DTI

[JRoyal]

OK, so I was looking at an earlier thread on DTI and seemed to be the consensus that people hated it and would rather use Quark or InDesign.

I have a question, though. Is anyone working on a DTI platform that works with InDesign and InCopy? We're switching to DTI next year. Not sure which version, but it's one of the newer ones (6 or 6.5 I think) and we'll be using InDesign for our layout, so I was wondering what advice anyone who has that setup would have.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[BeeYouDee]

I work in the exact same setup you are describing. There will be those on your staff who will grumble and moan and cry about how the system is inferior. Those people will lag behind, be slow doing layout and generally never get the full use of the system because they are the kinds of people who don't like change.
I encourage you to be someone who sees the positives in the system first, then recognizes the shortcomings and tries to fix or work around those shortcomings.
The DTI/InDesign/Incopy has a lot of kick-ass features that make your job easier, like being able to rework the layout while someone is reading the story at the same time, placing and sizing/cropping photos on the page, easier agate execution (if it's set up right). The library feature makes doing multiple pages a snap because you can save layout templates and two click later, that layout is on your page and ready to accept text.
So, in not-so-short, be someone that embraces the new system and keep a positive outlook while those around you grumble about how they miss the old system. That'll put you ahead of the pack and those grumblers will soon be turning to you for advice because whether they like it or not, the new system will be there to stay and they'll either deal with it, or hit the door.
Also, soak up as many tips and shortcuts from the DTI people when they are in-house helping with the startup. There are many tips that definitely come in handy.

 

[JRoyal]

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to Utah for training in a few months, and things are going to get really interesting for us pretty quick after that.