Next General Meeting:
Meeting Preview—PagePlus X6 Desktop Publishing, with Bruce Preston
Date: Tuesday, July 2, 7 p.m.
Location: Danbury Hospital Auditorium
Directions

By Drew Kwashnak

Though it seems the world is moving from print to electronic publications, there has always been a need for Desktop Publishing to put everything together into a clean, professional looking format that not only gets its message across, but also captures one's attention and engages the viewer.  As long as it matters how a page looks, desktop publishing will be there.

While word processors such as Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, and LibreOffice Writer have become more powerful with each version and have even added some desktop publishing capabilities, they still do not provide the same level of control over how different components work together on a page.

At July's General Meeting, Bruce Preston will present features of desktop publishing using Serif Software's PagePlus X6, an affordable yet powerful desktop publishing program.  With this software he has produced newsletters, and a book available via Amazon as a print-on-demand hard copy or Kindle edition.

A key aspect of desktop publishing is being able to control how the page looks. Desktop publishing programs include ways to do this, and can determine where an object like a picture goes and whether the text on the page will wrap around the image, overlay it, or be tucked behind.  The use of Master pages, or a template used throughout the document, ensure a consistent look and feel.

Images and text will be manipulated within the program. This includes the building of mastheads and logos as well as editing pictures without resorting to an external image editing program like Adobe Photoshop. Then, of course, there are tools to make some functions easier, such as the creation of indexes and tables of contents, and many style templates.

Of course after the fun stuff is done, how does the publication get to where others will see it? Bruce will talk about printing as well as publishing in an electronic format, such as ePub for the Kindle.

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DACS meetings are usually held at the Danbury Hospital auditorium. (Click here for directions and parking information.)

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for registration and casual networking. The meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. with a question and answer period (Ask DACS), followed by announcements and a short break. The featured evening presentation begins at 8:00. The meeting is scheduled to adjourn at 9:30 p.m.

DACS General Meetings are free and open to the public. Members and prior attendees are encouraged to extend invitations to anyone interested in this topic.

Danbury Area Computer Society (DACS) is a registered nonprofit and has been serving the region since 1990.