IT020
Presentation and
Desktop Publishing
Software
Lecture 6
Desktop Publishing (DTP)
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Introduction
Publishing is the process of producing
publications such as newspapers, cards,
pamphlets, pictures, calendars, books, etc
that has special text and graphical layouts &
designs
Traditionally, publishing involved drawing and
writing manually on wooden or metallic
boards.
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Introduction
The artwork would then be painted with ink
and pressed on papers to produce a printout.
Today, the art of publishing makes use of
Personal computers & small printers that are
able to print high-quality text and graphics.
All the publishing processes can be done on
a desk in the office or at home.
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Desktop publishing (DTP)
Desktop publishing refers to the process of
producing publications by designing their text
and graphics layout using special desktop
publishing software installed on personal
computers.
The text and graphical objects can then be
inserted, edited, formatted and printed.
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Desktop publishing (DTP)
Examples of Desktop Publishers:
Adobe PageMaker
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Microsoft Publisher
OpenOffice Writer/LibreOffice Writer
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Desktop publishing (DTP)
Difference between a desktop publisher and a
word processor.
A DTP software gives the user more tools and
control of the page layout, text manipulation and
graphic design than a word processor.
However, today’s word processors have been
incorporated with text and graphic formatting and
editing tools, e.g., you can design a full publication
in Microsoft Word by using the available Drawing
and Picture tools, create columns, etc
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Purpose of DTP Software
DTP programs give the typesetter (the
person designing publications) a lot of control
on:
Graphic design
Using DTP software, a typesetter can create and edit
very complex text & graphical objects of high quality.
For example, the software provides the user with rulers
& ruler guides that can be used to place an object in the
correct position within the publication.
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Purpose of DTP Software
DTP programs give the typesetter (the
person designing publications) a lot of control
on:
Page layout design
With a desktop publisher, the user can design a page
layout by setting consistent (constant) picture and object
locations, divide a page into a number of columns, and
also create layers.
Layering is the arrangement of objects on top of each
other with the one on top being on the first layer.
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Purpose of DTP Software
DTP programs give the typesetter (the
person designing publications) a lot of control
on:
Printing
To produce any publications, they must be printed.
Therefore, DTP software helps the user to prepare
artwork (i.e., publications that are ready for printing).
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Types of DTP Software
There are 2 main types of DTP software:
Graphical based:
They are specifically developed for editing & formatting
graphic objects like pictures. Examples;
Adobe Photoshop.
Harvard graphic.
CorelDraw.
Graphic-based desktop publishers have superior
capabilities for handling images such as setting
resolution, brightness, contrast, cropping, and filling the
images with colour
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Types of DTP Software
There are 2 main types of DTP software:
Layout based:
They are specifically developed to create different page
layout designs for text and pictures. Examples;
Adobe PageMaker.
Microsoft Publisher.
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Designing a Publication
Different publications have different design
layouts and formatting.
There are several types of publications that
can be produced using DTP software. They
include:
Cards: They may be for special occasions such
as weddings, graduations, harambee, and for
congratulations.
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Designing a Publication
There are several types of publications that
can be produced using DTP software. They
include:
Certificates: These are types of publications
used to show completion of courses and special
events.
Note. Certificates are very sensitive, and must be
designed to discourage any type of duplication or
counterfeits.
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Designing a Publication
There are several types of publications that
can be produced using DTP software. They
include:
Newspapers, Magazines, Pamphlets and
Newsletters: They contain news targeting a
group of people
Books: Are bulky publications with many pages
that are bound together.
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Designing a Publication
There are several types of publications that
can be produced using DTP software. They
include:
Calendars: They are used to show dates. They
are also used by companies to advertise their
products
Notices, Brochures, Posters / Advertisement,
and Catalogues.
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Features of DTP software.
Text can be entered directly into a DTP
publication. Alternatively, the text can be
entered into a Word processor and then copied
into the DTP document.
Graphics can be created in a separate program,
then incorporated into a Desktop publishing
program.
A Scanner can also be used to copy images, such
as photographs and drawings, into a Desktop
publishing document. A Scanner is a device that
reads text and images into document.
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Features of DTP software.
A DTP program gives you more control over
the graphics in a publication. You can:
move - change the position of a graphic on a page,
size - make a graphic larger or smaller,
Rotate - turn or spin a graphic, and
Crop - trim part of a graphic.
Has a wide range of Fonts & print sizes that
can be merged with useful symbols, such as
arrows and stars.
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Features of DTP software.
Has Columns of various widths, in which the
text is fitted automatically using sensible
hyphenation. The columns can also be
reorganization automatically.
Enables Scaling and cropping of publications
so as to fit the available space.
Page numbers can be inserted.
Enables production of multiple page
documents
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Advantages of DTP
Every item on a page is contained in a frame
and can be edited and formatted
independently.
Stories can be contained in a single frame or
threaded between several frames.
Frames need not flow in logical sequence.
For example a story on page 1 may be
continued on page 8.
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Advantages of DTP
Master pages are used to set a common
layout which may be repeated on several
pages. E.g Logo, page numbers.
Publication can be printed in a form suitable
for commercial printing e.g using colour
separations.
Wide range of templates is available e.g
brochures, booklets, posters, business cards.
Multiple stories from different authors can be
handled with ease.
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Advantages of DTP
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The End
Thank you for your attentive
listening!
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