Introduction to Desktop Publishing

Desktop Publishing (DTP)

The world of publishing was radically transformed in the 1980's by the introduction of desktop publishing

Producing a publication involves many steps

Writing text Editing text Producing art (drawings, photos, etc.) Designing the basic format

The steps of production (cont.)

Typesetting text Paste-up, arranging text and graphics on a page Going to press, typesetting, shooting plates, printing the pages Binding the pages into a finished publication
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With traditional publishing

This process was very labor intensive It required a lot of equipment, trained people and time It was hard and expensive

DTP, going beyond word processing!

Very precise layout and design Software focus is on the page Done with tools that are small, economical and easy to use
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Desktop Publishing History

Invented in 1978
TeX

program showed publishing could be done on a desktop computer

1985, DTP came to the masses

Aldus PageMaker software Apple Macintosh computer Adobe PostScript page description

language

Today virtually all publishing is DTP

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Typical DTP system

GUI computer(s) DTP software (also called page layout software) Laser or other high resolution printer(s) Other peripherals (like digital camera)

DTP Advantages
Saves money and time Able to keep in-house and maintain quality control Provides affordable publishing alternative for small batch jobs and nonmainstream periodicals

DTP Software Today

DTP software is precise DTP software aggregates!

QuarkXpress is
Adobe

the market leader Adobe InDesign has come on strong

PageMaker

Apple Macintosh is predominate platform

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Precision and Aggregation

Content from other programs:

Text produced with word processors or text editors

Careful control of font usage

Charts and spreadsheets from spreadsheet and/or statistical analysis programs Photos either produced digitally or scanned, often manipulated with programs like Adobe PhotoShop

Half-toning and resolution issues Color space considerations

Control that what appears in printed page is as close as possible to what appeared on the screen

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Precision and Aggregation (Continued)

Content from other programs (Cont.):

Maps, charts and other illustrations either produced in, or manipulated with, graphics or illustration programs like Adobe Illustrator

Items need to be converted into formats the DTP software will import

Quality control
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Precision and Aggregation (Continued)

The page-layout process combines the various source documents together into a coherent, visually appealing publication Uses own measurement system and printing trades language

Sample terms: serifs, leading, points, picas

In the printing trades DTP was once called electronic pagination The Zen of desktop publishing: Digital preparation of pages for press quality
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Output methods

Print:
Laser

printing

600+

dpi, (mostly for small batch, in-house, flyers, newsletters, forms, black and white jobs)

Electronic

pre-press

Professional

service bureaus, 1200+ dpi, and large press runs for bigger jobs Prepare camera ready output Produce color separations (for color) Version management and other work flow considerations
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Output methods (Continued)

Electronic Output

PDF is the standard Cross platform Printable Editable Deployable on-line Importable into DTP software

XML eBooks
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This is an Pagemaker page

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