3
3-2
Working with Color in Applications
Color reference pages
Your DocuColor 40 CP user software includes several types of color reference pages
that let you see the range of colors your print device can produce. You can be assured of
predictable color results if you use the color reference pages when defining the colors
you want to use in your document.
• RGB color reference pages—a Microsoft Word file and a Microsoft PowerPoint file
that let you view the colors available in the standard palettes of office applications
and see how those colors print on the DocuColor 40 CP (see page 3-3).
• CMYK pages—a downloadable PostScript file of CMYK color patches in the range
of colors your print device can print (see page 3-5).
• PANTONE Coated color reference book—a downloadable PostScript file of color
patches showing CMYK equivalents of PANTONE Coated colors.
Office applications
PostScript printers such as the DocuColor 40 CP must receive PostScript instructions
to print an image or a document. Many applications do not create these PostScript
instructions by themselves, and instead rely on the printer driver to create them.
Included in this category are most word processors, spreadsheets, and presentation
packages. These applications use Apple QuickDraw!
®
to display and print when
running on Mac OS computers; they use the Windows Graphics Device Interface
(GDI) to display and print when running under Windows. We refer to these
QuickDraw and GDI applications as “office applications.”
All office applications handle color similarly, using the same RGB color model used for
the color monitor display. Most office applications allow you to choose colors from a
palette of preselected colors; some allow you to add new colors to the palette using a
color picker. Although some applications allow you to specify color using the CMY,
HSL, and HSV color models, these applications always send RGB color data to the
DocuColor 40 CP. (An exception to this is a CMYK EPS file placed in the document,
which is sent as CMYK data.)
