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Am Bratach also contains a high percentage of photographs. In the past these images have been processed more than 50 miles away using a process camera. Now, the Am Bratach team has three digital cameras used by volunteer photographers to produce instant digital images that can be e-mailed into the editorial office. Making the move to Adobe Photoshop was a big advance for Am Bratach. Pictures that had previously been created using a process camera at the printer’s and used with limited forms of editing are now not only retouched, but also converted to monochrome and resized to fit the space in the magazine, greatly enhancing the overall appearance of the publication. "The quality of our photographs have steadily improved since we installed Photoshop" says MacLeod. The interface between editorial and print is smoother. Digital images taken direct from a digi-cam seem much easier to use and are far better quality than those produced by an ordinary process camera."
Electronic files directly to the printer When the magazine has been completed in PageMaker and is ready for printing, it is converted into Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files using Adobe Acrobat Distiller. This simple process reduces the file to less than a tenth of its original size. The magazine is then sent electronically to the Inver-Ross Printing Company in Dingwall. Thanks to Adobe technology and ISDN, it now takes just 8 minutes to transfer all the pages electronically, complete with illustrations, crossword and even a cartoon sent from the Isle of Skye. Sending data across ISDN now saves a round trip of more than 150 miles by road. The printers are equally delighted with Am Bratach’s increased efficiency as they simply download the PDF file into a PowerMac, print the file on a high quality Xante PostScript laser printer before plate making, and doing the final print run. Online publishing Am Bratach is also produced as an Internet publication. In the past, web-based copy had to be created using a dedicated HTML editor. But now, by converting the magazine’s PageMaker files into PDF files with Acrobat Distiller, MacLeod is able to put the magazine directly onto the web without needing to waste time creating additional documents. This speeds up the on-line publication process and makes the magazine available to Gaelic readers all over the world as soon as it is published in Scotland. "I now handle the entire magazine layout in Adobe PageMaker and deal with all the photo preparation and manipulation in Adobe Photoshop" says MacLeod. "Adobe software allows me to move data between packages without any problems, create HTML files as required, and generally make Am Bratach easier and faster to produce." Appreciating the learning curve MacLeod insists that he had very little knowledge of computers when he started out, but maintains that PageMaker and Photoshop are so intuitive that he just ‘learned as he went along’. And he adds that they are still learning the many facets of DTP. When he first published the magazine there wasn’t time to read the PageMaker manual in depth, but he still managed to produce the magazine in time to meet their production deadline. "And I’ve never yet been late for a deadline" MacLeod is pleased to say. "PageMaker 6.5 is far more advanced than we need but we are slowly moving towards understanding and using all the features. When I started out in all this I got a book to learn about monochrome - Once I worked out how to use Adobe Photoshop, I finally understood the book!" Conclusion Donald MacLeod has overcome the problems of a tight budget, keeping up with the digital age in publishing, and reaching a worldwide audience, by harnessing the power of Adobe’s products. He has been able to traverse the many electronic boundaries that crisscross the production process of his magazine, uniting all the people and organisations that help to create it into one, digitally-compatible team. Most significantly, MacLeod has achieved all of this without any prior DTP knowledge. He concludes, "I like all the Adobe products very much and wouldn’t even consider shifting to anything else. Honestly, I don’t know how we would cope without Adobe."
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