Burt said:
I'm not sure what benefit you derive by reinventing the wheel. The MS word
or Wordperfect avery business card templates have a know waste margin on all
sides and are abutted with no waste between them. With any papercutter that
has a decent measuring device or guide on it you don't need the cut marks.
Simply use the ruler guide to cut off the waste all the way around and then
use the guide to cut the cards apart. After you cut the first few sheets
you will not even have to think the measurements through. If you are off by
a hair it really doesn't matter. No one is going to hold one card next to
the other to be certain that you cut them absolutely perfectly. Very, very,
very close is good enough.
I realize I'm reinventing the wheel, but from past experience, I know
how much difference it makes for me to use FM versus Word. With FM, I
don't have to think about how to do things, I just think about what
visual effect I want to achieve. With Word, I'm spending all my time
wrestling to achieve every single effect, and no energy left to
contemplate how I might want to change the look. Besides, I've found
that duplicating the margins and layout of the Word template is not
hard.
You can incorporate graphics by importing them
if you wish. If you want something other than straight text you can compose
a file in photoshop or any other program that can manipulate text, save the
file, and import it into the Word or WP page once the format is set to the
avery business card template. It can be resized, moved, and copied mulitple
times to fill out all the slots in the template. Very short learning curve
in either program.
It's just me. I've used FM too long. I've done huge technical reports with
Word, with technical drawings, and incorporated huge sections from other
authors (repairing all cross-references in doing so), but feel much more
comfortable with FM. I'm glad to find that it's not really an issue, and
didn't take an inordinant amount of time.
I don't mean to appear mean-spirited when I say that by the time you have
thought the problem through, communicated with several very well meaning
and capable people on this NG, and gone back to the computer to put all this
newfound knowledge to work, you could have printed and cut a few hundred
cards, several times over! Of course, this discounts the intellectual
challange to do it in a different manner with other software, and I do
recognize the pleasure of figuring out something yourself rather than
following a well-worn, beaten path. For many of us the journey is as
important as reaching the destination.
You don't sound mean-spirited, though you are presuming my
motivations. The original problem described at the top was resolved
very quickly, and I am now resolving other issues which would
certainly have gotten in the way of making a few hundred cards several
times over. If I just wanted mass quantities, I could simply do it up
in FM and send the PDF to the print shop. It's pretty cheap. Instead,
I want to find a replacement for my current method, which is small
batches of constantly evolving cards, done on expensive Avery precut
cards by an outfit with access to a laser printer. It is too
expensive to simply choose any old way and "just do it" to find out
whether it works. Doing small batches at the local copy shop is
prohibitively expensive and would not give me the quick turnaround
time of doing it at home.
Another example of expense is the paper cutter; in my town, they cost
anywhere between $20 and $120. Which one to buy? Would the smaller
ones break down after a few weeks of thick paper? Are they so flimsy
that they leave unsharp edges? The size is also important, as I will
have a hard time finding space to store the bigger leaver-based
cutters in my apartment, even though they look like they are heftier.
Will the leaver design cause the paper to move as you cut, like the
big ones at school? Even assuming the store takes back an unsuitable
cutter, it takes time to constantly commute to the retail outlet to
try different models until I get the right one (and I'm sure it
wouldn't make them happy). Contrary to the impression I get from your
reply, the suggestions presented in this newsgroup represent valuable,
much-needed information e.g. cutter manufacturer and clues to its
model, as well as the alternative of using a sharp exacto-knife and
steel straight edge. Experimentation shows that it works like a
charm, circumvents uncertainties with the cutters. The whole point of
asking for this information was to *not* reinvent the wheel -- others
have been down this road before.
Aside from the cutter, I'm still answering the question of whether my
inkjet can print good enough. If it isn't good enough, I still have
to use Avery cards. The inkjet prints fine on 20 lb paper, but smears
on 110 lb paper. Good thing I didn't "just do it" by buying an entire
batch of that paper. As an alternative, I was given "card stock" to
try, which was described as approximately 90 lb -- it is actually 65
lb, and seems flimsy. How much does it matter? Subjectively, it
seems to make a difference to me. Do they have intermediate weights
that they can sell me several sheets of so that I can try them before
purchasing a whole package? More commuting, but if they have other
weights, I will purchase several sheets of each weight to avoid having
to go back so often. The goal is to get the heaviest weight that
won't smear.
As you can see, when one does this at home for the first time, it is
not just a matter of belting out large quantities on the first try.
I've done that using the local print shop, before realizing that my
needs were different. I now have a backlog of various drafts of my
calling card, which I no longer wish to use since the format and
content has evolved significantly with greater knowledge. Once I get
a method which works for my circumstance, though, I certainly will
belt them out without too much thought. And I will have no qualms
about saving people some trouble by sharing what I've learned. Since
this thread has been captured by google forever, however, there is
probably no need to worry about that.
