Basic Desktop Publishing Software

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
I have done a lot of newsletters, flyers, etc. using Microsoft Publisher on a PC. What would be a good option for this in OS X? Does Publisher have an OS X version? I'm looking to avoid the cost of, say, Adobe Pagemaker but hoping to still have a lot of flexibility with graphics and text.



Also Publisher doesn't do all that well with web page construction although they've made some strides.



Ideas? Suggestions?
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 34
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    My recommendation:



    <a href="http://www.stone.com"; target="_blank">Stone Studio</a>, specifically, Create. It does page layout, illustration, and web layout. It's simple to figure out, has pretty deep feature set, and it's not expensive either. This and other applications like it are far better than Publisher.



    There are tons of these kinds of applications for the Mac. Check out <a href="http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/"; target="_blank">Apple's software downloads</a>, <a href="http://www.versiontracker.com"; target="_blank">Version Tracker</a>, or <a href="http://www.macupdate.com"; target="_blank">MacUpdate</a> for more titles.



    [added]...then again, maybe <a href="http://www.apple.com/appleworks/"; target="_blank">AppleWorks</a> will do the trick for you.



    [ 06-26-2002: Message edited by: BuonRotto ]</p>
  • Reply 2 of 34
    dartblazerdartblazer Posts: 149member
    You seriously should look at InDesign, your printer will be much happier. I know it's expensive, but having it done in a correct program will save you money in the long run. Your printer is probably charging you extra currently, just because you're using a bad program.



    But if you still wanna go cheap i suggest Deneba Canvas. It's a great program, and it can do color correction, illustration and page layout. It might even be able to do web pages. and it's $300 cheaper than InDesign.



    Stay away from Stone Studio Create, for the time being at least. It's a decent product but it's too new doesn't allow for bleeds and is just a layout app, wheras Canvas is an all in one. Plus Canvas has been around for a while and most of the Prepress shops should have a copy.
  • Reply 3 of 34
    Freehand is the way i'd go. very underated for page layout purposes. multiple pages are a snap (each your heart out illustrator). solid vector drawing app that has been around for a long while and it works well on web stuff too. Fairly inexpensive. hell you might even qualify for competitive upgrade for owning publisher (be worth asking about).
  • Reply 4 of 34
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    My impression was that this person is looking for something more basic, no?
  • Reply 5 of 34
    [quote]I'm looking to avoid the cost of, say, Adobe Pagemaker but hoping to still have a lot of flexibility with graphics and text. <hr></blockquote>



    this would leave me to believe that he wants some nifty features but doesn't really want spend a lot of cash to get them, basically.
  • Reply 6 of 34
    gozogozo Posts: 15member
    Nifty features. Cheap. Easier layout than, say, Word. That's what I'm looking for. I have to say I've really liked Publisher when using a PC. I can crank out stuff fast and the Word Art, Layout Guides, etc. have made it possible to put out some good looking stuff. What I've not been able to do well with it is bleeds, much alterations with pictures, and web publishing. This is for a non-profit organization.
  • Reply 7 of 34
    any of the stuff mentioned above will make publisher seem like it was chump as far feature sets go.



    quark, indesign and pagemaker are all pure page layout programs. that's what they do well, nothing else. anyone saying otherwise is selling you something stinky.



    stone design... well, don't no squat about it other than it's fairly cheap. i wouldn't hold my breath for printer support though.



    canvas is not bad as far as a swiss army knife approach goes. Has bitmap editing capabilities, web features, yada yada yada. Been around for a while and you might get lucky and find some printer out there that knows what to do with the files it generates.



    corel draw. avoid it like the plague.



    illustrator and freehand are old pros at print stuff. pretty much the king turds on $hit island of drawing programs depending on where you're located. Both are fairlly similar in features and flexibilty but freehand can do mutipage layout and has better web mumbo jumbo.



    [ 06-26-2002: Message edited by: running with scissors ]</p>
  • Reply 8 of 34
    If only Apple could learn to make products that cover similar territory without driving each other out of existence as well as Adobe.
  • Reply 9 of 34
    hirhir Posts: 66member
    Here are my recomendations.

    Easiest and least expensive (free) is AppleWorks. Don't laugh. It offers many features if you takea second to learn them.

    After that, I would make the money and time investment to learn InDesign. Stone Studio is a distant third. Difficult to learn.
  • Reply 10 of 34
    arnold2arnold2 Posts: 29member
    OK,



    I don't think anyone's helped you here much !



    If you want to keep your printer happy, you will have to use Quark 4 (NOT version 5) ! See if you can get a v4 CD off a dealer cheap.



    There are no other alternatives - that's why the majority of design studios use it ! It will, of course, run in Classic, but since it will probably be your only program running in Classic, this isn't such a problem. Carbonised version by the years end, apparently.



    Quark has a difficult learning curve, but there are some excellent books for it available.



    Proof of the pudding, as they say - pretend you want to be a designer or artworker, ring up a few agencies specialising in design & repro work, and tell them you use one of the other packages listed above.... "thank you, we will be in touch"...
  • Reply 11 of 34
    not to slam your opinion but i think you missed the boat on this one arny and obviously didn't pay much attention to his posts. he requires a relativley inexpensive and flexible program that will allow him to design various types of print projects with web capabilities.



    quark , even an older version like 4.x is going to be pricey not to mention limited in what it can do. we're not talking about an anual report or a 40 page sales catalogue here, just newsletters, letterhead, and the like. if he goes with quark or even indesign as you suggest, he will still need some sort of drawing or image editing app to do any descent work. besides, who wants to get stuck doing all their design in a layout program? not me.
  • Reply 12 of 34
    [quote]Proof of the pudding, as they say - pretend you want to be a designer or artworker, ring up a few agencies specialising in design & repro work, and tell them you use one of the other packages listed above.... "thank you, we will be in touch" <hr></blockquote>



    this is only true, for the most part, when dealing with production type jobs. a design firm couldn't give a $hit what program that you used as long as the work looks good.
  • Reply 13 of 34
    arnold2arnold2 Posts: 29member
    Yes, Quark 4 won't be that cheap - but no more expensive than Freehand or InDesign - and there isn't a lot you can do in Freehand that can't be done in Quark - transparency is the only one that springs to mind. Quark doesn't just do layouts!



