OVER 2 YOU 183 (15/06/04)

ON A ROLL

I want good quality white paper roll to use on my Epson 1270 (width 300mm) to print out family trees. The length of paper needed varies from tree to tree (typically 300mm x 850mm).  Photo quality paper roll is too expensive. So, where can I purchase 80g, 300mm wide smooth white paper roll to cut to length?
Peter Patilla, via email

I have an Epson 1290 and had exactly the same need as your correspondent. My solution was to find a good stationery stockist and buy HP Bright White Inkjet Paper, C6036A 36” x 150ft (914mm x 45.7m). I bought mine from Garner Bennett in Stoke on Trent. It cost £25.85 including VAT. A friend with a sharp, fine bladed circular or cross cut saw can chop it up into any desired lengths. The cardboard core is dead right for the 1290, but the roll is too fat for use in one go; I found it necessary to unroll about half of the cut-up rolls for later use. Excellent quality, good value and not a lot of work!

Getting the set-up right for the printer can be frustrating.  As I recall the clues are `banner printing’ and `no margins’.  My family tree comes out about 20 feet long!

Geoff Johnson, via email

McLink, based in Preston, is a trade supplier of an extensive range of inkjet consumables for wide format and desktop printers. They deliver nationally and can supply Peter with a 120g matt paper (size 300mm x 30.5m) for use on his printer. More details from: www.mclinkmedia.com/ tel. 01772 750905.

Keith McQueen, via email

CD CATALOGUE

I would like to put my company’s products onto a CD-ROM catalogue. I want to be able simply to put in the product data and pictures and then have a program turn it into an easily browsed catalogue that will auto-start when inserted into a CD player. I expect to have to do some layout and graphic design, but I would prefer to avoid having to create the structure, produce a search engine and work out how to auto-start the CD. Is there such an application or possibly a plug-in for a web-authoring program that would do the job?

Colin Bignell, via email

I have used CDMenuPro to build a menu for a CD ROM.  Colin could try www.cdmenupro.com for more information

Andrew Myers, via email

Colin Bignell should go to: www.upd8technology.co.uk. Or contact the company 01403 268171. They do some most brilliant work for business and private clients.
Maureen Brewer (Mrs), via email

In 2002, a client with requirements similar to, but rather more demanding (sound, video and scalable drawings) than, Colin's asked me to find suitable software.  The requirements were met in full at a reasonable price by Illuminatus OPUS Pro. It produces self-contained secure applications that auto-start off the CD-ROM on any PC with Win95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP.  No installation, no files copied onto the host PC, no changes to its set-up, no assumptions about what add-ins or browser are installed - vital if CD-ROM is to be an effective marketing tool rather than a resource for committed customers.  Despite its extensive capabilities, I found Opus to be relatively easy to get to grips with.  Naturally both some aptitude and some time in learning to use Opus are needed, but I was able to produce a tested prototype CD-ROM in less than 20 hours. Only the Pro version now seems to be available and is rather more expensive (£300) than it used to be.  Full details and a free trial version to download at www.digitalworkshop.com.
Guy Attfield, via email

We use two types of catalogue software according to application - Flip Album and Digital Page Author. The latter fits Colin's requirements precisely but it is not cheap and it takes a bit of practice. DPA can be found at www.pageauthor.com. Flip Album is much cheaper and is at www.flipalbum.com. Alternatively, Colin could contact us at www.daysh.com because we offer a start-to-finish service for designing and creating CD-based product and corporate catalogues with dynamic content on e-business cards, mini-CDs or CDs, and would happily send him a sample.

Bill Daysh, via email

We at Head Software International (www.headfast.co.uk/) have a great deal of experience of providing software and services for publishing catalogues on CD-ROM. Our software is extremely flexible and can also be used to publish the same catalogue on the Internet. We have other software for typesetting printed catalogues from the same set of data and for creating and editing the catalogue entries.
Sue Hyman, via email

CALENDAR GIRL

I would like to create a calendar of my wife's watercolour paintings. We have PaintShop Pro 7, and I bought the Calendar Constructor program but I cannot find out how I can get the two, to work together. I really would like to print the calendar in A3 format, which of course I cannot do at home, but I would like to try and build as much of it as I can on a CD before trying to find a printer to finish it of for me. Has anyone managed to do this or can pass on any helpful tips, advice or recommendations?

Irvine Young, via email  

As a printer I can tell your correspondent that there are numerous complications printing onto A3 paper. Most of his work will go to waste unless it is provided in a format that a printer can handle. Some software is very unfriendly when it comes to transferring to another system.

Cost - good quality A3 paper is expensive, more so because it is not in the competitive, popular, range. For quality paintings to be recorded we would use acid-free fine-art paper that costs several pounds per sheet. Ink will cost also cost several pounds per page, depending on coverage.

Colour balance - artistic works really have to be printed "by you - to your own satisfaction". There are whole books written on this subject - and it still goes wrong!  An experienced third party can get it right for you - but expect to pay for time as well as materials!

For this, and very many other applications we would recommend CorelDraw "Essentials" at less than £50. It is a cut down version of a full product costing several hundred pounds. It has everything your reader could want - it is not just a "drawing" package: It has photo manipulation, page layout, and more than adequate word-processing facilities. A calendar-generating add-in is also available.
Bernard Harrison, Highview Printers, www.highview.co.uk

CAN YOU HELP

My newsagent would like to convert his management of newspaper and periodicals delivery to computer. Does anyone know software that would handle the task - preferably inexpensive?
Derek Tatam, Forest Hill

My brother-in-law living in South Africa has asked me to help him to find information on cheese making – some new hobby I presume… Can anyone help with suggestions of sources of information, on the web, on video etc?

Dennis Archard, Fetcham, Surrey