Prepress

callas software releases new product: pdfChip

Thursday 26. February 2015 - High-speed and high-quality HTML to PDF converter

callas software, market leader for automated PDF quality control and archival solutions, today releases a completely new product line to convert HTML into good, standards-compliant PDF. callas pdfChip is a command-line conversion tool that takes an HTML file – optionally using CSS and JavaScript – and performs a high-quality conversion to PDF that is ready for print or archival.
Based on easy-to-use, common technology
Crucially, callas pdfChip is built on standard technologies such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript that are widely known and that require no dedicated development resources. “The HTML templates used by pdfChip are very similar to what would be needed for use on websites. Anyone with experience building website solutions will have enough background in HTML, CSS and JavaScript to get going with the product very quickly”, comments Dietrich von Seggern, Business Development Manager with callas software: “That sets pdfChip apart from solutions that have their own custom XML or XSL-FO based template languages”.
The fact that pdfChip is a command-line tool as opposed to a development library means that its functionality can easily be integrated into all kinds of different environments without needing dedicated development resources.
Wide functionality range
callas pdfChip is based on the well-known WebKit engine which ensures support for a very wide range of HTML, CSS and JavaScript features. On top of that callas has added a range of custom HTML objects, CSS tags and JavaScript functions to extend pdfChip’s capabilities. The following is a limited list of extended capabilities:
Advanced color spaces (CMYK, Lab, ICC-based color spaces, spot color)
Placement of PDF files (HTML templates can reference PDF content to be placed without rasterization)
Generation of an unlimited amount of dynamically modified PDF pages (via JavaScript) e.g. for transactional printing of invoices
Advanced pagination functionality including multiple-pass PDF generation
Generation of XMP metadata in the resulting PDF file
Creation of PDF/X or PDF/A compliant PDF files
Integrated support for barcode generation
Focus on speed and PDF quality
“pdfChip is recommended when businesses need both flexible and automated PDF creation. Example cases include content-rich transactional printing, book and catalog creation, web-to-print applications or imposition”, further explains Dietrich von Seggern.
To meet this goal a lot of focus was put on the speed of conversion of the HTML template to PDF. And during conversion a lot of optimization happens while writing out the resulting PDF document to ensure the most robust and reliable PDF possible. Obviously the experience callas has built in both the professional publishing and the archival markets played a crucial role in this.
Flavors
Because of the wide variety of workflows in which pdfChip can be integrated, a number of different flavors of the product have been created.