Did you know that desktop publishing can help you increase productivity, minimize production cost and enhance the appearance of your documents? Read more to find out about the advantages of outsourcing DTP.
Desktop Publishing
Desktop publishing (usually abbreviated as DTP) is a process for producing printed content by using specialized software to link desktop computers with desktop and other printers. The quality is designed to equal or exceed typeset printing in books. While desktop publishing can include any office or home network that allows you to produce a printable document, DTP usually refers to professional computer-based publishing from expert providers such as Artwork Abode.
Desktop publishing software makes it easy to vary typefaces and margins while embedding graphs and illustrations - this feature involving images is especially important in an increasingly visual business world. DTP applications allow users to create and alter page layouts such as a book layout or magazine layout. With DTP, text formatting and typesetting can be accomplished with a click of a computer mouse.
Advantages of Desktop Publishing
Here are the primary desktop publishing advantages:
1. Increased productivity
2. Reduced production costs
3. Improved appearance of documents
4. Enhanced creativity with an element of fun
5. Ability to produce customized documents
6. Reduced time to print
Desktop publishing has effectively replaced the need for large printing presses. The ease of importing images from various sources and then resizing images allows desktop publishing software to produce professional-looking documents without graphic design skills.
With desktop publishing, you can increase productivity, minimize production cost, enhance the appearance of your documents, improve the level of creativity, reduce the time taken for printing and produce customized documents. The best part about DTP is that you can create professional-looking documents, without the need for graphic design.
Advantage # 1: Enhanced appearance with page layouts
A page layout refers to the process of arranging or re-arranging text/graphics on a page. A customer should read your content and then take the next step of buying your products/services. With the help of DTP, you can improve the page layout and create an effective design by balancing the contrast, space and colors that would grab the attention of your customers. An enhanced appearance with an attractive page layout on your sales brochure, booklet or flyer is sure to bring about an increase in sales.
Advantage # 2: Easy customization for any type of document
DTP can revolutionize the way in which your customers, suppliers, investors and employees think about your company. Trough desktop publishing, you can improve and customize any type of document that you want to target towards a specific audience. Whether it is a press release, menu, graph, statement, proposal, newsletter, flyer, catalog, schedule or name tags, you can effectively use desktop publishing to customize any document for your business.
Advantage # 3: Reduced production costs
Advanced desktop publishing usually requires investments on specialized publishing software like QuarkXpress, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign or Illustrator. However, when you outsource DTP, you will not have to make any investment on DTP equipment (Computers and printers) or the software and regular upgrades. This will minimize your production cost, while giving you access to top-notch quality desktop publishing services.
Desktop publishing and strong graphic design make documents look better, but there's more to desktop publishing than just appearance. Used properly, desktop publishing enhances visual communication and streamlines the process of disseminating information of all kinds. It's also the method of file preparation that ensures files print properly so that communications get out in a timely manner.
DESKTOP PUBLISHING IS AFFORDABLE
Desktop publishing is important as a tool that enhances communication by making it possible to efficiently produce printed and electronic - online or onscreen - documents, without the expertise and expensive equipment that was once required. Although skilled graphic designers use desktop publishing, so do small business owners, freelancers, website owners and club presidents.
DESKTOP PUBLISHING IS A DESIRABLE SKILL SET
Employers are looking for employees with desktop publishing skills for many of their job openings. That means office managers, teachers, administrative assistants, real estate agents, restaurant managers, and just about any office or clerical job and many that aren't require some level of desktop publishing skills. In the office environment, that may mean at a minimum familiarity with the Microsoft Office Suite or Publisher.Students, individuals on a tight budget and job-seekers can all save money by learning basic desktop publishing skills to improve the look and clarity of their papers or resumes. Adding desktop publishing to your resume may give you that extra something many
employers look for.
