About Zine Creator

Zine Creator is a small browser tool that turns a PDF into a print-ready zine. You upload a PDF, pick a page range, choose a layout, and download a sheet-imposed PDF you can print, fold, and staple at home.

How it works

The tool implements half-fold saddle-stitch imposition: 4 source pages are arranged on each landscape sheet (2 on the front, 2 on the back) so that when the sheets are duplex-printed, stacked, folded in half, and stapled along the fold, the pages end up in reading order.

You can configure the target sheet size (A4, A5, A3, Letter), outer margin, gutter width, page scaling, edge-flip direction for duplex printing, and add cut marks or fold marks. The page count is automatically padded to a multiple of 4, with an optional Mirror Cover that uses a horizontally flipped copy of page 1 as the back cover.

Privacy

Everything runs client-side in your browser. Your PDF is read in memory, processed inside a Web Worker, and rendered to a downloadable file. Nothing is uploaded to any server - there's no backend involved.

Tech

Built with React, Vite, and TypeScript. PDF generation uses the actively maintained @cantoo/pdf-lib fork. Preview rendering uses pdf.js. The output PDF is generated in a Web Worker so the main UI thread stays responsive even on large source files.

Installable & offline-capable

Zine Creator is a Progressive Web App. After the first visit your browser will offer to install it as a standalone app, and the entire pipeline (the React shell, CSS, and both pdf-lib and pdf.js workers) is precached by a service worker so it works fully offline. Once installed, it shows up in your app launcher and runs in its own window without browser chrome - useful for offline print rooms, travel, or simply keeping the tool one click away.

New builds auto-update in the background; the next time you open the app you get the latest version without doing anything.

Author

Made by Chris Landa.