| From: | Geoff Skellams geoff.skellams@*********.com.au |
|---|---|
| Subject: | The Shadowrun Supplemental #10 |
| Date: | Mon, 5 Jul 1999 10:20:45 +1000 |
> That's unfortunate, since Acrobat is crap for reading things on the
screen
> and it constantly locks up at around page 4. And I'm not certain what
he
> means by Word being a cranky program, since I've never had a problem
with
> it.
As the layout editor of another online fanzine (DEMONGROUND) and
Adam's mentor (of sorts) when it comes to using Pagemaker, I'm going to
back him up on this one. I used Word97 for the first two issues of
DEMONGROUND. It's a great word processing program, but when you are
trying to use it for layout, it's limitiations become apparent VERY
quickly. It's slow, kludgy and prone to making things vanish. It also
makes things difficult to format into a magazine layout without using
text boxes, which make things difficult to edit, and blow the size of
the PDF file WAY out.
Pagemaker, on the other hand, is DESIGNED to do layout. It's
much quicker and easier to manipulate blocks of text on the screen and
the inclusion of graphics is far less problematic than it is with Word.
It's also much, much easier to be more ambitious with presentation using
Pagemaker. I've done things in Pagemaker that I would never have DREAMED
of doing in Word.
PDF format, as a general rule, is a far better format for
distribution of a print ready publication that Word whatever or even
HTML. The designer has far more control over the look of the magazine,
which is what you are trying to improve on as time goes by. Most people,
if they have the latest version of the Acrobat reader program, have
absolutely no trouble reading them, or printing them out.
One thing that I need to explain is just how difficult and time
consuming doing layout can be. It's easy to complain about formats and
stuff, but if you actually have to do the hard yards and produce
something for the unwashed masses to oooh and ahh over, then you will be
spending a LOT of long, thankless hours in front of a PC. You NEED
something that makes your life easier in the long run to improve the
quality of the magazine for your readers. From bitter experience, I can
honestly say that Word just doesn't cut the mustard when it comes to
layout.
If you want to see the difference between a magazine created in
Word and one done with Pagemaker, then download DEMONGROUND Issues 2 and
5. Issue 2 was the last one I did with Word 97, and Issue 5 is the third
(and latest) I have done with Pagemaker. The URL for DG is
http://www.42north.org/~demonground/. The difference between the two is
VERY noticeable. Some of the difference can be attributed to my
experience with layout as a concept. Most of them can be attributed to
me gaining confidence because I had much better tools to work with.
I expect to see Adam begin to improve in the same sorts of ways.
Give the man some credit. If he wasn't doing the hard yards, you
wouldn't be able to get TSS at all.
cheers
Geoff
PS: Someone volunteered making a RTF version of TSS for Adam. It's
really not going to be possible without redoing all of the layout from
scratch. All of the source material would be scattered through a pile of
different files. With Pagemaker, you just drop them into your files, and
then export to PDF. If you're a glutton for punishment, Adam might let
you try, but I think you will probably give it up as too hard, for the
same reasons that Adam and I converted to Pagemaker in the first place
:) It's a noble offer, but I don't think you quite understand just how
much work you've just volunteered for :)
--
Geoff Skellams R&D - Tower Software
Email Address: geoff.skellams@*********.com.au
Homepage: http://www.towersoft.com.au/staff/geoff/
ICQ Number: 2815165
Hili hewa ka mana'o ke 'ole ke kukakuka
(Ideas run wild without discussion)
