7 ms·

Dirty Little Zine – a tool for making an 8 page printable Zine

173 points by cianmm 3mo ago

cianmm 3mo ago
I didn't make this, but came across it and though it felt like the kind of thing HN would appreciate
AstroJetson 3mo ago
It's like pocketmod. I've had these for years for making shortcut manuals. https://pocketmod.com/ https://pocketmod.com/
verdverm 3mo ago
I've gotten super into Zine making this year and love this mini-8-pager format. I typically carry them around to share information with others, and get back to a world of print in our digital divide. People really like the bite size knowledge they can fit in a pocket. I picked up a slightly different format which is double sided and two per piece of paper. PDF example and Affinity Publisher 2 files: https://limewire.com/d/Vi7Td#q7xsY0HXLY https://limewire.com/d/Vi7Td#q7xsY0HXLY The hardest parts of formatting these are (a) not making the font too small (b) getting the folds to land in the middle of pages (if you are OCD about that like me) (edit, added both file types for a few examples) This is another online zine maker I came across as well which supports markdown / json: https://zeenster.com/ https://zeenster.com/ | https://github.com/virgilvox/zine-maker https://github.com/virgilvox/zine-maker If you want to mass produce them - Brother Inkjet Printer - HFS guillotine paper cutter - Martin Yale P7200 RapidFold
- cianmm 3mo ago
  I won't be clicking on that first link because I'm on a work machine but is that _Limewire_?
  - verdverm 3mo ago
    yeah, it's totally different from how it used to be, first google search result for file upload and share ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Here's a Google Drive link with the same files: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jjp8fOn1fsQ0vvix84dmoPRChPeW_NTw?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jjp8fOn1fsQ0vvix84dm...
syngrog66 3mo ago
vi, pandoc
RodgerTheGreat 3mo ago
Here's another 8-page zine maker, built with Decker: https://micpp.itch.io/hybrid-zine-template-for-decker https://micpp.itch.io/hybrid-zine-template-for-decker
ynac 3mo ago
Seattle used to have a top notch zine scene - entire sections of stores (music, magazine, comic, game) would have hundreds of local and national zines. Recently, Seattle's been trying to make a comeback downtown. We lost gobs of tenants and the riff raff tookover. One element of the comeback strategy is this Seattle Restored project. Basically, rent free storefronts to small businesses. For father's day my ladies brought me to one of them: https://seattlerestored.org/locations/paper-pushers-print-shop/ https://seattlerestored.org/locations/paper-pushers-print-sh... They had about a thousand zines and variants. I was told my minimum spend and nailed it. So much fun. In the area, go!
- verdverm 3mo ago
  Zine fest is next month: https://seattlezinefest.org/ https://seattlezinefest.org/ Zine meetup every other Friday downtown: https://seattleprintersguild.org/ https://seattleprintersguild.org/
- yur3i__ 3mo ago
  >We lost gobs of tenants and the riff raff tookover Not trying to get into an argument but you are no more entitled to the city than your fellow citizens aka the "riff raff"
  - ipsento606 3mo ago
    I'm also not trying to get into an argument, but totally disagree, and honestly believe that your attitude leads to an untenable breakdown of the social contract. I don't agree with use of the tongue-in-cheek term "riff raff" for unhoused people living in tents and shanties on the sideway. And I think such people deserve help. But yes, they have less of a right to live on the sidewalk than the right of people and businesses that pay rent and expect public spaces that are usable, safe, and free of people so intoxicated that they have lost contact with reality and are not safe to be around.
    - ynac 3mo ago
      And I can't disagree with either, especially the riff raff usage, but the term "takeover" was the one intended to play the important role in the sentence. And it wasn't for the unhoused - but the dealers and traffickers.
onionisafruit 3mo ago
I like a good zine, but not the ones trumpers make. I don’t like maga zines. I’ll see myself out
- kleiba2 3mo ago
  You're gonna be iron like the lion in zine.
sieste 3mo ago
The zine enthusiasts in this thread might enjoy this little tool I made to print out and zine-fold Project Gutenberg books: https://github.com/sieste/pocketbook https://github.com/sieste/pocketbook
zserge 3mo ago
