Today, I trained a small group of users on an application in expectation of next week’s release. I had printed a small booklet for them that gives instructions; though many tech buffs will argue that the printed manual is dead, there are those users who still ask for them.

Anyway, I had the booklets printed and bound in our in-house document printing center. I picked them up before the training so I would have them ready to hand out at the end of the training session. I’ve had the experience before when I opened a freshly printed manual that I had gone through with the finest toothed comb I had, only to see a problem as soon as I opened the book.

The problem this time wasn’t a typo or missing image; using InDesign, I had put a tan-to-white gradient behind chapter headings, and upon being printed, that gradient turned into a solid, quite devilish, red. (My wife asks, “How did you manage that?” I can only shrug.) The headings are still readable, but I sure was surprised at this outcome. The worst part is there is just about no red in my color scheme.

What surprises have you encountered with either electronic or print publishing?