Desktop-Publishing Produces Printed Publications
Printed matter produced by desktop-publishing also known by the acronym DTP, first appeared in the 1980s with the introduction of Aldus software called PageMaker and the LaserWriter printer from Apple Computer for their Macintosh computer. Until then hardware and the specialized publishing software costs made it impractical for the average person. Today with personal computers evolving more powerful every year, complimented with new advances in their software, desktop-publishing is a lot easier to do and cheaper. Before this, large equipment and much personal effort was required to design and do layouts. Desktop-publishing is a popular term used to describe the application of computers combined with page layout software to technically assemble specially formatted digital files for printing. It encompasses a number of different kinds of jobs to create documents for large or small scale publication. Presently, technological advances in word processing software have blurred the line between word processing and it beyond the capabilies of many of the older DTP applications. This makes it harder now for the average user to distinguish between the two. The advent of a particularly significant desktop-publishing feature, where the user sees exactly how the technical document is being created on their computer monitor, revolutionized everything. The systems that support this are known by the acronym WYSIWYG or "what you see is what you get". The WYSIWYG systems allow the display of the three important elements composing the document. What the viewer sees is the following:
A technical document is created through formatting and combining text, data, photographs, charts, graphics, and illustrations into pages that can be revised and edited as required. After the document is produced it can be sent to a designated printer or the file can be processed into a PostScript type to be stored until you bring it to a commercial printer. The commercial printer is equipped with special machines that can convert the file to film that is used to make plates for offset printing. Offset printing is generally used for more expensive higher-quality documents particularly when color is used. Some examples of materials produced by include books, brochures, calendars, magazines, newsletters and newspapers, packaging, and forms. Career Qualifications To get into this field most learn their skills completing a certificate program at an accredited academic institution , or one offered on line by same, or when they are employed through experience on the job. Interested desktop-publishing career-minded people should get a certificate or degree in graphic arts, graphic communications, or graphic design. This appears the preferred route industry and business want their potential employees to take. Most employers prefer to hire people experienced people. Those lacking experience require good communication and computer skills, also a strong work ethic, and certificates or degrees in desktop-publishing or graphics design. These will have the best job opportunities. According to US Department of Labour statistics, desktop-publishers held about 32,000 jobs in 2006. About 35 percent worked for newspaper, periodical, book, and directory publishers another 24 percent worked in the printing and related support activities industry. They earned an average USD $34,130 with the best paid ones getting about $55,000 per year. Recent Desktop Software Adobe InDesign and Quark Xpress 7 are today's rulers of desktop-publishing software domain. This software unlike the wordprocessing type such as Microsoft Word or Corel's WordPerfect focuses on page layout and design making it excellent for creating brochures, business cards, calendars, fliers, greeting cards, newsletters, and more. It allows easy production of columns, menus, cards, or creation and insertion of graphics and photos etc. This software offers templates, clip art and wizards to help you design and publish your newsletter, brochure or even a Web site. The professional versions such as Quark Xpress for example, allow the greatest control over sophisticated graphics and typography. Whereas the mid-range and consumer-level ones including Microsoft Publisher and Print Shop Deluxe are marketed for the average person, families, and even small businesses. These are simpler and far more easier to use than the professional versions and are not meant to produce large projects such as magazines, manuals, or websites. Certain reviews on the Web suggest that the product to beat for mid-range price market is MS Publisher. According to the reviews it is designed mainly to small businesses. The latest new version is included in Microsoft Office 2007, and has an updated look and certain enhancements that small business users will like. Improvements like more templates and better support for PDF publishing. Despite the extra features or improvements many reviews say that competitors Print Shop Deluxe and Print Explosion have more family friendly features and templates. The latest version of Print Shop Deluxe version 22 for example, adds new features such as a PDF tool, additional web-based templates and more graphics tools for creating images such as 3-D shapes. It is available on CD, DVD and in a Mac version for about the same price. Meanwhile, Print Shop Pro Publisher Deluxe 22 includes more business-oriented features. According to one reviewer, Publisher 2003 creator Microsoft did an excellent job in understanding how users want to work on their projects. The software allows making projects that appear difficult to be easy. Some reviewers claim that Print Shop Deluxe 22 is the best family-oriented desktop-publishing software. It is best for anyone that wants to mainly use its project templates and to insert their own pictures or text. Another contender for non-professionals, Print Explosion Deluxe 3.0, some say as good as its rival more expensive Print Shop, offers over 100,000 graphics and 13,000 templates, along with dozens of blank ones. Experts, or those that study these things, say that the best software of this type includes lots of templates and also website creation features.
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