People, I feel your pain. But the sad truth is that the step-by-step instructions you request are different for each application, and for each platform, and for each version of each platform. It would require a book, rather than a column.

If you understand what color management is actually doing, you stand a decent chance of decoding all the (very) different dialog boxes in the different applications (and on the different flavors of the different platforms. If you just assimilate a set of step-by-step instructions, they'll be good until the next time the app or the OS gets revved, then you'll be back to square one.

Color management is simple. That doesn't mean it's easy. I continue to bully vendors in an attempt to make it easier, but it's not yet at the point where anyone can write a 12-step guide to getting good color, and anyone who tries would probably be eligible for a 12-step program!

That said, I have posted, and will continue to post, step-by-step pieces too, but the only way to do that sensibly is to take a very specific color management scenario-importing an image from a scanner to a Photoshop working space, printing from a Photoshop working space to an inkjet printer, etc.

I'm always looking for story ideas, so if anyone has a SPECIFIC color management question that's addressable in about 1000 words, I'll be happy to write the answer.

For the bigger question, I AM working on the book, and hope to have it out in January '02.

I'll read more about color management as I have lots of questions.