The Ghent PDF Workgroup (GWG) has published the Ghent Output Suite, a set of PDF patches that can be used to determine whether workflows are behaving as they should be.

"This test checks a whole workflow. It gauges what you do, whether you're dealing with PDFs in composite ad pages or imposing single pages," said GWG RIP-output sub-committee chairman Andy Psarianos.

The suite is made up of a series of individual patches that unambiguously highlight any problem with an "X". This appears in the patch if it is handled incorrectly.

"We recommend that these patches are inserted on every PDF made. They are visually very quick and easy to read. When something goes wrong, it is indicated," said Psarianos.

Patches are included for common problems such as white overprints, grey outputs and font errors. There are also rasterised examples of correctly handled patches to highlight other ripping errors.

These build on the Global Graphics PDF/X overprint control strip adding further checks of the workflow.

Full details of the suite, including documentation and downloads are available from the GWG website.

Visit: www.gwg.org