desktop publishing

n.
The design and production of publications using personal computers with graphics capability.

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desktop publishing

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Use of a personal computer to perform publishing tasks. DTP allows an individual to combine text, numerical data, and graphic elements in a document that can be output on a printer or a phototypesetter. A typical DTP system includes a personal computer, a high-resolution printer, and input devices such as an optical scanner. Text and graphic elements are commonly created or manipulated with several separate software programs and then combined with a page-makeup program. Powerful DTP programs offer full-featured graphics capabilities.

For more information on desktop publishing, visit Britannica.com.

Barron's Marketing Dictionary:

desktop publishing

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Use of special programs running on personal computers to design and print professional-quality documents. These programs assist the user with layout design; the insertion of photographs, sketches, or graphics; many various typefaces; and the use of multiple input files so that any individual with a personal computer can produce customized documents to suit specific advertising or marketing needs.

There is also a type of desktop publishing, called electronic publishing, where documents are produced in a similar manner (although they may require more sophisticated equipment) but are meant to be viewed on-screen rather than to be printed. These documents are typically highly specialized, featuring sound or music, animations or video clips, and hypertext links and are generally distributed through computer networks such as the World Wide Web or on CD-ROMs.

Barron's Business Dictionary:

desktop publishing

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The use of personal computers to design and print professional-quality typeset documents.

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Gale Encyclopedia of Small Business:

Desktop Publishing

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Desktop publishing is the process of using computers and software to design, prepare, and typeset a variety of documents (business cards, fliers, brochures, manuals, resumes, newsletters, periodicals, instore signage). This technology, which continues to change with sometimes dizzying speed, has been embraced by all levels of the business world, from giant corporations to small, independently-owned enterprises.

Preparing for Desktopping in Your Business

Small businesses need to take a number of different factors under consideration when pondering how to introduce a desktop publishing system into their operations. Writing in Association Management, Dennis F. Pierman cited a number of areas to examine when evaluating the proliferating number of desk-topping systems now available in the marketplace. First, he suggested that business owners should not only understand their business needs, but also study how new systems can help them meet those needs. Business owners and managers should take all aspects of the company's operation into consideration, including personnel, training, management information systems supervision, system software and future upgrades, initial capital acquisition, and equipment depreciation. In addition, managers should "isolate and analyze the real cost associated with the mix of in-house and vendor resources you are currently using, and use the cost as a benchmark against which to measure your needs analysis." Pierman also recommended that businesses consult with companies that currently take care of their publishing needs to: see if future expansion of their services or capabilities might lessen your need to purchase a desktopping system; determine if pricing changes can be negotiated; and ensure that you do not inadvertently invest in equipment, software, and technical redundancies.

In-House Applications

Many small business owners have reaped the benefits of desktop technology in recent years, parlaying it into improvements in marketing, advertising, and bottom-line profitability. But while desktop publishing has many passionate defenders, even proponents of the technology's usefulness for business purposes admit that problems can crop up when it is used. Complaints about desktop publishing that small business owners should bear in mind include:

Lost Productivity. Ironically, some businesses actually report declines in productivity after turning to desktop publishing, as business owners, managers, and communications personnel fall into the trap of excessive experimentation with fonts, formatting, graphics, etc. Small business owners need to show restraint when using desktop applications, and they should monitor employee use to ensure that the company's desktop projects do not become a black hole of lost hours and productivity.

In addition, owners have to recognize that the purchase of a desktop publishing system is going to require an investment of hours of studying, training, and practice on the part of the owner himself and/or one or more of the company's employees. Indeed, one business executive indicated to Association Management that the human factors associated with turning to desktop publishing were as important as the economic implications of doing so: "Make changes as gradually or as quickly as the entire staff will allow."

Poor Quality. Many business analysts and consultants have lamented that the emergence of desktop publishing has also brought with it an upswing in the amount of poorly prepared and presented brochures, newsletters, and guides dotting the business landscape, particularly from in-house staff (whether owner or employees). To avoid this potential pitfall, publishing professionals urge users to practice basic rules of presentation when desktopping, just as they would in using any other communication media. "Knowing desktop publishing technology is just the beginning," stated Tim O'Brien in Communication World. "No computer can replace your own design sense or writing ability." As desktop publishing continues to increase in popularity, he added, "it is more important than ever to take the time to actually read the material from a critical perspective prior to printing. Make sure that the writing follows a logical sequence; that there are no typos; that the layout supports the writing; that type, format and spacing work together to provide a clean look that communicates effectively."