Was doing a similar thing for plain HTML zines: https://github.com/zserge/zine https://github.com/zserge/zine - write each page as html, render as page previews in browser and as a folded zine when printed
flopsamjetsam 3mo ago
I love this, it's like a grown-up PrintShop.
voidUpdate 3mo ago
I keep hearing about zines and how they're cool and awesome, but I've never really seen one, so I can't really get a sense in my head for what they are. Does anyone have like an online gallery of zines or something? Are they literally just a small, independently made magazine?
- Pentamerous 3mo ago
  Yes, it's literally that. Some are made with just one sheet of paper smartly folded into 8 pages. you can find them in random art stands in small alternative markets. Sometimes music shop, art shops and small independent book publishers.
- pratio 3mo ago
  Since we're on hn, Please start here https://wizardzines.com/ https://wizardzines.com/
- bsenftner 3mo ago
  These days they tend to be single sheets of paper folded to look like a small 8 page book. That's the modern cute version. "Back in the day" - meaning the 70's and 80's a 'zine was a mimeographed or photocopied hand made full sized magazine, typically on what we'd call cheap printer paper today. They were punk rock expressions, with large amounts of collage art, mix media art + poetry, and amateur fiction, and sometimes fan fiction. It was creative expression for people with no outlet: the punks, angry about economics. If you think punk was about music, that's the lie, it was about dead end careers.
- lightedman 3mo ago
  Look up Buzzmonger, the (now dead) Dallas music 'Zine and you'll get a pretty good idea.
- PyWoody 3mo ago
  There was a TV show, Our Hero[0], that aired in the 2000s that was about Zines. I can't say I've ever seen a "zine" irl so I can't say how accurate of the "scene" it was, but it's definitely a blast-from-the-past. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYzXlo7zHY4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYzXlo7zHY4
notThrowingAway 3mo ago
I love that it has the "you wouldn't download a car" font
- dspillett 3mo ago
  Fun fact: that was not used under correct licence in those PSAs, so by their own definition they would steal a typeface.
mahdi7d1 3mo ago
I didn't know about zines before and they seem interesting but aren't we wasting half of the paper surface (from what I understood looking at some images) A printer spread achieves a similar result without wasting one side of the sheet. (A bit more folding and cutting involved) * Or does one put additional content pages inside which are supposed to be read by unfolding the zine and folding it the other way?
ares623 3mo ago
I'm sure I saw someone post the same link a day or so ago.
fmajid 3mo ago
The general name for this category of software is imposition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imposition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imposition I use the psbook command-line utility for this kind of thing.
- drunkboxer 3mo ago
  [dead]
pavel_lishin 3mo ago
Is there one of these for making a 12-page chick tract style one, so I can print a two sided single page with six segments on each side? I arranged something myself in photo editing software, but it's off just a little bit in a way that drives me nuts.
maurits 3mo ago
Does anybody know a tool for making a 32 page A5 zine like Bumb books [1] for people with little to no layout tool knowledge? [1] https://bumpbooks.com/ https://bumpbooks.com/
- verdverm 3mo ago
  I believe Affinity Publisher 2 should support it. It's much easier than the 8 pager on a single sheet. They have a booklet printing that handles page ordering https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/190221-basic-booklet-printing-in-affinity-publisher-v2/ https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/190221-bas...
- robobro 3mo ago
  This may help: https://momijizukamori.github.io/bookbinder-js/ https://momijizukamori.github.io/bookbinder-js/ I use it for making books but it may be a better option than some of the other projects linked here depending on what exactly you are trying to do.
markvdb 3mo ago
The following one-liner works for (exactly) 8 pages: pdfjam in.pdf '1,8,7,6' --angle 180 --outfile /dev/stdout | pdfjam /dev/stdin '1-4' test.pdf '2,3,4,5' --nup 4x2 --landscape --frame false --outfile out.pdf
BodyCulture 3mo ago
What is the state of the art regarding open source collaborative desktop publishing? Do exist any usable Wiki to Scribus workflows?
sgallant 3mo ago
Great idea! I love the simplicity of this app.