DESKTOP PUBLISHING IS AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE
Before the mid-1980s, only trained graphic designers and high-end commercial printers and service bureaus produced the printed products available to the public. That changed with the introduction of Aldus Pagemaker, the Mac computer and a Postscript printer in 1984 and 1985.The combination of affordable software and desktop computers enticed people who had never before been able to create their own publications. Desktop publishing software allows the user to rearrange text and graphics on screen, change typefaces as easily as changing shoes, and resize graphics on the fly. Just by following a few rules of desktop publishing, users were able to turn out professional-looking documents.
Page Layout Programs
A program that enables you to format pages of text and graphics. Many word processing systems support their own page layout functions, but page layout applications designed specifically for this purpose generally give you more control over fine points such as text flow and positioning of graphics.
Page layout programs are the backbone of desktop publishing.
Application software for creating and precisely assembling text and graphic parts into a 'page' that can be printed exactly as seen on the screen. These programs (such as Adobe's Pagemaker and Quark's QuarkXpress) allow control of every element (such as fonts, character spacing, word spacing, and line spacing of text, and color, size, and resolution of graphics) of a page of any size the printing device can handle.
Lightweight page layout software help combine graphics and texts to create layouts for flyers, brochures, ads, newsletters, greeting cards, books, leaflets, certificate from templates.
A page layout program is the assembly area where all the parts of a project are put together. You can write text directly in the program, but you can also import it from any word processor. You can style and format the text professionally, and import graphics, then resize and position them.
Once you bring text into a page layout program (or write it directly on the page), you can do many of the same tasks you would in a word processor like :
- Style and format text, either manually or using style sheets
- Check your spelling
- Find-and-change to replace text phrases or formatting
However, because you are working in a page layout program there are other things you can do with text:
- Rotate and overlap text for special effects
- Use justification controls to fine-tune the spaces between letters, words, and lines
- Lock the text to a baseline grid so it automatically lines up across columns and pages
- Change the horizontal or vertical scale sizes of the text
- Convert text to paths (sometimes called outlines) so that it can be used for graphic elements
Things you can do with graphics through Page Layout Programs:
- Resizing graphics.
- Scaling graphics down.
- Rotating graphics.
- Changing the colors of graphics.
Introduction to Word Processing
Word processing is the phrase used to describe using a computer to create, edit, and print documents. Of all computer applications, word processing is the most common. To perform word processing, you need a computer, a special program called a word processor, and a printer. A word processor enables you to create a document, store it electronically on a disk, display it on a screen, modify it by entering commands and characters from the keyboard, and print it on a printer.
Word processors vary considerably, but all word processors support the following basic
features:
- insert text:Allows you to insert text anywhere in the document.
- delete text: Allows you to erase characters, words, lines, or pages as easily as you can cross them out on paper
- cut and paste : Allows you to remove (cut) a section of text from one place in a document and insert (paste) it somewhere else.
- copy :Allows you to duplicate a section of text.
- page size and margins :Allows you to define various page sizes and margins, and the word processor will automatically readjust the text so that it fits.
- search and replace : Allows you to direct the word processor to search for a particular word or phrase. You can also direct the word processor to replace one group of characters with another everywhere that the first group appears.
- word wrap :The word processor automatically moves to the next line when you have filled one line with text, and it will readjust text if you change the margins.
- print: Allows you to send a document to a printer to get hard copy.
Features of Standard Word Processors
Word processors that support only these features (and maybe a few others) are called text editors. Most word processors, however, support additional features that enable you to manipulate and format documents in more sophisticated ways. These more advanced word processors are sometimes called full-featured word processors.Full-featured word processors usually support the following features:
- file management :Many word processors contain file management capabilities that allow you to create, delete, move, and search for files.
- font specifications: Allows you to change fonts within a document. For example, you can specify bold, italics, and underlining. Most word processors also let you change the font size and even the typeface.
- footnotes and cross-references: Automates the numbering and placement of footnotes and enables you to easily cross-reference other sections of the document.
