Desktop Publishing on the Apple IIgs (Part 2)
By Mark Smith
Copyright (c) 1994 Apple Users' Group, Sydney
Republished from Applecations, a publication of the Apple Users' Group, Sydney, Australia.
In the first part of this series I outlined a basic hardware and software setup for desktop publishing on the Apple IIgs. This setup won't allow you to achieve professional results but the final output will be more than adequate for most home and hobby needs.
Planning factors
Planning of the final document is required prior to turning a computer on. Parker (in The Makeover Book by Roger C Parker, published by Ventana Press, my copy was bought at Dymocks) suggests 25 factors which ought to be considered in the planning stage. He groups these into four areas - design and layout, typography, visuals and refinements. It is worthwhile to consider briefly each of these areas.
Design and layout
This includes allowing sufficient white space on the page to enhance readability, i.e. each page ought not to be crammed full from top to bottom and left to right. Headlines and sub-headlines should have space around them to allow them to stand out. He also suggests that columns should not necessarily be of equal width.
Typography
Parker suggests that varying typefaces be used but not too many within a single publication. This is where Pointless becomes invaluable. There is a very wide range of typefaces available in the public domain and from WestCode who are the publishers of Pointless. TypeSet, also from WestCode, allows reports on typefaces to be produced in a variety of formats. These can be held as a catalogue and consulted as required in the planning stage of your publication.
Visuals
These include charts, graphs, illustrations and photographs. Parker offers useful advice on maximising their impact while avoiding the pitfalls.
Refinements
These include checking for spelling and grammar, ensuring that hyphens are correctly placed and checking for completeness and accuracy especially if return addresses or telephone numbers are included.
Publication types
Before commencing your publication it is essential to decide on the type of publication required. Several choices are available including book, brochure, leaflet or flyer, wall chart, transparency for projection and so on. Factors which influence the choice include the amount of information to be
conveyed, the likely audience, how long you have the audience's attention for and the requirements of the client.
To some extent this choice is imposed by the nature of the material to be published. For example, a 10,000 word document will not fit onto a one page brochure but it will fit into a small book. A school project for a child might contain less than a thousand words but there is a requirement for a large audience to read it - a wall chart is often the best choice here. Perhaps you need to give a presentation to colleagues at work who are unlikely to read the fine print of your highly crafted report - in this case the extraction of the most relevant pieces of the report to slide or transparency can be very effective.
Whatever format you finally choose make certain that you have considered all relevant factors because it is a very time consuming exercise to change it later. For further guidance on this subject I once again recommend "The Makeover Book" which gives numerous before and after examples of different types of publication. It is very useful for gaining inspiration.
Composition
The next step is to compose the text of the publication if this has not already been supplied to you. Although desktop publishing (DTP) applications like GraphicWriter are reasonable word processors I still find it best to use AppleWorks GS for the composition of the material to be published.
There are several reasons for this: the speed of scrolling in a WP versus a DTP application, the availability of dictionary and thesaurus in the WP and the ease of editing, searching and replacing.
It is quite okay to include different typefaces, sizes and styles in the document at this stage, although these may require subsequent modification. Likewise, tabs and hard returns should be included if they will be essential to the formatting of the final document.
Paragraph styles (i.e. centring, justification, etc) are not required at this stage; indeed paragraphing information will not survive the translation into GraphicWriter. The AppleWorks GS WP file should be saved as such, not as an ASCII file.
Quit AppleWorks and open Teach. Teach can import AW files while preserving typeface and style information. Use this feature to import your AWGS file into a new Teach file. Use the Save Copy as... command to save the file in Teach format and quit Teach.
In the next part I will describe putting GraphicWriter to work in assembling your publication.

THIS CONTENT COPYRIGHT © 2007, APPLE MACINTOSH USERS' GROUP, SYDNEY
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PLEASE CREDIT THE AUTHOR AND THE SOURCE: Applecations, publication of the Apple Users' Group, Sydney, Australia

THIS PAGE COPYRIGHT © 2007, ANDREW ROUGHAN