AMITY UNIVERSITY

AMITY COLLEGE OF COMMERCE AND FINANCE

NAME-KSHITIJ GUPTA

ENROLLMENT NO.-A3104610070

B.COM (HONS.) 1ST YEAR

SUBJECT- COMPUTER APPLICATION IN

TOPIC-DESKTOP PUBLISHING

1
 DESKTOP PUBLISHING

Desktop publishing (also known as DTP) combines a personal

2
The term "desktop publishing" is commonly used to
describe page layout skills. However, the skills and
software are not limited to paper and book publishing.
The same skills and software are often used to create
graphics for point of sale displays,promotional
items, trade show exhibits, retail package
designs and outdoor signs.

3
History
Desktop publishing began in 1985 with the introduction
of MacPublisher, the first WYSIWYG layout program, which ran on
the original 128KMacintosh computer. (Desktop typesetting, with
only limited page makeup facilities, had arrived in 1978–9 with the
introduction of TeX, and was extended in the early 1980s
by LaTeX.) The DTP market exploded in 1985 with the introduction
in January of the Apple LaserWriterprinter, and later in July with
the introduction of PageMaker software from Aldus which rapidly
became the DTP industry standard software.
Before the advent of desktop publishing, the only option available
to most persons for producing typed (as opposed to handwritten)
documents was a typewriter, which offered only a handful of
typefaces (usually fixed-width) and one or two font sizes. Indeed,
one popular desktop publishing book was actually titled The Mac is
not a typewriter. The ability to create WYSIWYG page layouts on
screen and thenprint pages containing text and graphical elements
at crisp 300 dpi resolution was revolutionary for both the
typesetting industry and the personal computer industry.
Newspapers and other print publications made the move to DTP-
based programs from older layout systems likeAtex and other such
programs in the early 1980s.
The term "desktop publishing" is attributed to Aldus
Corporation founder Paul Brainerd, who sought a marketing catch-
phrase to describe the small size and relative affordability of this
suite of products in contrast to the expensive
commercial phototypesetting equipment of the day.

4
By the standards of today, early desktop publishing was a primitive
affair. Users of the PageMaker-LaserWriter-Macintosh 512K
system endured frequent software crashes, cramped display on
the Mac's tiny 512 x 342 1-bit monochrome screen, the inability to
control letter spacing, kerning (the addition or removal of space
between individual characters in a piece of typeset text to improve
its appearance or alter its fit) and other typographic features, and
discrepancies between the screen display and printed output.
However, it was a revolutionary combination at the time, and was
received with considerable acclaim.
Behind-the-scenes technologies developed by Adobe Systems set
the foundation for professional desktop publishing applications.
The LaserWriter and LaserWriter Plus printers included high
quality, scalable Adobe PostScript-fonts built into
their ROM memory. The LaserWriter's PostScript capability
allowed publication designers to proof files on a local printer then
print the same file at DTP service bureaus using optical
resolution 600+ ppi PostScript-printers such as those
from Linotronic. Later, the Macintosh II was released which was
much more suitable for desktop publishing because of its greater
expandability, support for large color multi-monitor displays, and
its SCSIstorage interface which allowed fast, high-capacity hard
drives to be attached to the system.
Although Macintosh-based systems would continue to dominate
the market, in 1986, the GEM-based Ventura Publisher was
introduced forMS-DOS computers. While PageMaker's pasteboard
metaphor closely simulated the process of creating layouts
manually, Ventura Publisher automated the layout process through
its use of tags/style sheets and automatically generated indices
and other body matter. This made it suitable for manuals and other
long-format documents. Desktop publishing moved into the home
market in 1986 with Professional Page for the Amiga, Publishing
Partner (now PageStream) for the Atari ST, GST's Timeworks
Publisher on the PC and Atari ST and Calamusfor the Atari TT030.
Even for 8-bit computers like the Apple II and Commodore

5
64 software was published: Home Publisher, The
Newsroomand geoPublish.
During its early years, desktop publishing acquired a bad
reputation as a result of untrained users who created poorly-
organized ransom note effect layouts — similar criticism would be
levied again against early Web publishers a decade later.
However, some were able to realize truly professional results.
Once considered a primary skill, increased accessibility to more
user-friendly DTP software has made DTP a secondary skill to art
direction,graphic design, multimedia development, marketing
communications, administrative careers and advanced high school
literacy in thriving economies.[clarification needed] DTP skill levels range
from what may be learned in a few hours (e.g. learning how to put
clip art in a word processor) to what requires a college education
and years of experience (e.g. advertising agency positions). The
discipline of DTP skills range from technical skills such as prepress
production and programming to creative skills such
as communication design and graphic image development.

