Chapter 13. Printing

Once upon a time, probably somewhere at some university, someone had an idea and named it “the paperless office.” People wouldn't be bothered anymore with having to store the thousands (or millions) of pieces of paper that come through their offices every year. Instead, the information would all be placed on some sort of storage medium, easily referenced by computer. It was a magic concept; everyone agreed that it would make life easier, more efficient, and certainly more fun.

Go ahead and ask people who have been involved with electronic publishing for a while if they have seen any sign of the paperless office. As an example, in my office, the ratio of expended paper to normal refuse is such that I empty my small garbage can every couple of weeks and the voluminous paper-recycling boxes weekly. When it comes right down to it, unless you use QuarkXPress exclusively for building Web pages or Acrobat PDF files, almost every document that you create is probably based, ultimately, on a printed page or an imaged piece of film (which will probably be used later to print on paper).