[bbales]

I am about to take over the high school PTO newsletter. The current person uses Publisher, which she says is buggy and which the printr hates. It doesn't work on Macs and though I could use a PC, I don't want to. I'd rather use my computer, obviously.

So, I'm essentially going to do my own thing, using what she's done in the past as a kind of template. I have access to Pages (or iworks, or whatever the heck it's called; i always forget), PageMaker 6.5, which I used for our elementary school yearbook years ago, and even InDesign. Now, I'm pretty unfamiliar with Pages, having just experimented a little bit with it. I did the yearbook for four years in PageMaker, plus I've done a very little bit with it. I've used InDesign infrequently and am more than a little intimidated.

This newsletter is 12 to 16 pages long every month, so making the copy flow from page to page is very important. It's important to me that it be easy to accomplish this. Thought there are standing features, I can't guarantee a certain segment -- Sports Boosters, for example -- will always use the same amount of space. There's a great deal of variation from month to month.

Given the programs I have available (plus Word, I guess), does anyone have any feelings as to which program might be best? Of course, factor in my relative inexperience, though a willingness to learn.

Thanks in advance for the eomments and advice.

[Chuckit]

Pages doesn't have much of a learning curve, but it's kind of a weird not-quite-DTP-not-quite-word-processing hybrid. Not a bad choice, but I prefer the power of more dedicated layout programs.

InDesign takes a little getting used to, but it's a fantastic program. I picked it up in about a week. Assuming it's InDesign CS or CS 2, that's what I'd use.

If you're good with PainMaker, I guess you could use that, but it's more or less been phased out in favor of InDesign because graphic designers the world over hate its guts. I haven't used it a whole lot myself, though, so I can't really comment on it beyond that.

[James41]

Pages, the word processer for iWorks can do basic simple newsletters quite well once you get your template set up. However, you might want something a little more specific for dtp work. You might take a look at a program called Desktop Publisher Pro from Metis international. It reminds me quite a bit of PageMaker. Bigest difference is price...$20.00

I have used it quite a while now and it is very easy to use and works quite well. Go to their website and download a demo at:

http://www.metisinternational.com

It's worth checking out and like i said the price is quite good for what you get.

[Chuckit]

He already has InDesign. Why on earth would he buy the store-brand version?

[Love Calm Quiet]

I shifted over from PM 6.5 to InDesign CS (with its easy import from PM), and am very pleased. It can be operated very much like PM - thus reducing the learning curve.
Powerful. And my printers are used to it. What's not to like?

[Shades of Gray]

If you want a high-end page layout that also has high-end word processing, and the Solo version is free, consider RagTime Solo

[pliny]

InDesign is pretty good, you may not need many of its functions though if yer just doing mostly text. Why wouldnt you use Pagemaker and/or Word if you know that?

[Camali]

Or he could look into Swift Publisher ($35) from Belight Software!

[bbales]

Originally Posted by pliny

InDesign is pretty good, you may not need many of its functions though if yer just doing mostly text. Why wouldnt you use Pagemaker and/or Word if you know that?

One of the difficulties is that I don't know any of them well. I've used them, in limited venues and for very differnt kinds of projects. So I'll have to learn a program and then use it. And it will have photos as well, of kids and events, etc. So it's not mostly text, which would be easier, probably for me to handle.

I think I'm going to spend some time working with a sample/tutorial/whatever and then see how it goes.

Thanks for all the input. It's been interesting/informative to see what people think and what their experiences have been.

[Randman]

Pages would be the one. You already have templates set up. If you plan to consider page design as a career, dabble in ID. Forget PageMaker. It sucks and is outdated.

[kcmac]

I would try Pages. To me, it seems much easier to just open up and start working vs. InDesign.

Open up one of the preinstalled newsletter templates in Pages. Go to view and have Pages show you the invisibles, styles drawer, inspector. This will let you see how the template is structured. This will give you some quick ideas on how to set up or change the template you have for your school.

If you have the Pages manual handy, use it often at first. There is some good and easy to understand info in there. Pages does work a little differently than Word or TextEdit for example but once you catch on you will notice the ease you have in controlling styles, pictures, margins, etc. Pretty much anything you want.

Good luck. Sounds like you have a lot of responsibility and seem enthusiastic about it. I bet you will do great.

[Randman]

There's a Pages template available for basic newspaper design. Two of them actually. If you need them, PM me.

[almaink]

"which the printr hates", I would call the printer and see what they prefer before you get started.

[Cadaver]

Originally Posted by almaink

"which the printr hates", I would call the printer and see what they prefer before you get started.

If the printing service doesn't like MS Publisher, they're going to dislike Pages even more. The work-around here would be to export Pages files as pree-press PDFs, then take the PDFs to the printing service. However, to do a good job with this, you'll need the full version of Acrobat Professional, which is more expensive than InDesign to begin with (unless you already have it).

[kcmac]

The print>pdf button in Tiger allows for saving as a PDF, a postcript PDF and PDF-X. Would none of these work?

[almaink]

Originally Posted by kcmac

The print>pdf button in Tiger allows for saving as a PDF, a postcript PDF and PDF-X. Would none of these work?

They will work to a degree. PDF's are fine however OSX makes RGB PDF's and unless the printer has an Acrobat plugin like PitStop Pro or Crackerjack they will have issues with it. I still say call the printer first. Only they can tell you what they can work with.

[Chuckit]

Isn't there no such thing as an RGB PDF/X? I thought CMYK was written into the PDF/X specification.