Virtually all manuals are printed in one of three ways:
Photocopying is the cheapest method of reproducing small numbers of manuals. Turn-around time is also very short. And if the photocopier is new and well maintained, print quality will probably be excellent.
Unfortunately, most photocopiers do not reproduce photographs or other dot screens well, so if you are going to use a lot of them, it’s best to use either offset printing or direct-from-disk printing. Photographs can be used successfully if you use a relatively small number of lines per inch for the dot screen. We recommend that dot screens be between 55 and 75 lines per inch to reproduce well on a photocopier.
When you get the printed manuals, check one copy thoroughly for any printing errors, such as pages out of order. If one copy is correct, chances are they all are. However, because each copy is printed separately, there may be isolated printing errors, such as pages printed crooked. Unfortunately, to eliminate this possibility, you must check every page of every manual—a tedious and time consuming chore.
Offset printing is a high-quality, inexpensive method of printing large numbers of copies. For printing forms, for example, it can be dramatically cheaper than photocopying. It’s cheap because an offset duplicator can print up to 9,000 impressions (pages) per hour—way faster than photocopying. It can also be used to reproduce manuals if you need a large number of copies (roughly 500 or more). For numbers less than that, however, it tends not to be cost-effective.
To print each page, a plate must be made using a photographic process, and the plate installed in the printer. These plates can be made of plastic (lower quality, lower cost) or metal (higher quality, higher cost). This results in considerable setup costs, which increase as the number of original pages increases.
The other problem is that all copies of each page are printed at the same time. So once the printing is finished, the pages must be collated together to form the finished manuals. This results in additional costs, which also increase as the number of original pages increases. Most printers will collate the pages together with the divider tabs and insert them into your binder so you get manuals that are ready to distribute. Or you can save money and do the collating yourself.
Offset duplicators print photographs and other dot screens well. For best results, make sure your screens are 85 -100 lines per inch if you’re using plastic plates, or 100 - 175 lines if you’re using metal plates.
Direct-from-disk printing is an inexpensive, high-quality alternative to offset printing. It costs about the same as photocopying, but provides higher resolution output, and fast turn-around.
Just copy your manual files to a diskette using the print-to-disk feature and take the disk to any printer offering direct-from-disk printing. Every copy of the manual is printed directly from the disk at 600 dpi—twice the print resolution of a normal 300 dpi laser printer (the newer laser printers now print at 600 dpi). This method is often described as demand printing because set up time and charges are low, so you can print only the number of copies you need right away.
Ask for a proof copy before the final printing begins, then check it thoroughly. If you’ve saved it to the disk properly, there should be no font substitutions (all lines and pages will break exactly as they do on your laser print out). Also, check the screens on the proof—screens printed at 600 dpi usually appear lighter than when printed at 300 dpi.
Direct-from-disk printing requires that you have the complete manual in electronic form without any paste-ups. All your illustrations, graphics and photographs must either come from electronic sources, or be converted into electronic form and integrated with your word processing file. If you have a small number of illustrations or photographs that haven’t been converted, your printer can usually scan them for you and incorporate them into your manual.
The added benefit of creating all-electronic manuals is that they can be converted into online manuals easily.
If you’re going to photocopy or offset print your manuals, you must prepare a camera-ready copy of the manual to give to the printer. This will be the master copy from which all copies will be reproduced.
Print the camera-ready copy of the manual onto laser paper for best results. Laser paper is impregnated with clay and polished to an extremely flat finish. While it’s more expensive than regular paper, the increase in print quality is noticeable.
If print quality is very important, you can have your camera-ready pages printed out from a Linotronic typesetter. This machine will print out your pages at approximately 1,200 dpi (most laser printers print at 300 dpi). However, since there is usually a $10 - $15 charge per page, this can be a significant expense for large manuals. Just copy your manual files to a diskette using the print-to-disk feature and take them to a service bureau offering Linotronic service.
Most organizations that use external printing services will get a minimum of three written quotations from printers before proceeding. Printing large numbers of manuals can be expensive, and there can be a significant difference in the amounts charged by printers.
Before you can get printing quotes, you’ll need to prepare your printing specifications—a detailed set of instructions that tells the printers exactly how you want the manual printed. When establishing printing specifications, consider the following:
Number of Copies – If you’re having the manuals offset printed, make sure you print more copies than you’ll actually need. It’s a lot cheaper to print a few extra now, than have to go back later for a couple more.
Paper Size – 8½" by 11" paper is the standard size and the best choice for modular manuals. If you choose a smaller page size, you won’t be able to photocopy it in-house, so it will probably take longer to get revisions to the manual holders.
Paper Colour – Black print on white paper is considered the most legible, so avoid using coloured papers.
Paper Weight – This manual is printed on 60 lb paper. The paper is stronger than regular photocopy paper, so it won’t tear out of the binder or ‘dog-ear’ as fast. It’s also more opaque so readers will notice less show-through from the other side of the sheet.
The half-title page should be printed on 10pt to 12pt cardstock so that it won’t tear out of the manual. The first page in a manual must always be printed, not photocopied—if it’s photocopied, the toner will transfer onto the inside cover of the binder.
Finish – Avoid textured paper. While it may look nice, the print quality will suffer. You’ll get the best results on paper with a smooth, flat finish.
3-hole Punch – Don’t forget to specify 3-hole paper. Rather than printing onto stock that has been pre-punched, most printers will drill the holes after the manuals are printed.
Shell Pages – If you’re using pre-printed shell pages, you can have them printed at the same time by the same printer. Make sure theprinter knows that the manuals are being printed onto shell pages and is aware of the registration tolerance required.
Make sure the person who will do the reproduction knows to start each module on a right-hand page—better still, insert blank pages at the ends of modules which have an odd number of pages to ensure that the pages are printed correctly. While all professional printers know that odd page numbers are always printed on right-hand pages, some photocopier operators are not aware of it.
If you’re having the manuals photocopied and you have paste-ups (such as illustrations pasted onto pages), point them out. The person photocopying may want to make copies of those pages, white out any shadow lines (lines visible around the edge of paste-ups), then use the new copies in the master.
Make sure the printer knows what the finished manuals should look like. If there’s any doubt, mock-up a copy to show the placement of pages.
