another service they can offer their clients.

We have other initiatives - too many to mention - that assure we are not sitting still while the economy tries to recover but instead, working to make the technology help us through these times.

Incidentally, if you're interested to see what the Pageflex and Connector products can do, I invite you to take a look at a video we posted recently (yet another initiative) - go to http://www.napc.com/pageflex.php# and click in the lower-right part of the page - and then contact NAPC to get more details.

It's a bittersweet time!

Welcome to the first NAPC blog. We have selected several NAPC experts to contribute our technology perspectives; from what we like, what we don’t and a range of good technology stuff. When I say stuff, I mean it inthe best way possible. For instance – I might blog about Xinet’s new Asset Browser which was recently released with WebNative Portal 2.0.6. It is a cool new tool, a Xinet web browser that launches in InDesign and allows users to search, browse, drag and drop and run other workflows without leaving the InDesign application. Xinet WebNative Portal 2.0.6 also seems much faster, I have been tough on this product the past few years and I am pleased to see it heading in the right direction. We might also blog on what we think the next big thing is, how the industry is going green or a cool workflow that we saw one of our clients using. The goal is to keep you informed, in touch with the graphics industry from a service provider’s view. I encourage you to subscribe and comment on what we write. Good or bad feedback is vital to us – we want to be your technology partner.