173 points by cianmm 3mo ago

I didn't make this, but came across it and though it felt like the kind of thing HN would appreciate

It's like pocketmod. I've had these for years for making shortcut manuals. https://pocketmod.com/ https://pocketmod.com/

verdverm 3mo ago

I've gotten super into Zine making this year and love this mini-8-pager format. I typically carry them around to share information with others, and get back to a world of print in our digital divide. People really like the bite size knowledge they can fit in a pocket. I picked up a slightly different format which is double sided and two per piece of paper. PDF example and Affinity Publisher 2 files: https://limewire.com/d/Vi7Td#q7xsY0HXLY https://limewire.com/d/Vi7Td#q7xsY0HXLY The hardest parts of formatting these are (a) not making the font too small (b) getting the folds to land in the middle of pages (if you are OCD about that like me) (edit, added both file types for a few examples) This is another online zine maker I came across as well which supports markdown / json: https://zeenster.com/ https://zeenster.com/ | https://github.com/virgilvox/zine-maker https://github.com/virgilvox/zine-maker If you want to mass produce them - Brother Inkjet Printer - HFS guillotine paper cutter - Martin Yale P7200 RapidFold

cianmm 3mo ago
I won't be clicking on that first link because I'm on a work machine but is that _Limewire_?
- verdverm 3mo ago
  yeah, it's totally different from how it used to be, first google search result for file upload and share ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Here's a Google Drive link with the same files: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jjp8fOn1fsQ0vvix84dmoPRChPeW_NTw?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jjp8fOn1fsQ0vvix84dm...

syngrog66 3mo ago

vi, pandoc

RodgerTheGreat 3mo ago

Here's another 8-page zine maker, built with Decker: https://micpp.itch.io/hybrid-zine-template-for-decker https://micpp.itch.io/hybrid-zine-template-for-decker

ynac 3mo ago

Seattle used to have a top notch zine scene - entire sections of stores (music, magazine, comic, game) would have hundreds of local and national zines. Recently, Seattle's been trying to make a comeback downtown. We lost gobs of tenants and the riff raff tookover. One element of the comeback strategy is this Seattle Restored project. Basically, rent free storefronts to small businesses. For father's day my ladies brought me to one of them: https://seattlerestored.org/locations/paper-pushers-print-shop/ https://seattlerestored.org/locations/paper-pushers-print-sh... They had about a thousand zines and variants. I was told my minimum spend and nailed it. So much fun. In the area, go!

verdverm 3mo ago
Zine fest is next month: https://seattlezinefest.org/ https://seattlezinefest.org/ Zine meetup every other Friday downtown: https://seattleprintersguild.org/ https://seattleprintersguild.org/
yur3i__ 3mo ago
>We lost gobs of tenants and the riff raff tookover Not trying to get into an argument but you are no more entitled to the city than your fellow citizens aka the "riff raff"
- ipsento606 3mo ago
  I'm also not trying to get into an argument, but totally disagree, and honestly believe that your attitude leads to an untenable breakdown of the social contract. I don't agree with use of the tongue-in-cheek term "riff raff" for unhoused people living in tents and shanties on the sideway. And I think such people deserve help. But yes, they have less of a right to live on the sidewalk than the right of people and businesses that pay rent and expect public spaces that are usable, safe, and free of people so intoxicated that they have lost contact with reality and are not safe to be around.
  - ynac 3mo ago
    And I can't disagree with either, especially the riff raff usage, but the term "takeover" was the one intended to play the important role in the sentence. And it wasn't for the unhoused - but the dealers and traffickers.

onionisafruit 3mo ago

I like a good zine, but not the ones trumpers make. I don’t like maga zines. I’ll see myself out

kleiba2 3mo ago
You're gonna be iron like the lion in zine.

sieste 3mo ago

The zine enthusiasts in this thread might enjoy this little tool I made to print out and zine-fold Project Gutenberg books: https://github.com/sieste/pocketbook https://github.com/sieste/pocketbook

zserge 3mo ago

Was doing a similar thing for plain HTML zines: https://github.com/zserge/zine https://github.com/zserge/zine - write each page as html, render as page previews in browser and as a folded zine when printed

flopsamjetsam 3mo ago

I love this, it's like a grown-up PrintShop.

voidUpdate 3mo ago

I keep hearing about zines and how they're cool and awesome, but I've never really seen one, so I can't really get a sense in my head for what they are. Does anyone have like an online gallery of zines or something? Are they literally just a small, independently made magazine?

