Expert: LizaL - 1/25/2005

Question
hello
Please tell me what is desktop publishing and how can I learn it which software is best for it .Also write which software is good for creating greeting cards.

Thank you for your corporation

Answer
Hi Muhammad,

Loosely speaking, "desktop publishing" is the creation of documents intended for print, using a desktop computer. When we look at the history of printed documents -- like a magazine, for instance -- things have come a long way.

It used to be that the type for magazines was created using specific typesetting machines, and that type was captured on photo-sensitive paper. After that, the type was developed in a darkroom, in a process much like developing film. Then the type was affixed to illustration boards, either with rubber cement or wax. At this point, the person laying out the magazine article would indicate where the photographs would appear, and those photographs would be stripped in, in the darkroom, when the film would all be put together.

After the film stage came the platemaking stage -- and these plates were intended for the printing press, where the magazine was finally printed. Then it would be bound, and ready for reading!

Of course, this is a very, very quick explanation -- I've worked in the publishing field for 20 years, and believe me, there's a lot more to it! But that's just an overview.



To answer your question about software, these days, for desktop publishing, you basically need two types of software: a page layout program and a photo and image editing program. A drawing program will also come in handy.

1. For page layout, I'd recommend two software packages. The first is QuarkXPress, and you can read more about it here, as well as download a demo version:
http://www.quark.com/products/xpress/

I've used Quark since the day it came out, and I've loved it. Since I got into Web design, however, I don't need it anymore, but it's a great program.


InDesign is also a good page layout program, made by Adobe:
http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/main.html


2. For image editing, I can really only recommend Photoshop, because to me, that's the very, very best. :)
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/main.html


3. A good drawing program is Freehand:
http://www.macromedia.com/software/freehand/

Other people might recommend Adobe Illustrator, but I prefer Freehand. I've also used that program since its release, so maybe that's why I'm partial. Illustrator, in my opinion, is good, but I've always found Freehand easier to use.


So if you have a page layout software, and an image editor, you can lay out a greeting card to the size you need, and also create your type in that program. The page layout program will also let you import your graphics, photographs, or other images -- the images you've created in Photoshop and/or Freehand -- into your greeting-card layout, and then you can edit your card until it meets with your approval.

I hope this helps! And please post back if you need any other assistance, or would like for me to clarify anything.

Lisa