DTP 1101: Desktop Publishing Basics
The idea of desktop publishing has broadened sizably since its introduction in the 1980s. This article will explore the modern meaning of desktop publishing and outline the standard features of the desktop publishing software of today.
What Is Desktop Publishing?
In a nutshell, desktop publishing is the process of preparing documents for printing via special page layout software known as desktop publishing software. But actually, there is a bit more to the term than that.
The term entered the vocabulary of computer users in the late eighties after the development of one of the first desktop publishing applications—Aldus PageMaker. Until recent years, desktop publishing software typically denoted the top of the line professional programs used mostly by graphic designers to transform their ideas into the visual representation of a document meant for printing.
The introduction of desktop publishing presented marketing with a lot of scope and brought FYI enthusiasts and small businesses the means to take business promotion into their own hands without too much of a struggle. Perhaps this is why the term "desktop publishing" holds a slightly different meaning these days.
Today desktop publishing encompasses any creative project meant for desktop and commercial printing or electronic distribution. This may include a greeting card to Grandma, a family scrapbook cover, or an electronic newsletter. In fact, desktop publishing today often refers to documents that are not at all meant for printing. This is due to developments in communication and promotion via the Internet.
This new paradigm has produced desktop publishing software that is specialized for a certain type of document (e.g. business cards or disc covers). Such software aims to simplify the user experience by eliminating tools unnecessary for that particular type of project. Though this has been the latest trend, there still exists a set of standard features for any type of desktop publishing software.
What Are the Main Benefits of Desktop Publishing?
If you desire to keep up with modern trends and customers’ expectations, you would hardly survive with just word processing tools at your disposal. And, every time you need to prepare a flyer or a web advertisement for your marketing campaign, it is inefficient in terms of both budget and time consumption to reach out to third-party solutions. Instead of putting experts from the correlated field into your shoes, it would be better to explore the opportunities of page layout programs and become more flexible.
Advantage #1: Better Results with Page Layout Tools
The best thing about desktop publishing (DTP) software deals is the functionality. Editing two pages side-by-side, creating repeated content with a single button click, importing any of the hundreds of clipart images and using the integration with specialized software for more eye-catching lettering and typography—these features allow your brand to complement their experience of designing numerous layouts.
Advantage #2: Cost
The list of the most beneficial advantages of DTP is incomplete without a price estimate. When you apply to professional services with a task to prepare a certain layout, the fee is assessed per project. When companies decide to try desktop publishing software for the Mac, they pay an established fee just once. That is the case with Swift Publisher.
More importantly, don’t be afraid you are going to invest your funds wrongly—the service provider offers a free trial. In this regard, an organization’s employees can determine for themselves how fast and intuitive the application is.
Advantage #3: Smooth Customization and Adjustment
One of the rocking benefits is to apply one of over 500 templates and fine-tune them in accordance with your target audience’s needs. Designing business cards, brochures, menus, envelopes or labels—these features are just a small number of the capabilities offered by the considered software for the Mac.
Advantage #4: Enhanced Creativity
Taking into account that advanced programs for DTP offer access to different top-notch graphics, why not use this feature as a source of inspiration and knowledge base? The same applies to templates. This is how beginners can become masters without complicated learning curves—just with the help of files and materials found within the tool. At the same time, if nothing disturbs you from the creative process (e.g., technical issues or a stubborn menu with a long route to the option you need), the results will turn out to be more appealing and motivating.
Advantage #5: Simplified Publishing
The DTP meaning in printing isn’t to be underestimated. Instead of hoping that the results of your hard work will be published as you envisioned, it is wiser to take responsibility into your own hands. For instance, almost all DTP apps allow switching between RGB and CMYK color palettes. That means that the vividness and brightness of your layout will be preserved. In addition, with the ability to tune the bleeds, the quantity and quality of objects present on the file before and after publishing will coincide.
What Is Desktop Publishing Software?
The application for desktop publishing is a tool developed for completing the design and layout of documents such as magazines, advertising banners, catalogs and books. You can use your Mac or PC to output them to the demanded devices, such as a printer or label printer, or to send them directly to the print house.
Tools for desktop publishing include color separation and improved control over the font of your text. The advantage of these tools is that they give more options to deal with tracking, ligatures and kerning.
The Features of Desktop Publishing Apps
Below is a list and description of the most basic and essential features that any desktop publishing software should have. Some of them may prove more crucial than others depending on the type of print project you are working with. Though these features are important, the list surely does not end here.
Support for Numerous Project Types
The ability to create a variety of projects defines the flexibility of a desktop publishing application. The key to delivering this is by supporting an abundance of paper layouts and the ability to create custom page layouts without too many restrictions.
Layout Tools
The term “layout tools” involves a range of tools that help to place and align objects accurately. Such tools include but are not limited to rulers, adjustable and automatic guides, multiple editing layers, object snapping, and object grouping.
The guides and snapping options offer a point of reference when placing images and text in the document. Multiple editing layers keep the workspace more or less uncluttered which helps to prevent selecting and moving the unintended object. Object grouping helps in a similar way by making sure that multiple objects remain positioned proportionate to one another.
The integration of so-called “master pages” in a desktop publishing application saves you from having to create the same background multiple times for a multi-page document. This option creates a type of template that can be applied to every page of a document.
Text Tools
Desktop publishing software should offer a wide range of text editing tools extending beyond standard operations on text. Linked text boxes are an absolute must in desktop publishing. Such text boxes allow text to flow freely within a network of text boxes. This makes editing text content much easier since the text boxes automatically adjust the contained text.
Adjusting the text properties of headers and other portions of text can be quite tedious. Applications with style sheets make that process much quicker. One can think of style sheets as customizable text templates that can be applied to any portion of text by selecting it and choosing the corresponding style sheet.
Other important text tools include circle text and artistic text effects.
Graphic Tools
The ability to edit images is also an absolute must for desktop publishing software. Ideally, an application should allow you to do more than just manipulate images (resize, angle, crop, or compress). It should give you a set of built-in image effects and filters as well as other functions related to design. Such functions may include adding shadows, controlling the transparency, and so forth. Highly professional applications may offer advanced drawing tools.
Printing and Sharing
Supporting a ton of paper layouts and printers is not enough to make a desktop publishing application great. If you are running an older printer, you will definitely need the ability print your project as a raster image since many old printers can not handle vector data. A person looking to send his document to the printshop will find that a variety of export options and the means to convert text to curves will turn out to be useful. Those who plan on printing any kind of booklet should look for an imposition functionality.
And?
Desktop publishing has come quite a long way since its introduction in the 1980s. The process is basically the same but for a more broad range of results. The future will no doubt bring changes to both the process and result. This will probably bring about new tasks in the desktop publishing world, and hopefully, their solutions. For the moment, desktop publishing presents itself as a great solution for small business and even big business. It is as simple as identifying needs and areas where desktop publishing can provide a solution and finding the right software to help you get there.