Pentamerous 3mo ago
Yes, it's literally that. Some are made with just one sheet of paper smartly folded into 8 pages. you can find them in random art stands in small alternative markets. Sometimes music shop, art shops and small independent book publishers.
pratio 3mo ago
Since we're on hn, Please start here https://wizardzines.com/ https://wizardzines.com/
bsenftner 3mo ago
These days they tend to be single sheets of paper folded to look like a small 8 page book. That's the modern cute version. "Back in the day" - meaning the 70's and 80's a 'zine was a mimeographed or photocopied hand made full sized magazine, typically on what we'd call cheap printer paper today. They were punk rock expressions, with large amounts of collage art, mix media art + poetry, and amateur fiction, and sometimes fan fiction. It was creative expression for people with no outlet: the punks, angry about economics. If you think punk was about music, that's the lie, it was about dead end careers.
lightedman 3mo ago
Look up Buzzmonger, the (now dead) Dallas music 'Zine and you'll get a pretty good idea.
PyWoody 3mo ago
There was a TV show, Our Hero[0], that aired in the 2000s that was about Zines. I can't say I've ever seen a "zine" irl so I can't say how accurate of the "scene" it was, but it's definitely a blast-from-the-past. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYzXlo7zHY4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYzXlo7zHY4

notThrowingAway 3mo ago

I love that it has the "you wouldn't download a car" font

dspillett 3mo ago
Fun fact: that was not used under correct licence in those PSAs, so by their own definition they would steal a typeface.

mahdi7d1 3mo ago

I didn't know about zines before and they seem interesting but aren't we wasting half of the paper surface (from what I understood looking at some images) A printer spread achieves a similar result without wasting one side of the sheet. (A bit more folding and cutting involved) * Or does one put additional content pages inside which are supposed to be read by unfolding the zine and folding it the other way?

ares623 3mo ago

I'm sure I saw someone post the same link a day or so ago.

fmajid 3mo ago

The general name for this category of software is imposition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imposition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imposition I use the psbook command-line utility for this kind of thing.

drunkboxer 3mo ago
[dead]

pavel_lishin 3mo ago

Is there one of these for making a 12-page chick tract style one, so I can print a two sided single page with six segments on each side? I arranged something myself in photo editing software, but it's off just a little bit in a way that drives me nuts.

maurits 3mo ago

Does anybody know a tool for making a 32 page A5 zine like Bumb books [1] for people with little to no layout tool knowledge? [1] https://bumpbooks.com/ https://bumpbooks.com/

verdverm 3mo ago
I believe Affinity Publisher 2 should support it. It's much easier than the 8 pager on a single sheet. They have a booklet printing that handles page ordering https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/190221-basic-booklet-printing-in-affinity-publisher-v2/ https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/190221-bas...
robobro 3mo ago
This may help: https://momijizukamori.github.io/bookbinder-js/ https://momijizukamori.github.io/bookbinder-js/ I use it for making books but it may be a better option than some of the other projects linked here depending on what exactly you are trying to do.

markvdb 3mo ago

The following one-liner works for (exactly) 8 pages: pdfjam in.pdf '1,8,7,6' --angle 180 --outfile /dev/stdout | pdfjam /dev/stdin '1-4' test.pdf '2,3,4,5' --nup 4x2 --landscape --frame false --outfile out.pdf

BodyCulture 3mo ago

What is the state of the art regarding open source collaborative desktop publishing? Do exist any usable Wiki to Scribus workflows?

sgallant 3mo ago

Great idea! I love the simplicity of this app.