[Offtopic] Pain in PDF printing on my mac, workaround...

So, since I spent three hours of my life on this, I figured a post on the internets for other to find was worth writing.

My goal was simple. My wife had created a document in pages and wanted it professionally printed. First attempt was a simple "save as pdf". That failed, as there were tiny inconsistencies when viewed on a PC. I installed adobe reader on my mac and low and behold, they showed up there. I thought PDFs were supposed to look the same everywhere...

Some google research pointed to PDF X-3, which iWorks claims to be able to export. It is apparently a subset of PDF that everyone agrees on. Yes, let that last sentence sink in. PDF, the format that is supposed to look the same everywhere, now has a sub-format to do that job. Eitherway, attempts to export the document fail with a generic "can not create PDF-X3" error. Apparently this is a long standing bug with iWorks where some complicated documents throw that error. No fix, no work around. This is starting to sound like bloody Linux...

Alright, next approach is using the "ColorSync Utility" to create a filter. People online seem to saying this sometimes works. After launching the beast, I find out that it apparently fails to save resolution settings at all. This means when I filter wife's document through it, it comes out looking like 1990 smacked it upside the head, low resolution and all...

The solution I have come up with is the 500 lb  (226 kg for my metric friends) sledgehammer of a solution.

1. Open iWorks. Save document as PDF that won't work in adobe.
2. Open PDF in preview, File->Save As.
3. Selection JPG, change quality to full and DPI to 500.
4. Send that 15 meg JPG to the printer...