Applicability. Consultants caution business owners and managers to recognize that desktop publishing systems, while quite useful for many organizations, have varying levels of application for companies depending on their size, industry area, and future business plans. After all, some businesses may have a far greater need for brochures, newsletters, and advertising materials (grocery stores, retail outlets, manufacturers, resorts, hospitals, etc.) than gas stations and other businesses that are less reliant on advertising/public relations.

Choosing an Outside Vendor

Desktop publishing services typically offer a broad spectrum of services, and they can provide clients with printed material in practically any form desired, from advertising fliers to dense training manuals or annual reports. And while all desktop publishing services are not created equal, most of them are armed with a fair amount of experience and technical knowledge. This leads many consultants to urge businesses to obtain the services of a professional desktop publisher when the project is a complex one. This is especially true when the material that is being prepared is intended for an audience outside the company's walls. Many entrepreneurs and long-time publishing veterans have taken advantage of this continued need. In addition to desktop publishers that make a living by providing their services for clients, LI Business News noted that by the mid-1990s, the "desktop revolution" had created a whole new business niche: the service bureau that serves as an intermediary between the customer and the high-end printer.

desktop publishing

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desktop publishing, system for producing printed materials that consists of a personal computer or computer workstation, a high-resolution printer (usually a laser printer), and a computer program that allows the user to select from a variety of type fonts and sizes, column justifications, page layouts, and graphics libraries and often includes support for document creation and editing. Desktop publishing enables a small business or an individual to produce professional-quality materials on the premises inexpensively and quickly without the need for outside typesetting or printing facilities.

Random House Word Menu:

categories related to 'desktop publishing'

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Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier

For a list of words related to desktop publishing, see:

Publishing - desktop publishing: publication of materials using personal computers and printers with graphic capabilities and various type fonts
Graphic Design - desktop publishing: creation and printing of graphic presentations and designs using a computer

Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Desktop publishing

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"Electronic publication" redirects here. For electronic publications, see Digital media.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2007)

Scribus, an open source desktop publishing application

Desktop publishing (also known as DTP) is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal computer.

The term has been used for publishing at all levels, from small-circulation documents such as local newsletters to books, magazines and newspapers. However the term implies a more professional-looking end result, with a more complex layout, than word processing, and so when introduced in the 1980s was often used in connection with homes and small organisations who could not previously produce publication-quality documents themselves.

Contents

1 History
2 Terminology
3 Comparisons
- 3.1 With word processing
- 3.2 With other electronic layout software
4 DTP applications
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

History

Desktop publishing began in 1983 with a program developed by James Bessen at a community newspaper in Philadelphia.^[1] That program, Type Processor One, ran on an IBM PC using a Hercules Graphics Card for a WYSIWYG display and was offered commercially by Bestinfo in 1984.^[2] (Desktop typesetting, with only limited page makeup facilities, had arrived in 1978–9 with the introduction of TeX, and was extended in the early 1980s by LaTeX.) The DTP market exploded in 1985 with the introduction in January of the Apple LaserWriter printer, and later in July with the introduction of PageMaker software from Aldus which rapidly became the DTP industry standard software.

Before the advent of desktop publishing, the only option available to most persons for producing typed (as opposed to handwritten) documents was a typewriter, which offered only a handful of typefaces (usually fixed-width) and one or two font sizes. Indeed, one popular desktop publishing book was actually titled The Mac is not a typewriter.^[3] The ability to create WYSIWYG page layouts on screen and then print pages containing text and graphical elements at crisp 300 dpi resolution was revolutionary for both the typesetting industry and the personal computer industry. Newspapers and other print publications made the move to DTP-based programs from older layout systems like Atex and other such programs in the early 1980s.

The term "desktop publishing" is attributed to Aldus Corporation founder Paul Brainerd,^[4] who sought a marketing catch-phrase to describe the small size and relative affordability of this suite of products in contrast to the expensive commercial phototypesetting equipment of the day.

