DTI 6?

I posted this on the design thread, but only 15 people have read it since yesterday, so I thought I'd toss it here on the main journalism topics board in hopes somebody will actually read it.

Does anybody know about a program called DTI 6? I've never heard of it, and I'm looking for some knowledge. I've been told that it can be used in conjunction with InDesign.

I've used NewsEdit and Harris Jazbox in other jobs, but I don't know much about DTI.

- Edited because I'm ignorant and just figured out that it's DTI and not DT.

 

Re: DT6?

I'm assuming that DT6 is the newest version from Digital Technologies.
DT, aka DTI, is a database system for pagination.
Steep learning curve, but can be pretty good once people get the hang of it.
Since everything is on a database, more than one person can be working on the same page at one time, perhaps its biggest advantage. It is also very stable.
The minuses are up there as well. Hard to learn, has some quirks that make you want to throw it out the window, like tabs, and not tabs in tabloids but tabs as in spacing.
It is mostly used out West, or at least I get that impression. Can be a valuable asset once you start looking for another gig. If you have that experience, you can get a job tomorrow at another paper that uses DT.

 

Much thanks for the info.

 

We use an earlier version (4.3 maybe) at my shop.
Took me about two weeks to get to a point where I wasn't asking for help every 5 minutes, but it has taken others far longer. It's very technical, very precise and doesn't have the wiggle room that an InDesign or Quark does.
We'll be moving to DT 6.0 soon. I'll be happy to have InDesign back.

 

Used DTI at a previous stop; wife uses the latest version of DTI at her current stop. Can say this without reservation: DTI absolutely blows.

If you're at all oriented toward Quark or InDesign, or if you've used Harris, Atex or SII, you're probably going to want to remove your own spleen with a grapefruit spoon by your third day with DTI. Too many things can go wrong with your layout (missing rules, untweakable spacing, magically resized photos) unless you've done everything *just so*.

I've always considered myself fairly tech-savvy (in fact, I write a consumer tech column at my current gig), and DTI made me wish for the old days of paper-and-pencil layouts, waxed type and a composing room.

Your mileage may vary.

 

Once you get the hang of DT, you can fly though.
I got to the point I could do a page much faster in DT than in Quark. The key was that you had to think before you started. You had to look at the page and decide how it was going to look before you got going. That and making copies of the standing elements, so you didn't have to completely start over each day. Duplication is also your friend with DT.

 

One problem I've had with DTI (using an earlier version, not sure of the number offhand) is that if a print job flushes, then nobody knows why it flushes. You have to find that needle in a haystack in order for it to go through the printer/negative printer.

Also, on newer Macs, the tab character in Speedwriter doesn't show up on the screen when you type one in. Very frustrating.

 

Thanks to all who answered. Just trying to get an idea about the system.

 

Version 6+ is built on Adobe InCopy and InDesign. Version 5.4 uses InDesign as well.
It's a Utah company, but many papers in the East use DTI. Greensboro uses it; they're moving up to 5.5 this year. So do Roanoke and Norfolk.

 

Thank God it's not just me. There are no words to convey the depth of my hatred for DTI. In comparison, DOS was a masterpiece of intuitive programming.

DTI blows dead donkey dicks.

 

Indeed. My wife and I both work(ed) in Florida.