Desktop Publishing (DTP) and Layout

This service is not translation itself; it is a separate skill that comes after it. It calls for working in design software, managing fonts and knowing the rules of print. However good the translated text may be, a document with a broken layout cannot be used; overflowing text, clipped headings and displaced images all show that the job was left half done.

When is it needed?

DTP is needed for any document where the visual integrity of the result matters. Catalogues and brochures for print, user and assembly manuals, packaging and label text, presentations and posters come first among them. Wherever it is not only the information in a text that matters but the form it appears in, a layout stage follows the translation.

How much work that stage involves depends on the source file. If an editable design file exists, the job runs cleanly. If all that is available is a printout or a document that cannot be edited, the page has to be rebuilt, and that takes longer. The state of the existing files therefore determines the scope of the work from the outset.

How the process works

The desktop publishing process takes over where the translation ends and makes the document usable as a visual object; its success is therefore tied closely to the state of the source files available. The sequence below is at its most efficient where an editable design file exists; where only a printout is available, the first steps take considerably longer. The measure that does not change throughout is that the document should look as though it had been designed in the target language. Text expansion, font compatibility and line-break rules are watched at every step.

1. Checking the source files. Whether the design files are editable, which fonts are used and what state the images are in are all examined.
2. Flowing in the text. The translation is placed into its position in the original layout; every text box is matched to the right section.
3. Fixing the layout. Overflowing text, displaced images and broken alignment are corrected; text expansion is absorbed through type size and spacing.
4. Language-specific settings. Hyphenation, line breaks, date and number formats are adjusted to the target language; for right-to-left languages the layout is mirrored.
5. Preflight and delivery. A preflight check is run for print; colour, bleed and resolution are verified and a print-ready file is supplied.

How the work is delivered

Delivery usually takes two forms: a print-ready file (fixed, ready to go to the printer) and an editable source file. The print-ready file is in a state that can be sent straight to the printer; the source file is supplied so that updates can be made later. For documents to be published on screen, a version suited to screen resolution is prepared. Which formats are needed is decided at the outset, according to where the document will be used.

Points to watch with this service

The most frequently overlooked issue is text expansion. The same content can take up more space in the target language, and if the design is not ready for that, the text will not fit its boxes. The opposite happens too: if the text contracts, gaps open up. Good DTP rebalances the layout so that this shift becomes invisible; the aim is for the document to look as though it had been designed in that language.

The second point is that DTP does not check the translation. The layout specialist may not know the target language, and so, while placing the text, may split a line in the wrong place or corrupt a character. Someone who knows the target language therefore needs to carry out a final review once the DTP is done. Where we are also translating the document, that final check is planned together with the translation workflow under our translation services; on jobs that come to us for layout only, who is responsible for that check is agreed at the outset.

The prepress check

When the layout is finished the job is still not ready for the printer; a prepress check comes in between. At this stage the bleed allowances, colour settings, resolution and whether the fonts are embedded in the file are all verified. A document that looks flawless on screen can break unexpectedly in print if these settings are missing: images cropped at the edge, colours shifting or characters dropping out are noticed only after printing, and correcting them at that point is expensive.

For that reason the print-ready file is locked so that no further changes can be made to it, and prepared to the technical specifications the printer expects. Different criteria apply to documents that will be published on screen; there, file size, screen resolution and working links come to the fore. Where the document is going determines how this final check is carried out.

What determines the price?

In DTP the cost is measured not in words but in pages and in the complexity of the layout. A plain page of continuous text is laid out quickly; a page full of images, tables and boxes requires every element to be handled individually. Whether the source file is editable is decisive as well; a page rebuilt from nothing takes far longer than text flowed into a file that already exists. A price therefore cannot be given without seeing the document.

You can send us your document, along with the source design files if you have them, through the quote form. We explain how our pricing works on the pricing page, and you can look at the translation process for each kind of document on the document types page.

Situations that come up often

• A file that cannot be edited. Only a printout available; the page has to be rebuilt and the schedule lengthens.
• Text inside images. Text embedded in pictures being left out of the word count; it needs separate work.
• A font without the right characters. The typeface not carrying the target language’s characters; a compatible font has to be chosen.
• Skipping the final review. No one who knows the language checking the file after DTP; broken lines and corrupted characters then go unnoticed.

The information here is offered as guidance; the current practice of the institution concerned is what applies. Checking what is required at the moment saves time later.