By the standards of today, early desktop publishing was a primitive affair. Users of the PageMaker-LaserWriter-Macintosh 512K system endured frequent software crashes,^[5] cramped display on the Mac's tiny 512 x 342 1-bit monochrome screen, the inability to control letter spacing, kerning (the addition or removal of space between individual characters in a piece of typeset text to improve its appearance or alter its fit) and other typographic features, and discrepancies between the screen display and printed output. However, it was a revolutionary combination at the time, and was received with considerable acclaim.

Behind-the-scenes technologies developed by Adobe Systems set the foundation for professional desktop publishing applications. The LaserWriter and LaserWriter Plus printers included high quality, scalable Adobe PostScript-fonts built into their ROM memory. The LaserWriter's PostScript capability allowed publication designers to proof files on a local printer then print the same file at DTP service bureaus using optical resolution 600+ ppi PostScript-printers such as those from Linotronic. Later, the Macintosh II was released which was much more suitable for desktop publishing because of its greater expandability, support for large color multi-monitor displays, and its SCSI storage interface which allowed fast, high-capacity hard drives to be attached to the system.

Although Macintosh-based systems would continue to dominate the market, in 1986, the GEM-based Ventura Publisher was introduced for MS-DOS computers. While PageMaker's pasteboard metaphor closely simulated the process of creating layouts manually, Ventura Publisher automated the layout process through its use of tags/style sheets and automatically generated indices and other body matter. This made it suitable for manuals and other long-format documents. Desktop publishing moved into the home market in 1986 with Professional Page for the Amiga, Publishing Partner (now PageStream) for the Atari ST, GST's Timeworks Publisher on the PC and Atari ST and Calamus for the Atari TT030. Even for 8-bit computers like the Apple II and Commodore 64 software was published: Home Publisher, The Newsroom and geoPublish.

During its early years, desktop publishing acquired a bad reputation as a result of untrained users who created poorly-organized ransom note effect layouts — similar criticism would be levied again against early Web publishers a decade later. However, some were able to realize truly professional results.

Once considered a primary skill, increased accessibility to more user-friendly DTP software has made DTP a secondary skill to art direction, graphic design, multimedia development, marketing communications, administrative careers and advanced high school literacy in thriving economies.^{[clarification needed]} DTP skill levels range from what may be learned in a few hours (e.g. learning how to put clip art in a word processor) to what requires a college education and years of experience (e.g. advertising agency positions). The discipline of DTP skills range from technical skills such as prepress production and programming to creative skills such as communication design and graphic image development.

Terminology

There are two types of pages in desktop publishing, electronic pages and virtual paper pages to be printed on physical paper pages. All computerized documents are technically electronic, which are limited in size only by computer memory or computer data storage space.

Virtual paper pages will ultimately be printed, and therefore require paper parameters that coincide with international standard physical paper sizes such as "A4," "letter," etc., if not custom sizes for trimming. Some desktop publishing programs allow custom sizes designated for large format printing used in posters, billboards and trade show displays. A virtual page for printing has a predesignated size of virtual printing material and can be viewed on a monitor in WYSIWYG format. Each page for printing has trim sizes (edge of paper) and a printable area if bleed printing is not possible as is the case with most desktop printers.

A web page is an example of an electronic page that is not constrained by virtual paper parameters. Most electronic pages may be dynamically re-sized, causing either the content to scale in size with the page or causing the content to re-flow.

Master pages are templates used to automatically copy or link elements and graphic design styles to some or all the pages of a multipage document. Linked elements can be modified without having to change each instance of an element on pages that use the same element. Master pages can also be used to apply graphic design styles to automatic page numbering.

Page layout is the process by which the elements are laid on the page orderly, aesthetically, and precisely. Main types of components to be laid out on a page include text, linked images that can only be modified as an external source, and embedded images that may be modified with the layout application software. Some embedded images are rendered in the application software, while others can be placed from an external source image file. Text may be keyed into the layout, placed, or (with database publishing applications) linked to an external source of text which allows multiple editors to develop a document at the same time.

Graphic design styles such as color, transparency, and filters, may also be applied to layout elements. Typography styles may be applied to text automatically with style sheets. Some layout programs include style sheets for images in addition to text. Graphic styles for images may be border shapes, colors, transparency, filters, and a parameter designating the way text flows around the object called "wraparound" or "runaround."

