Desktop Publishing: Getting the Message Out

God only knows how our ancestors survived without modern communications. Consider the poor dude who sunk his life savings into buying shares of Square Wheels Inc. and then--living in the last cave on the peninsula--didn't find out until it was too late that extremely poor sales had sent prices plummeting (setting the stage for the Great Rock Market Crash of October 24, 5929 B.C.). Today, of course, thanks to computers, printers, and the Internet, people can lose money a lot quicker. Desktop Publishing: Getting the Message Out is a serviceable, though rather generic, introduction to DTP, defining a range of products created through DTP (ads, brochures, annual reports, menus, resumes, magazines and books), outlining applicable skills (should be creative, work well with others, and be able to write clear prose), and surveying the various hardware and software requirements for a DTP workstation (fast computer with a large hard drive, big monitor, and flatbed scanner, along with word processing, page layout, image editing, drawing, and clip art software). Oddly, the emphasis is almost exclusively on graphics-related single pieces, as opposed to the more traditional print mainstays of DTP--newsletters, magazines and books. Wisely choosing to be vague on the specifics in order to extend the life of the program, the producers have also made it rather bland. An optional purchase. Aud: J, H. (R. Pitman)