Yup-- you are pretty much SOL if you want to print bleeding tabs on anything but a professional printer. Even those are usually (99%+ in my experience) printed with the expectation that the pages will be trimmed to a smaller size. I'd leave the tabs in, as they are still useful when flipping thrugh the book (as you noted). If anythin, I'd create a template for a "universal" (A4/US Letter) page, and apply that page to the FM book before creating the PDF, as any user who prints the doc will be printing to that size of paper, and then either stapling or ring binding the output.
You could always offer "tab inserts" for an added price, I suppose. <g> Grant -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:framers-bounces+grant.hogarth=reuters.com at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of donandjudy1 Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 11:31 AM To: Framers (E-mail) Subject: Printing Thumb Tabs Hi, folks: With the help of several stalwart frameusers, I successfully created thumb tabs along the edge of a version of my fixit book. However, my inkjet printer won't print close enough to the edge for the tabs to "bleed." It will create the tabs with the text which can be viewed by flipping through the book sideways, but they won't show when the book is closed. And I know that laser printers require even larger blank margins than inkjets. So, perhaps this option shouldn't be offered to the on-line customer without a warning. Or perhaps the tabs should be reformatted to represent what can be realistically printed. Pity. I have a vague recollection that, in the recent days when I was ferreting out the tab formatting problem, someone wrote about the printing difficulties of bleeding tabs, suggesting larger paper and cutting it afterwards. But I can't find that e-mail. Furthermore, this doesn't seem practical when one considers that most folks can only print on longer (14"), not wider paper. Perhaps bleeding tabs can only be handled by professional printers and therefore included only in a hard bound version, not a print at home PDF. True or false? Any suggestions? Thanks in advance. ~ Don Spencer
