Color images

•  File format: Save your images in either TIFF, EPS or DCS format. Avoid other formats like PICT, WMF, JPG or BMP. The layout application may support these formats but their proper conversion to PostScript data while printing is never guaranteed.
• QuarkXPress and TIFF: When placing TIFF images in QuarkXPress (Mac or PC) make sure to never have the background color of the picture box set to "none". The image below shows what can happen if the background is set to 'none': either there is staircasing (jagged edges) at the edges of the image or white areas within the image simply vanish.

• Resolution: Make sure images have the correct size and resolution while scanning them. The final resolution of color pictures should be (screenruling x scale x 2). The "2" is a qualityfactor that can vary between 1.5 and 2.5 depending on your quality needs and the subject of the image. So if you scan a photograph and want to enlarge it 300 percent in the layout application and your publication is printed at 150 lpi, the image should be scanned at (150 x 3 x 2) or 900 dpi.
• Size: Never enlarge or reduce images more than 20 percent in your layout application. Enlarging them will lead to pixelization and staircasing. Reducing them too much will lead to a loss in sharpness and contrast.

Drawings

•  File format: Save drawings made in vector drawing program such as Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand or Corel Draw in the EPS format if they are to be used in a desktop publishing program like QuarkXPress or PageMaker. Avoid other formats like PICT or CDR.
• Corel Draw lens effects and tiles: Avoid extensive use of lens effects in Corel Draw. They create big PostScript files, don't always print as they appear on screen or won't print at all. Even though an earlier topic in this text warned against using bitmap images (BMP), a possible work-around for this situation in Corel is to convert objects that use the lens effect to a bitmap. This will make them easier to RIP. The same is also true for tiles. If they aren't converted to bitmaps, small white lines may also show up between the tiles.
• Illustrator 7.0: If you still use Adobe Illustrator 7.0 to create vector art, drawings should be saved in Illustrator 6 format. Or you could upgrade to Illustrator 7.02 in which several bugs have been fixed.
• EPS in EPS: Avoid EPS-nesting: never put an EPS-drawing in another EPS-drawing. Use "copy" and "paste" from one drawing to the other to create only one file.
• Size: If the drawing contains bitmap images (scans,..) you should never enlarge or reduce the drawing more than 20 percent in your layout application. Enlarging it will lead to pixelization and staircasing. Reducing it too much will lead to a loss in sharpness and contrast.