- graphics:Allows you to embed illustrations and graphs into a document. Some word processors let you create the illustrations within the word processor; others let you insert an illustration produced by a different program.
- headers , footers , and page numbering:Allows you to specify customized headers and footers that the word processor will put at the top and bottom of every page. The word processor automatically keeps track of page numbers so that the correct number appears on each page.
- layout :Allows you to specify different margins within a single document and to specify various methods for indenting paragraphs.
- macros : A macro is a character or word that represents a series of keystrokes. The keystrokes can represent text or commands. The ability to define macros allows you to save yourself a lot of time by replacing common combinations of keystrokes.
- merges: Allows you to merge text from one file into another file. This is particularly useful for generating many files that have the same format but different data. Generating mailing labels is the classic example of using merges.
- spell checker : A utility that allows you to check the spelling of words. It will highlight any words that it does not recognize.
- tables of contents and indexes:Allows you to automatically create a table of contents and index based on special codes that you insert in the document.
- thesaurus:A built-in thesaurus that allows you to search for synonyms without leaving the word processor.
- windows : Allows you to edit two or more documents at the same time. Each document appears in a separate window. This is particularly valuable when working on a large project that consists of several different files.
- WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get): With WYSIWYG, a document appears on the display screen exactly as it will look when printed
Desktop Publishing vs. Word Processing
Word processors are meant to create and edit documents while desktop publishing possess basic word processing with enhanced formatting and layout features. Learn more about the differences between the two applications.
What is Word Processing?
A word processor like Microsoft Word is basically an electronic typewriter application with the option of editing content whenever needed. Word processing allows documents to be typed for printing or viewing electronically and has some extra features like spell checking, formatting and lists. These extra features give the user more document control than that of simple text editors. The general idea for any word processing application is to be able to edit and format the final document. Thus, the advantages include:
- Easy to edit, move, delete, save, print, spell check, and format.
- It also allows the expression of ideas clearly as these can be changed or deleted later.
- Allows organization of ideas in one single file.
- Easy sharing and storage features.
Desktop publishing is as good as having a mini-printing press within a personal computer. Publishing software helps design the page layout for each document. Tools in desktop publishing applications can help the user to configure the layout, where things are printed in the final design and how things are printed. Desktop publishing tools are simple to understand and use, plus with having the absolute layout control it is distinguished from word processing applications. A list of open source desktop publishing tools are listed here. Advantages over word processing use include:
- Desktop publishing at home or office can be less expensive.
- The tool allows full control on the final output.
- Easy to edit and make changes.
- More mediums (text, pictures, and graphics) to communicate ideas.
- Word Processing vs. Desktop Publishing
Both word processing and desktop publishing are similar in many ways but different in areas that cover the publication of documents.
The similarities between the two are:
- Both tools deal with text that can be formatted.
- Both tools can work with tables and pictures.
- Both tools have many similar features like WordArt, Clip Art, and text styles. The differences between DTPs and Word Processors are:
- Word Processing programs are designed to focus on texts whilst Desktop Publishing devices are designed to focus more on the structure or display of a document.
- WPs are generally more condensed then DTPs and so are better suited for transfers across the internet.
- DTP programs give the user the tools required to greatly edit a piece of graphic whilst WPs only allow the most simple edits to graphic such as changing of its size inside a file. However WP programs allow one to more effectively edit text then a DTP.
- DTPs also make it possible for people to save money on the designs of their documents. WPs do not essentially offer this because whilst there are professionals who are experts in using DTP programs WPs have never been an industry in its own. E.g one cannot really make money from being an expert in Word processing programs.
- Word processing involves creation, editing, and printing of text while desktop publishing involves production of documents that combine text with graphics.
- Word processing is difficult to layout and design as compared to desktop publishing. Thus, desktop publishing is used to work on things like newsletters, magazines, adverts, and brochures where layout is important. Word processing documents are common for simple memos, letters, manuscripts, and resumes.