    Anyway, if you want to do single page jobs, Freehand or Illustrator is fine, but not multi-page. I once had the nightmare of trying to sort out a multi-page Freehand file for print - if you send a Freehand file to a repro house, they will EPS it and drop it into Quark !



    No program will really do great print & web - if you want simple web and print, use Appleworks, but don't plan on sending files out to anyone...
  • Reply 14 of 34
    [quote]Originally posted by arnold2:

    Yes, Quark 4 won't be that cheap - but no more expensive than Freehand or InDesign<hr></blockquote>



    quark 4 will cost you at least $350-$450.

    freehand with a competitive upgrade $129



    [quote] - and there isn't a lot you can do in Freehand that can't be done in Quark - transparency is the only one that springs to mind. Quark doesn't just do layouts!<hr></blockquote>



    your kidding right? complex vectors. superior art and font manipulation. Multi page layout, exports flash, gif, jpgs, psd, tiffs among many others. intergrates well with other macomedia and adobe apps. and yes it does transparency.



    [quote]Anyway, if you want to do single page jobs, Freehand or Illustrator is fine, but not multi-page. I once had the nightmare of trying to sort out a multi-page Freehand file for print - <hr></blockquote>



    freehand does multi pages fine. in fact i've known designers that use it exclusively for art and layout purposes without a hitch. i'm not talking about a simple brochure either, 30+ page anual reports. now that's not to say the way i do things, but hey, to each thier own. if you had probelms with pdfs and freehand i'd say who ever set up the doc in the first place f'd-up. not the app.



    [quote]if you send a Freehand file to a repro house, they will EPS it and drop it into Quark !<hr></blockquote>



    what's your point? they tend to do that with all files wether they came from freehand or illustrator or photoshop. quark has som great features and support for those guys that work the prepress side of the fence. great, good for them. it's part of their work flow. that doesn't mean we have to use quark too.



    [quote]No program will really do great print & web - if you want simple web and print, use Appleworks, but don't plan on sending files out to anyone...<hr></blockquote>



    hahahahahah. appleworks. good one. your killing me. that's a joke right?



    [ 06-27-2002: Message edited by: running with scissors ]</p>
  • Reply 15 of 34
    arnold2arnold2 Posts: 29member
    OK, lets cut the 'Quark' bashing.



    In my experience I've met quite a few designers who have never learnt Quark properly, and therefore try to justify their ignorance by damning Quark. Quark does multi-page stuff better than anything else, and that is what this chap wants to do. You can't do web in Quark or Freehand, so that's another issue. Freehand & Illustrator are GREAT for some types of artwork, generally single page stuff, logos and the like - 'self-contained' artwork, if you will. But if you want to do multi-page stuff, you need Quark. No program does both, unfortunately.



    I agree, Appleworks is xxxx !
  • Reply 16 of 34
    who's bashing quark? i've used quark for the past 6+ years on both the production and creative sides of the fence. i know what it's capable of, and i know how to use it very well. i'll be the first to admit it's far from my favorite application. i'm sure my present and past co-workers have heard many four letter words creatively strung together in a symphony of "praise" for quark over the years issuing fourth from my office. there so many things that i hate about quark that i could go on for hours. that being said, have i made the move to indesign? no. why? because quark still does it's job better and more consitantly than anything out there. it is a layout program. sure you can do some design stuff with it, but why? it is so limited in that area. and as far as the web goes both illustrator and freehand have some very usefull and powerful web features, taking a lot of the leg work out publishing to the web. is this the only and best way to do web stuff, hell no, but it's not bad and it works. but what we keep going round and round about is you fail to see that freehand is quite capable of multi page layout at the professional level. again, i'm not saying it is the best app out there for that type of work but for what he's looking for it is the best solution.
  • Reply 17 of 34
    arnold2arnold2 Posts: 29member
    er, I may be missing something, but how is Freehand or Illustrator going to help him do web stuff, apart from the image side of things. Can't do HTML in Illustrator !
  • Reply 18 of 34
    If cost is an issue have a look at RagTime. It's like have Quark and MS Office in one program. It's really very powerful, and currently they have a single user adition available for free. Give it a go, I'm sure you'll like it!!





    <a href="http://www.ragtime-online.com/"; target="_blank">get ragtime here</a>
  • Reply 19 of 34
    [quote]Originally posted by arnold2:

    <strong>er, I may be missing something, but how is Freehand or Illustrator going to help him do web stuff, apart from the image side of things. Can't do HTML in Illustrator !</strong><hr></blockquote>



    as far as illustrator goes, your right, but freehand can. not to shabby huh? both apps can export images as gifs, jpgs, and pngs. plus they also allows you to assign image maps and optimze images. there are numours free or inexpensive web apps out there that work on the mac, freeway springs to mind for more complex css bs. or hell, just start coding in textedit if need be.
  • Reply 20 of 34
    arnold2arnold2 Posts: 29member
    I still think Quark is way easier and quicker to use than Freehand !
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