Album Review: United States Albums

Does your solution require the end user have InDesign, or will this work for a PDF?

This is awesome! I wish I knew more about the InDesign scripting. I can see where tables and scripting could make repetitive tasks go so much faster. Beyond TOC, indexing, page numbering, style sheets and master pages I'm pretty lost as I do not do lots of catalogs or books.

51Stude? - I assume Acrobat Reader would be sufficient as long as the data file is where Acrobat can find it. My question is I'm using Engravers Roman for my descriptions, and FCaslon12 for captions. Will Acrobat display the numbers in the embedded font styles or will will the numbers need to be a common font on the local computer like Arial?

Do you print your 12x12 pages on your HP2035n?

(from pictures on ebay it looks like a A4 printer)

Yes, end user would only need a PDF reader. They would also need an application for the data file that was supplied (for example, they would need an application to open and work with the Access .MDB file) if they wanted to add catalog numbers.
don

Unfortunately no. You can get laser printers that print up to 11x17, but to go larger requires professional machines. My local independent copy center prints on the 12x12 precut stock I supply. Their Rikoh does an incredible job, even better than my HP, which I am very happy with.

Does it have to be access? Could you use a CSV file or a text file?

Thanks for clarifying. I was brainstorming how to make paper/pages that fit the Maximum system from Lighthouse:

http://www.leuchtturm.com/epages/le...2203/DE_2209

It is 350mm x 335mm. (too square for a A3 printer).

The 12 x 12 paper you're using - is that a standard size from your supplier, or do they "cut-to-order"?

Adobe supports XML, XDP, WSDL, and OLEDB data bindings.

XML – An XML document can be used to bind data to a PDF form. XML is not something that an average user will know much about. But good news is that an application like MS Excel can work with XML files.

XDP – XDP is a Adobe Data Model and not well suited for this purpose.

WSDL – This is a web services which provides data to other applications through the Internet by using HTTP/HTTPS and message level (SOAP) authentication standards. Interesting approach but probably not best used for this purpose.

ODBC – This data connection type supports all kinds of ways to connect a data source. Any of the standard Windows OLEDB drivers could be used. This opens up access to most every type of database including any SQL or Access. Depending on which version of Windows you are running, and the whether or not it is 32-bit or 64-bit, will dictate how easy it is to establish a ODBC connection straight to an Excel (or CSV) file.

Bottom-line, whatever is done the best solution would be to wrap up the PDF catalog page(s) and the data source file template in a setup file. The setup would build a directory to store them (and make sure that the data source is located where PDF could find it), make sure that the ODBC configuration existed and was correct, and then copy the files, build menu shortcuts. There are many cheap (or even free) installation programs that can do this.

A forward looking company would avoid all of this and develop this entire thing online. Users could select the desired catalog, enter his preferred catalog numbers into a web form, and hit a 'Go' button. The PDF files(s) would then be saved to his/her PC.

Adding this kind of functionality is not that hard. It would be a great open source project or even one that an organization like APS could benefit from; not only does it bring affordable album pages to the 'masses' but also can be a nice little revenue generator. Of course any specialty organization could do their own pages. Frankly I could not imagine doing the majority of work in laying out my own pages and not taking it the extra distance to add this kind of functionality.

In my opinion Amos and other album producers are currently in 'bonus time' now. It is just a matter of time before someone runs with this idea and forces their hand. They will have two choices, either compete with it (with their own online album page builder/drop prices of their existing products) or quit selling albums.
don

I like XML. Now to figure out how to get this to work outside of InDesign. InDesign's price tag is too rich for my blood.

51Studebaker, I like your idea. I've been saying for a long time that Scott needs to put their catalog online and sell a subscription to it, not to replace the printed catalog, but just as another option. If they could combine it with print-your-own pages on demand, that would be powerful indeed. New collectors coming into the hobby are going to expect this sort of thing, sooner or later. It would sure make getting started easier for beginners, since finding the right album is tricky.

I sent an email to Scott 2 years ago. I told them there should be some kind of API to access the catalog numbers. You buy a catalog or an online subscription, you get a username and password. You then pick the software of choice and enter your username and password and that software then has access to Scott catalog numbers, be it a stamp page design program, or a stamp cataloging program. Move the onus of licensing on to the user, instead of the developer.

I don't think they had any idea of what I was talking about.

Which is why their digital catalog is nothing more than a wrapper around some encrypted PDF files. They created a whole separate company around their "solution"," to try and sell it to others through Amos Digital. Amos Digital doesn't exist any more.

The flexibility should be very attractive to those who pursue this solution. Not only does it lend itself nicely to a subscription model (with users being able to access various countries/specialties based upon subscription level) but also 'on demand' for those users who wish to access and print specific areas of interest as desired.

If this were a open source effort, or one driven by a organization like APS, much of the layout work could be done by volunteers. As I am sure fellows like Bill Steiner and apastuszak can attest, this is not a trivial task. But the layout could be done with whatever various PDF tools they currently have. Finding volunteer resources who could add in the data connectivity functionally would be slightly harder but still possible. The only thing that would really drive non-recurring engineering cost would be the tools, server and software licensing.

There has always been a lot of lip service given to trying to attract younger generations to the hobby. Year after year organizations like APS have been losing membership. So why not do something like this and offer one free album download to students? Offer the APS members free album downloads to the members? And then also offer downloads to non-members as a stand-alone profit center?

I am baffled as to why philately has been so slow to adapt this great hobby to a medium where the younger generation obviously is spending their time.
don

12x12 is the "standard" scrapbooking size. So you can get a myriad of decorative paper stocks already cut to that size at craft stores like Michaels. I use a thick clear vellum for the initial and ending sheets as protection for the title page. The 12x12 60lb Cougar Natural I have my printer cut from larger sheets. I think the last time I had that done it cost about $60 for 1000 sheets. That's more of a wholesale figure since I'm in the biz.

Those We R Memory Keepers binders actually come with half a dozen poly page pockets designed to hold 12x12 sheets. They also have them pocketed to fit any number of size photos & envelopes. These can come in handy. It's a great system to get into.

I love the idea of the integrated catalog/album/database for my own sake, and I've been collecting for most of my life. But make the digital catalog cross reference-able by topic and I could easily see it attracting more new members to the hobby. Someone might be interested in Elvis stamps, or penguins, for example. Search for that in the catalog, and a few clicks later, presto! A custom made topical album, catalog listings, and want list. Of course, that would mean adding a lot more data to the existing catalog, which would be tedious and time consuming, but again, is something that could be aided and abetted by volunteers.

For good measure, Scott could still sell ads for dealers of just the kind of material needed to fill those spaces. If they could offer a trial version online, allowing someone to print a small number of pages (say 25 or 50 or 100), I can see where that could really suck someone in who might not otherwise be attracted to the hobby. The icing on the cake would be if you could get dealers onboard who could put together starter packets of just the kind of material the user searched for, kind of like an on-demand version of the ads Mystic, Kenmore and others run in the Sunday paper.