A good desktop publishing program
By MIKE BERMAN
Scripps Howard News Service
April 10, 2002

Once upon a time, choosing a program for high-end desktop publishing was simple. You only had two programs to choose from - Ventura, which was then a Xerox Corp. product, and Adobe PageMaker.

Well, times have changed. Although these programs are still around, with Ventura now owned by Corel, their domain has become a bit more competitive. Quark XPress and Adobe InDesign have become the darlings of newspapers and magazines. But along with these programs come a lot of extra features, and a high learning curve, that may not be wanted - or needed - by those needing a powerful layout program.

With that in mind, I took a look at PageMaker 7 ($499) and I wasn't disappointed.

The look and feel of earlier versions was still there, making it easy for me to get up and running. And, although it doesn't have all the excess baggage of its more powerful rivals, this is an extremely potent program dedicated to page design, whether it is for the worldwide Web or for a newspaper, magazine or newsletter.

The first thing I noticed was that it has been designed to work with several of Adobe's other products, most notably Photoshop and Illustrator. In fact, these three programs are so tightly integrated it would be tough to convince a new user that they weren't sold as a suite. The interface for the trio is identical and many of the tools have the same function or feel. Actually, using the three programs together results in a publishing tool that is much more powerful than either InDesign or Quark.

Most of PageMaker's new tools are dedicated to Web-page design, but, unlike other programs that have added Web-page creation tools; this hasn't been accomplished by watering down its layout capabilities.

So, what makes this version different from its predecessors? Here (reproduced from Adobe's Web site) are some highlights:

- Merge text and graphics stored originally in spreadsheets or databases to create custom publications, including form letters, mailing labels, envelopes, catalogs or direct-mail campaigns.

- Create and view Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files. Add document information, change security and compatibility options, embed tags for accessibility, and modify advanced Acrobat Distiller settings - all from within PageMaker.

- Easily place Adobe PDF files created with Adobe Photoshop 5.0-6.0 or Adobe Illustrator 9.0 directly into PageMaker publications.

Although it's now being marketed for homes or small businesses that want to produce newsletters or brochures, I believe that it is still powerful enough to handle the demands of a small magazine or newspaper.

This is not a low-end desktop publishing program and in no way should it be classified with other newsletter, brochure and report-type layout programs such as Microsoft Publisher or Broderbund's PrintShop.

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