Desktop Publishing Software

What is desktop publishing software?

Desktop publishing software is a tool that helps in designing visual communications. A few decades ago, these software packages catered only to the print media. Flyers, magazines, books, posters, brochures, business cards, invitations cards, etc. were created using them. However, in this digital world, with the popularity of websites, ebooks, slideshows, etc., the scope of these packages is now beyond the printing platform. So, from web publishing to presentation apps, designers work in multiple digital graphics fields under the broad gamut of desktop publishing.

The need and affordability of desktop publishing

Just about any office job may require a basic level of desktop publishing skills. Whether you are an office manager, restaurant manager, teacher, or real estate agent, it is always a bonus point to be familiar with desktop publish software packages. That can be the Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Creative Cloud, and other similar applications. Students can boost their resume and give it a pleasing and professional appearance by designing one themselves without having to spend money on professional resume makers. It can also become an addition in your skillset and give you an edge over other candidates. The wide-spread availability of these software solutions has, on the other hand, made desktop publishing more affordable. Individuals can launch their own ebooks or magazines all by themselves without needing to hire an agency.

An assortment of features form desktop publishing software

Basic desktop publishing software features include tools that can let you configure the layout and design of your pages and deal with standard graphics and type customizations. Master pages help to give a structure to the entire document so that you wouldn’t need to repeat the same edits throughout. Preflighting is a feature by which you can see if your design is compliant with the standards of the printing industry. Some packages offer intensive design and editing options such as text on curves, applying drop shadows, etc. You can add indexes, footnotes, and endnotes in your design, add cross-references or a table of contents when dealing with longer documents. Some also allow you to combine data from multiple external sources, and create tables and equations with the data. Most desktop publishing software would allow formats for offline printing and electronic media such as PDF and XML.

Meeting the publisher’s need with multiple software packages

Different desktop publishing programs have different sets of features, as mentioned earlier. The kind of software you use would depend on what types of publications you are working with at that point. There are newsletters, magazines, small booklets, flyers, etc. that fall into the category of general publications and graphics. Packages from software such as InDesign and PageMaker can be particularly helpful here, apart from QuarkXPress. For long documents that usually have multiple chapters such as books, ebooks, manuals, or academic publications, you can work with Adobe Indesign, Corel Ventura, QuarkXPress, etc. And other scientific and data-intensive publications are there that require tabular materials for which you can use Adobe Framework or Corel Ventura. Publications can even fall into more than one category simultaneously. So, you may need to shift between one tool to another to get the final desired output.