Software crosses the line
High-end word processors and low-end to mid-range desktop publishing programs don't have the same fine control over kerning or linespacing or graphic placement as their big brothers (yet). However, their target audience often doesn't have the knowledge to use those features.
What these new programs do offer is the ability to easily mix text with graphics, change type, and through the use of templates, allow even the most graphically-challenged to become “desktop publishers.” Yes, anybody can now do desktop publishing. That's what many professional graphic designers find so horrifying.
Do it all on the desktop
It's not just software that makes desktop publishing so accessible to every computer user. Originally, desktop publishing software made it easier to prepare documents for traditional printing methods. Desktop printers were strictly for draft work. But the purchasers of this lower cost desktop publishing software found that their inexpensive laser and color inkjet printers could print brochures, fliers, and business cards at a fraction of the cost of traditional printing. The DTP business exploded — in many different directions.
But desktop publishing is more than just software or hardware.
Word Processing for Desktop Publishers
This is the first article I ever wrote for this site. Each year as word processing programs get more powerful and more products appear every year for desktop publishing this topic becomes even more appropriate.
