These are news stories from 1997. See also current stories and stories from 2000, 1999 or 1998.

14 Dec 1997 - Updated beta versions of Quite Imposing

We have had an unprecedented response to our beta program for Quite Imposing, with people from 25 countries on five continents now choosing to participate.

In response to valuable feedback from many people, we have extended the beta program, and are providing a new version, with a number of new features to make Quite Imposing even more valuable. This new version can be used until the end of January 1998. This page outlines the changes.

4 Dec 1997 - Emerge likes our advent calendar

We have a mention in this week's online PDF newsletter Emerge Extra. The issue for 1 Dec 1997 has a sneak preview of our 1997 advent calendar on the new Acrobat Samples page. But I think someone has been peeking...

30 Oct 1997 - Power Macintosh beta version of Quite Imposing

Quite Software is pleased to announce that the Power Macintosh version of the Quite Imposing plug-in is now available. See the item below for more details.

In the two weeks since the Windows 95/NT version was made available for preview, people in seventeen countries have downloaded an evaluation copy. Why not join them!

15 Oct 1997 - Quite Software announces beta version of Quite Imposing

Quite Software announces Quite Imposing, the first visual imposition plug-in for Acrobat Exchange.

From the user manual:

  Imposing (or imposition) is all about combining pages
  before you print them. It has been done for hundreds of
  years, and virtually every book or leaflet you pick up will
  have been imposed.

  Despite this, imposition is one of the mysteries of
  electronic publishing. Some desktop publishing (DTP)
  applications will impose for you, so you can make up the
  pages on screen. But this is often a cumbersome process,
  and only a few applications give you this choice.

  Usually, it is up to the printer (the person, not the machine)
  to do imposition, using specialist applications. These
  applications are often limited, and can only impose the
  results of a specific list of applications.
  Quite Imposing aims to be a tool for a wide range of
  people. From the publisher of a small newsletter who’d
  like it to be a fold-over booklet, up to professional printers
  who’d like a simpler or more flexible solution to their
  imposition needs.

  Quite Imposing is for people who are working with
  Adobe’s Acrobat suite, which creates and modifies PDF
  files. Up ’til now, Acrobat Exchange has allowed pages to
  be rearranged, or documents to be split or joined, but not
  much more. But PDF is a flexible format, ideally suited to
  imposing.

Features include

• step-by-step booklet maker;
• manual and automatic imposition (n-up, step and repeat);
• join the halves of a split spread;
• rearranging pages, splitting even/odd or reversing;
• trim, enlarge or shift pages, including allowance for 'creep';
• add page numbers, or remove them again;
• apply removable 'masking tape' over unwanted page features;
• view imposition info, delete or extract imposed pages;
• PDF file is directly modified, no need for a plug-in when printing.

Final pricing and distribution details have not been decided, but a preliminary beta release can be downloaded free from http://www.quite.com/imposing/. This is the first public beta and the product may change substantially before its commercial release.

The current version is for 32-bit Windows (Windows 95, NT) only. A version for Power Macintosh is in preparation. The 46 page User Manual can be viewed separately at the same address.

All comments on every aspect of this product are welcomed.

1 Oct 1997 - Quite Software announces PSAlter evaluation program

Quite Software's unique PostScript toolkit PSAlter can be made available for evaluation on request.

For details of this free evaluation period, please send e-mail to help@quite.com. Note that the 170 page user manual (PDF, 710K) continues to be available for download, and is recommended reading if you are considering evaluating PSAlter.

To help us to better focus on your needs, it would be helpful to include a note in your e-mail about what you hope to be able to achieve with PSAlter.

You will be issued with a personal code for accessing PSAlter via a private web site. If you won't be able to download a 2 megabyte file, let us know so that alternative arrangements can be made.

3 July 1997 - Total Publishing show a great success

At the Total Publishing Show in London this week (1-2 July), Quite Software made a great impact with their stand, decorated with a mediaeval theme, including gargoyles and Gregorian Chant! We all enjoyed the chance to meet with some of our existing customers in the UK, and to make so many new contacts. Thanks to everyone who came to see us.

The 15th century manuscript leaf was won by a freelance editor, working in London E1.

23 June 1997 - Announcing PSAlter 1.5

PSAlter 1.5 is a major new release of Quite Software's unique PostScript tool PSAlter.

What's in PSAlter 1.5

Key new features include:

• Full PostScript level 2 support.
• Innovative "where am I?" feature to help identify the cause of PostScript problems.
• Pre-flight report mode, including accurate font report.
• Custom page size support.
• Extra warning messages, and control to switch off warnings.
• Stricter Checking mode, designed to conform more closely to the PostScript specification - useful for developers.

This release will be available in early July.

The detailed Release Notes (27 pages; 175K) are available as an Acrobat PDF file (needs Acrobat Reader). These are a supplement to the full manual (170 pages; 710K). Tip: if your browser displays the PDF file and you want to save it to disk instead, try right-clicking on the links above.

News for existing users

This release will be sent completely free of charge to all our existing registered users. This is by way of a thank you for supporting us in our first year of trading since PSAlter 1.0 was released. If you forgot to register, do it now!

UK Customers: See us at Total Publishing Show

Quite Software will have a stand at the Total Publishing Show ("The UK's leading Publishing Exhibition") at London's Olympia 2, on 1-2 July 1997. (Very soon!)

As well as demonstrating PSAlter 1.5, there will be a 25 pound discount on purchases at the show, and the chance to win a leaf from a 15th century manuscript. We have a very few free tickets for the show - Email us now to see if any are left. (This is a trade show and if you don't have a ticket there is a substantial charge at the door).

We look forward to seeing you!

10 June 1997 - Quite founder Aandi Inston contributes to major new book

Adobe Web Publishing and Design Unleashed is a massive new book from Sams.net, covering the use of Adobe tools in Web publishing, including PageMill 2.0, SiteMill, Acrobat 3.0, and Photoshop 4.0. Quite Software founder Aandi Inston contributed over 150 pages, including chapters on Acrobat 3.0, the introduction, and an appendix of web resources.

You can download a sneak preview of one of the chapters here, as well as a sampler of a dynamic PDF file that produces JavaScript-like special effects without programming!

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