Comparisons

With word processing

While desktop publishing software still provides extensive features necessary for print publishing, modern word processors now have publishing capabilities beyond those of many older DTP applications, blurring the line between word processing and desktop publishing.

In the early days of graphical user interfaces, DTP software was in a class of its own when compared to the fairly spartan word processing applications of the time. Programs such as WordPerfect and WordStar were still mainly text-based and offered little in the way of page layout, other than perhaps margins and line spacing. On the other hand, word processing software was necessary for features like indexing and spell checking, features that are common in many applications today.

As computers and operating systems have become more powerful, vendors have sought to provide users with a single application platform that can meet all needs.

With other electronic layout software

In modern usage, DTP is not generally said to include tools such as TeX or troff, though both can easily be used on a modern desktop system and are standard with many Unix-like operating systems and readily available for other systems. The key difference between electronic typesetting software and DTP software is that DTP software is generally interactive and WYSIWYG in design, while other electronic typesetting software, such as TeX, LaTeX and other variants, tends to operate in batch mode, requiring the user to enter the processing program's markup language without immediate visualization of the finished product. This kind of workflow is less user-friendly than WYSIWYG, but more suitable for conference proceedings and scholarly articles as well as corporate newsletters or other applications where consistent, automated layout is important.

One of the early and comprehensive reference books on the art of Desktop Publishing is Desktop Publishing For Everyone by K.S.V. Menon. This publication deals with virtually every facet of publishing and nearly all tools available as at the time of the publishing of this book in the year 2000. It is currently out of print.

There is some overlap between desktop publishing and what is known as Hypermedia publishing (i.e. Web design, Kiosk, CD-ROM). Many graphical HTML editors such as Microsoft FrontPage and Adobe Dreamweaver use a layout engine similar to a DTP program. However, some Web designers still prefer to write HTML without the assistance of a WYSIWYG editor, for greater control and because these editors often result in code bloat.

DTP applications

For a more comprehensive list, see List of desktop publishing software.

Aldus Personal Press
Adobe FrameMaker
Adobe InDesign
Adobe PageMaker
Adobe HomePublisher
CorelDRAW
Corel Ventura
Fatpaint (Web-based application)
iStudio Publisher
Microsoft Office Publisher
OpenOffice.org / LibreOffice
PageStream (used to be "Publishing Partner")
PTC Arbortext
QuarkXPress
Ready,Set,Go
Scribus
Serif PagePlus

References

^ "What You See Is Pretty Close to What You Get: New h&j, pagination program for IBM PC," Seybold Report on Publishing Systems, 13(10), February 13, 1984, pp. 21-2.
^ "Type-X '85: Fulfilling the Promise of the PC," Seybold Report on Publishing Systems, 15(2) pp. 4-5.
^ Robin Williams, The Mac is not a typewriter: A style manual for creating professional-level type on your Macintosh (Berkeley: Peachpit Press, 1990), 11.
^ Stiff, Paul (13 September 2006). "The Stafford papers". The optimism of modernity: recovering modern reasoning in typography. http://www.optimism-modernity.org.uk/documents/index.html#note1. Retrieved 27 December 2009.
^ Thompson, Keith (8). "MacIntosh Layout Package Remarkably Fast, Powerful". InfoWorld 9 (23): 50, 51. http://books.google.com/books?id=0TAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=%2Baldus+%22pagemaker%22+infoworld+review+1987#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2011-04-15.

External links

Desktop Publishing Tips and Tutorials

v d e Desktop publishing software

Open source	Scribus · LyX

Freeware	PagePlus SE · PDF-XChange · Fatpaint (Cloud-based)

Retail	Adobe (Acrobat · FrameMaker · InDesign) · Corel Ventura · Microsoft Publisher · PagePlus · Pages · PageStream · QuarkXPress · RagTime

See also	Comparison · Web publishing · Mobile publishing · Electronic publishing · Printing · List of (PDF software · eBook Readers)

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	database publishing (technology)
	run around (technology)
	clip art (technology)

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desktop publishing

desktop publishing

desktop publishing

desktop publishing

desktop publishing

Desktop Publishing

desktop publishing

categories related to 'desktop publishing'

Desktop publishing

History

Terminology

Comparisons

With word processing

With other electronic layout software

DTP applications

See also

References

External links