Common Sense Wordworking III: Desktop Publishing and Desktop Typesetting
| Pages | 43-52 |
| Date | 01 January 1987 |
| Published date | 01 January 1987 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb047677 |
| Author | Walt Crawford |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Common Sense Wordworking III:
Desktop Publishing and Desktop Typesetting
Walt Crawford
Desktop publishing may or may not be the
"hottest" topic in current microcomputing, but it
certainly is one of them. Being a hot topic means
being the subject of wildly optimistic market
predictions, large amounts of hype and hoopla,
unrealistic claims for benefits, and the usual
tendency to ignore drawbacks. But all the nonsense
does not mean that the topic is wholly worthless.
The author, Library Hi Tech's resident
computer grouch and proponent of the trailing edge,
argues that the term desktop publishing is
nonsensical and that the new field is promising but
tricky. He discusses some aspects of desktop
publishing and goes on to discuss his own
experience with a lower-technology alternative he
calls desktop typesetting.
Common sense suggests that desktop publish-
ing is more hype than reality, particularly for those
working with PC-DOS or CP/M computers. It also
suggests that, as with most "hot" topics, there is
some reality beneath the hype. Full-fledged desk-
top page layout systems pose real promise for the
future, for those who need those capabilities.
Many more personal computer users can benefit
from less elaborate systems, particularly when there
is no need to combine graphics and text on the
same page. For the rest of us, desktop typesetting
offers some real advantages at a reasonable price.
TO COIN A TERM
Paul Brainerd of Aldus Corporation had a
new program for the Apple Macintosh that would
let users do multiple column page layout on the
screen, combining text and graphics and using the
multiple fonts available with the Mac and Apple
LaserWriter. He called the program PageMaker and
coined a term for what it would do: desktop pub-
lishing.
When microcomputer software publishers pro-
duce programs that do something truly different
from what existing programs do, they try to coin
catchy terms. The term should be interesting,
sound exciting or useful, and define a new field
that the new product can dominate. That's how we
got thought processing when ThinkTank came out:
outline manipulation sounds pretty boring.
Computer-supported layout and composition
are not all that new. Newspapers and magazines
have been using such programs for years. Those
programs and the hardware to run them are expen-
sive but have proven worth. But desktop layout and
Walt Crawford is principal analyst for special
projects at The Research Libraries Group, Inc.
This is his eleventh "Common Sense Personal
Computing" article for Library Hi Tech, and the
third directly concerned with wordworking.
ISSUE 17 43
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