Desktop publishing tips

Desktop publishing
Find information and books about desktop publishing including tutorial books on Quark Xpress and Adobe Pagemaker

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Desktop Publishing Tips
by Michael Russell

Online publishing is not so difficult. You can just make a Blogger or Wordpress account and suddenly become a self-published author or you can use software like FrontPage to create a nice web page or you might as well start publishing a periodical newsletter. It's your call. The more you surf the Web and collect ideas from other sites, the more skilled you become.

However, it comes a point in time when you want to promote your business and your skills via traditional printed publications (business cards, brochures, fliers or newsletters). And you'll probably be tempted in self-publishing again. Although online things are simple, there are other factors you should consider offline: quality of the paper, image resolution and quality of the graphics, pagination, distribution and so on. If you are serious about your business, you'll make sure all the above factors are executed at the highest standards. And how?

• Choose a professional desktop publisher. That's not so difficult. Desktop publishers are usually designers skilled in working with different publishing software (PageMaker, Adobe InDesign, QuarkXPress etc) or different publishing systems (combining computer, software and high-tech printers). You might get a lower quote if you employ a student from a local design school.

• Team up with your desktop publisher. He (or she) doesn't know what your goals are and you cannot demand him/her to meet your expectations if you don't provide backup. So start organizing your data: texts, photographs, graphics and branding guidelines. Give your publisher a complete and comprehensive folder. Write a plan and include what you need in your publication. Clearly define your goals and your targeted segment of readers.

• You'll need to explain the pictures and the graphics, especially when the designer is not experienced in your field of expertise and doesn't know your products. You'll need to write proper captions for each picture, especially when you want to include enhance a story with it. And you'll also need to specify how exactly is a certain picture relevant to the content and where it should be included. Don't expect your publisher to guess or to know things that are not related with his/her job. Provide good quality pictures (at least 300 dpi - for printing).

• Proofread the publication prior to printing. Ask a third person to proofread it too. Sometimes small mistakes might escape even the most trained eye. That's also the right time to decide whether you want some changes or not. Then give it back to your publisher for the final touch.

• Print your publication with a professional printing house. No serious printing house will publish your document without proofing the quality of the layout and graphics first. This is what they can see in a flash, so there you'll have no problems. The content though. that's another story. So once again: make sure you have no grammar/spelling errors and you'll be fine.

Follow these simple steps and you will have a professional publication. Remember: desktop publishing is not always for the do-it-yourselfer!

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Publishing

desktop publishing and graphic design books

Find books about desktop publishing

Adobe Pagemaker 7: Classroom in a book
"fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to master Adobe PageMaker.."

Desktop Publishing Basics by Wexel
"Provides introductory coverage of many desktop publishing topics.."

Quark Xpress Bible by Galen Gruman, Barbara Assadi
"Addresses all significant aspects of QuarkXPress, including color print-ing, online publishing, workflow considerations, cross-platform exchange, source file preparation, printed output, and much more.."

The Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby
"the best guide to photoshop 7 for digital photographers.."

Pagemaker 7 the Complete Reference by Carolyn M. Connally
"A comprehensive reference guide that covers all the features, old and new, of PageMaker.."

Looking Good in Print by R. Parker
"If you can afford only one book on desktop publishing, this is the one"

InDesign for Quark Xpress Users by David Blatner, Christopher Smith, Steve Werner
"The only book to focus exclusively on helping experienced QuarkXPress users learn to use Adobe InDesign.."

How to do Everything with Adobe Acrobat 6.0 by Doug Sahlin
"This guide show anyone, regardless of their prior experience with Acrobat or desktop publishing, how to create and publish PDF documents quickly and effectively.."

How to do Everything with Your Scanner by Dave Huss
"describes how to use a scanner to capture images, offers advice and tips on image and colour correction and provides details on using photo editing software.."

Quark Xpress Killer Tips by Eda Warren
"The hottest collection of cool tips and hidden secrets for the QuarkXPress pro.."

Make money from your hobby
“Using your present hobby or favorite pastime as your business base has many benefits. Why? Because any business you decide to become involved in should be doing something you LOVE something you believe in, something that you would work at NO MATTER what income it would generate...” read more

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Websites related to desktop publishing

www.graphic-design.com
Graphic design, and Photoshop tutorials for designers, illustrators and photographers

www.desktoppublishing.com
Free desktop publishing resource. Page layout and DTP tutorials, graphic design and desktop publishing tutorials. Also find free clipart, DTP software, fonts, backgrounds, desktop wallpapers, textures, templates, books, along with resources for prepress, typography, printing, and graphic design

Desktop publishing software distributors

www.freeserifsoftware.com
Free software downloads for desktop publishing, image editing, graphic design, 3D animation, and web publishing

www.adobe.com
Leading software developer of web design, graphic design and desktop publishing software

www.quark.com
Developer of industry leading software Quark Xpress and interactive software

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