6
Terminology
There are two types of pages in desktop publishing, electronic
pages and virtual paper pages to be printed on physical paper
pages. All computerized documents are technically electronic,
which are limited in size only by computer memory or computer
data storage space.
Virtual paper pages will ultimately be printed, and therefore require
paper parameters that coincide with international standard physical
paper sizes such as "A4," "letter," etc., if not custom sizes for
trimming. Some desktop publishing programs allow custom sizes
designated for large format printing used
in posters, billboards and trade show displays. A virtual page for
printing has a predesignated size of virtual printing material and
can be viewed on a monitor in WYSIWYG format. Each page for
printing has trim sizes (edge of paper) and a printable area if bleed
printing is not possible as is the case with most desktop printers.
A web page is an example of an electronic page that is not
constrained by virtual paper parameters. Most electronic pages
may be dynamically re-sized, causing either the content to scale in
size with the page or causing the content to re-flow.

7
Master pages are templates used to automatically copy or link
elements and graphic design styles to some or all the pages of a
multipage document. Linked elements can be modified without
having to change each instance of an element on pages that use
the same element. Master pages can also be used to apply graphic
design styles to automatic page numbering.
Page layout is the process by which the elements are laid on the
page orderly, aesthetically, and precisely. Main types of
components to be laid out on a page include text,
linked images that can only be modified as an external source, and
embedded images that may be modified with the layout application
software. Some embedded images are rendered in the application
software, while others can be placed from an external source
image file. Text may be keyed into the layout, placed, or
(with database publishing applications) linked to an external source
of text which allows multiple editors to develop a document at the
same time.
Graphic design styles such as color, transparency, and filters, may
also be applied to layout elements. Typography styles may be
applied to text automatically with style sheets. Some layout
programs include style sheets for images in addition to text.
Graphic styles for images may be border shapes, colors,
transparency, filters, and a parameter designating the way text
flows around the object called "wraparound" or "runaround."

8
Comparisons
With word processing
While desktop publishing software still provides extensive features
necessary for print publishing, modern word processors now have
publishing capabilities beyond those of many older DTP
applications, blurring the line between word processing and
desktop publishing.
In the early days of graphical user interfaces, DTP software was in
a class of its own when compared to the fairly spartan word
processing applications of the time. Programs such
as WordPerfect and WordStar were still mainly text-based and
offered little in the way of page layout, other than perhaps margins
and line spacing. On the other hand, word processing software
was necessary for features like indexing and spell checking,
features that are common in many applications today.
As computers and operating systems have become more powerful,
vendors have sought to provide users with a single application
platform that can meet all needs.
With other electronic layout software
In modern usage, DTP is not generally said to include tools such
as TeX or troff, though both can easily be used on a modern

9
desktop system and are standard with many Unix-like operating
systems and readily available for other systems. The key difference
between electronic typesetting software and DTP software is that
DTP software is generally interactive and WYSIWYG in design,
while other electronic typesetting software, such
as TeX, LaTeX and other variants, tends to operate in batch mode,
requiring the user to enter the processing program's markup
language without immediate visualization of the finished product.
This kind of workflow is less user-friendly thanWYSIWYG, but more
suitable for conference proceedings and scholarly articles as well
as corporate newsletters or other applications where consistent,
automated layout is important.
One of the early and comprehensive reference books on the art of
Desktop Publishing is Desktop Publishing For Everyone by K.S.V.
Menon. This publication deals with virtually every facet of
publishing and nearly all tools available as at the time of the
publishing of this book in the year 2000. It is currently out of print.
There is some overlap between desktop publishing and what is
known as Hypermedia publishing (i.e. Web design, Kiosk, CD-
ROM). Many graphical HTML editors such as Microsoft
FrontPage and Adobe Dreamweaver use a layout engine similar to
a DTP program. However, some Web designers still prefer to write
HTML without the assistance of a WYSIWYG editor, for greater
control and because these editors often result in code bloat.

10
DTP applications
 Adobe FrameMaker
 Adobe InDesign
 Adobe PageMaker
 CorelDRAW
 Corel Ventura
 iStudio Publisher
 Microsoft Office Publisher
 OpenOffice.org
 PageStream (used to be "Publishing Partner")
 QuarkXPress
 Ready,Set,Go
 Scribus
 Serif PagePlus

11