Spec me some publishing software

sgx.saint · 24 Jun 2007 at 17:32

Hey.

As titled, I need some publishing software as I want to produce a magazine for my University.

So I'm really after some recommendations as to which software or combination of software that I could/should use.

I currently have Office 2007 at my disposal but that's it.

gary996 · 24 Jun 2007 at 17:35

Adobe Indesign
Quark Express
look for student licence to save ££

sgx.saint · 24 Jun 2007 at 17:38

Yeah, I've heard of Quark and I am considering downloading a trial to see what's it like.

Not heard of the Adobe product though, which one would you recommend?

whitecrook · 24 Jun 2007 at 17:53

I like Indesign, but Quark has been the standard for years, and as such it lagged behind for years until Indesign hit V2, then it had som competition and updated itself.

I used to use PageMaker, but I think that's discontinued now, was more oriented towards news paper type stuff.

For a free option try Scribus, although good for a free opensource product, it's not quite as mature as Quark/Indesign.

Dependign on your needs / budget.

edit to add, it's not so much the exact software you use, it's the workflow.
Think about how the whole thing will come together,

Storys From word, (in what format?)
Into Quark, set up templates, default pages, create the style of the publication, define design rules, typefaces used / sizes/ colours,
Pictures come from where (camera scannere etc) do they get processed before use, to what format etc etc
how do these get imported etc.

Actually doing the thing is the easy bit, it's the setting up of all the stuff before hand that takes the skill and makes the job easy.