New developments include RIP standardisation, involving Creo, Agfa and DuPont, plus amendments to enable compatibility with overseas standards and guidelines for users of Adobe InDesign.

But the PPA has decided to end its pre-flighting relationship with httprint, which had developed a system incorporating Markzware software, and is now talking with Vio, which would also include the MarkzNet tools, and Extensis.

Debbie Read, co-chair of the pass4press committee and production director of IPC Media, said a new offering would be available from January. The RIP standardisation project will look at interpreting overprinting, and each manufacturer will produce a test form so all users can produce consistent quality. Profiles and guidelines will be available online at www.pass4press.com.

Read said that the guidelines for InDesign were necessary because the software was becoming more popular in magazine publishing.

"When we started pass4press [in 2000] InDesign was very new and an unknown entity," she said. "But now it's difficult to say which one [InDesign or QuarkXPress] is going to be VHS or Beta."

The PPA also launched its proof4press initiative, which will provide proofing standards for different papers used in magazine printing.

Read said RIP standardisation was the "biggest plus point" offered by version three. However, version three still doesn't cover RGB or spot colours. Full details of pass4press version three will be available to download from www.pass4press.com from next week.

Story by Gordon Carson