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|  » Stats |
Members: 50,169
Threads: 82,383
Posts: 853,519
Top Poster: glsammy (15,069)
| | Welcome to our newest member, worrit | |  | | 
28-02-2011, 10:58 AM
|  | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Near Peterborough
Posts: 7,107
| | | Desktop publishing
Hello!
I was wondering if anyone might be able to help.
I need to do some desktop publishing (producing business cards, letter heads etc) and I cannot for the life of me get on with the version of paintshop pro that I have for this (came free on my new computer great for photograph manipulation but not basic publishing it seems - can't even get the text box to produce text in a straight line!). I'm not sure the version I'm used to (version 9) will work with Vista?
I really like microsoft publisher but don't want to shell out £100 for it, does anyone know of any similar but free programmes? Do any exist?
Any top tips?
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....I love not man the less, but Nature more.... |
28-02-2011, 11:08 AM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Watford, Hertfordshire.
Posts: 4,867
| | | Re: Desktop publishing
Scribus is free and very good: .:Scribus:. GPL Desktop Publishing and More
Get it from here: Scribus - Scribus.net
Like most powerful programs, there's a learning curve.
There's an online manual and a paper one you can buy (it's a bit pricey though). There's also an active forum you can subscribe to for help.
Jim |
28-02-2011, 11:24 AM
|  | Knight Grand Cross of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: i'm right here
Posts: 11,154
| | | Re: Desktop publishing
I like serif pageplus, the upto date version which is X4 costs about 40 notes, but older versions can be downloaded free - check out their website.
incidently paintshop pro and photoshop are meant for image manipulation - they arent suposed to be for DTP - top of that particular tree is adobe indesign, but thats eyewateringly expensive (about 500 notes last time i checked)
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28-02-2011, 11:31 AM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Watford, Hertfordshire.
Posts: 4,867
| | | Re: Desktop publishing
Quote:
Originally Posted by eeyore  incidently paintshop pro and photoshop are meant for image manipulation - they arent suposed to be for DTP - top of that particular tree is adobe indesign, but thats eyewateringly expensive (about 500 notes last time i checked) | Scribus is apparently similar to Indesign according to those that have experience of both - but costs zilch notes! I'm using it to produce print ready output for a children's illustrated book my partner has written.
Jim |
28-02-2011, 11:56 AM
| | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Near Peterborough
Posts: 7,107
| | | Re: Desktop publishing
Thank you for the top tips I shall give those a look! (Free one first I think!)
I found paintshop pro most frustrating I saw the template for business cards and thought yey That'll do!! but I ended up and two hours in with nothing usable and masses of frustration....
Thanks again 
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....I love not man the less, but Nature more.... |
28-02-2011, 12:17 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Watford, Hertfordshire.
Posts: 4,867
| | | Re: Desktop publishing
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gill Catton I found paintshop pro most frustrating I saw the template for business cards and thought yey That'll do!! but I ended up and two hours in with nothing usable and masses of frustration.... | A 'proper' DTP program is a bit heavyweight for just doing business cards. I use Photoshop to produce an image of the correct size and Open Office Writer labels template to print a sheet of them onto micro-perforated stock.
Jim |
28-02-2011, 12:39 PM
| | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Near Peterborough
Posts: 7,107
| | | Re: Desktop publishing
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Ford A 'proper' DTP program is a bit heavyweight for just doing business cards. I use Photoshop to produce an image of the correct size and Open Office Writer labels template to print a sheet of them onto micro-perforated stock.
Jim | I can't get the text box to work properly with PSP for the life of me! And I tried using word but couldn't find a blank business card template to adapt myself.
I used to LOVE microsoft publisher it was sooo easy to use but I don't want to shell out £90 for something I'll only occassionally use. Hence looking for something similar but free or very cheap....
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....I love not man the less, but Nature more.... |
28-02-2011, 01:21 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Watford, Hertfordshire.
Posts: 4,867
| | | Re: Desktop publishing
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gill Catton I can't get the text box to work properly with PSP for the life of me! And I tried using word but couldn't find a blank business card template to adapt myself. | So you are trying to use PSP (which I don't use myself), but are unable to 'plant' text onto the image? I'm sure someone on this forum will be able to tell you how.
Having got the correctly sized artwork, as I said earlier, you can use the 'labels' wizard in 'Open Office Writer' to produce a page of cards. (Who uses M.S. Word these days anyway, when there's the free OO Writer?)
Jim |
28-02-2011, 01:29 PM
| | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Near Peterborough
Posts: 7,107
| | | Re: Desktop publishing
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Ford So you are trying to use PSP (which I don't use myself), but are unable to 'plant' text onto the image? I'm sure someone on this forum will be able to tell you how.
Having got the correctly sized artwork, as I said earlier, you can use the 'labels' wizard in 'Open Office Writer' to produce a page of cards. (Who uses M.S. Word these days anyway, when there's the free OO Writer?)
Jim | M.S. office came with computer! And of course used daily at work (and future reports will need to be Word too).
For the card I created a nice white background with a green 'swish' covering the righthand third of the card (to have small logo put on) I was trying to put text in the white bit and the text kept turning a corner even when there was plenty of room for it to all be straight and on one line. I tried altering every likely option but it would not behave at all!
Perhaps I'll have a look at OO Writer too then (though likely to get business cards printed through photobox)
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....I love not man the less, but Nature more.... |
28-02-2011, 01:46 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Watford, Hertfordshire.
Posts: 4,867
| | | Re: Desktop publishing
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gill Catton M.S. office came with computer! And of course used daily at work (and future reports will need to be Word too). | OO will save in M.S. Word .doc format if needed.
Some organisations are going over to the .odf (Open Document Format) because of the dangers in getting 'locked into' a proprietary format such as MS .doc. The odf format is a mandatory standard for all NATO members: OpenDocument adoption - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jim | | | |
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