Missing the register option... How to add a new article?

Yes, a very good question, how to join in.

My question is when JDF for the desktop will be recognised. The Quark booklet done with Printweek is clearer than previously on the JDF and XML nature of Job Jackets. Adobe still a mystery in this area. JDF allows print customers to define job intent from the desktop. This is a marketing issue, not just about saving costs in production.

Thanks for the link to IPEX 2002. The blog has been updated occasionally since then so there is no point in changing the name.

When will Andrew Tribute get back to blogging? Other bloggers will just offer links.

It’s encouraging to see that people are excited to hear from the experts and we’re proud to let you know that Andy Tribute will in fact be among the guest bloggers on the site

JDF Product Description (AKA "JDF Intent") nodes can be used to describe the desired finished product, and provides a bridge of communication between the document creator or print buyer and the print provider. In contrast, JDF Process nodes (including Audit Pools) are used to define the specific tasks needed to produce the job and to collect job costing data. Although JDF Intent has lagged a little behind JDF Process in its industry adoption, the key creative application vendors have been very active in integrating creation of JDF Intent into their products. Adobe added support for JDF Intent-based "Job Definitions" in its Creative Suite 2, Quark has now added JDF Intent-based "Job Jackets" in QuarkXPress 7, and some printing equipment vendors have already implemented support for processing JDF Intent tickets.

Once the desired product is described using JDF Intent and communicated to the print provider, the next step is Intent-to-Process conversion. That's the tricky production planning step where the description of the finished product is converted into the definition of specific production steps (imposition, printing, finishing) based on the capabilities of the print provider's equipment. A saddle-stitched booklet is a finished product that can be produced in a variety of different ways, from printing imposed large format sheets on offset presses and then folding, cutting, and stitching offline to printing collated document on a digital printer directly onto the target-sized sheets and using an inline bookletmaker. The key to the success of JDF Intent will be how well it gets converted into production workflows that are cost- and quality-optimized for a print shop's equipment.

Mike Salfity
Vice President of the Workflow Business Team, Xerox Production Systems Group