Design philosophy: all information in this web site should be accessible to the intended audience regardless of platform, browser, or size of screen. Graphics are kept to a minimum to reduce download times. If you see a frame or an animated GIF, feel free to flame me mercilessly.

This site uses fully compliant cascading style sheets (CSS). Older browsers should display text in their default fonts, while more recent browsers will all display fully formatted text. (However, the styles sheets will look best viewed in Internet Explorer 4.0 or above.) The site also complies with major accessibility standards.

Colophon

The base font for this page is Trebuchet MS, a free font from Microsoft designed for on-screen readability at small point sizes. The headlines are 32 pt Times bold italic, combining elegance, classical proportions, and compactness.

The logo is variation on the original logo from Aldus PageMaker and depicts Aldus Manutius, a student of Johannes Gutenberg and inventor of italics. This is to echo the roots of desktop publishing, both in the 1450s and the 1980s. The logo uses Courier from ITC to evoke the feel of metal type and Poetica from Adobe Systems to evoke the era of hand lettering.

Made on a Macintosh using Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia DreamWeaver.

PageMaker — not quite dead?

by Peter C.S. Adams

Is PageMaker dead, or, like the poor peasant in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, "not quite dead ... feeling happy"? There appears to be some confusion on this point; e.g. c|net referred to "orphaned PageMaker users," and PDFZone reports that "At one time, Aldus-then-Adobe PageMaker was going to be the Quark killer that hooked into Photoshop and Illustrator like no other page-layout program could. Now, it cedes the stage to InDesign, as Adobe says PageMaker will no longer be sold." But Adobe is still selling PageMaker in its online store. Huh?

Although it's still selling it, Adobe has all but written PageMaker's obituary. In a recent press release, Adobe wrote:

Developed to meet the future layout and design needs of PageMaker customers, InDesign CS PageMaker Edition [...] allows PageMaker users to quickly upgrade to InDesign CS and work smarter and faster on future-looking technology platforms. InDesign's modern code-base provides the best long-term solution for PageMaker customers [...]. InDesign CS PageMaker Edition is the fastest and easiest way for PageMaker users to upgrade to the next-generation publishing platform.

And according to Publish magazine, Adobe "will no longer do any new development work for PageMaker, although it will continue to support it as necessary." Sounds pretty stiff, bereft of life, joining the heavenly chorus to me. Pamela Pfiffner, editor in chief of Creativeprose Weekly, agrees, writing:

Like so many other creative professionals, I can trace the origins of my career to 1985, when the Apple Macintosh, Aldus PageMaker, and the Adobe PostScript-equipped LaserWriter joined forces to create what was cleverly dubbed "desktop publishing." [...] Even though I no longer use PageMaker, it's with sadness that this week we bid farewell to PageMaker as a standalone product. As announced Monday, Adobe is discontinuing PageMaker in favor of InDesign. PageMaker's demise has long been anticipated. Its code base, which hasn't been updated in more than a decade, is completely different than InDesign's and supporting two radically opposed page-layout engineering development teams makes no sense. Even so, it's the end of an era. [...] Yet it's hard to fathom that a name long synonymous with electronic publishing is being laid to rest. It deserves a hero's funeral. Perhaps I should build a pyre for my PageMaker 1.0 disk, set it afire, and push it out to sea.

Farewell, old friend.

Farewell indeed, to what is still, in many ways, the best desktop publishing application, years after its last significant upgrade. Look at InDesign's new features, and you'll see it largely playing catch-up with PageMaker:

A story editor
A context-sensitive control palette, much like PageMaker's
A booklet plug-in that automatically rearranges a document's pages at print time into an imposition with complete control over margins, creep, etc.
Data merge
Position tool which works like the Crop tool in PageMaker
Keyboard shortcuts to match PageMaker shortcuts
A template browser with over 80 professional templates

And now for something completely different! Remember when InDesign came out, then went through two full upgrade cycles, with Quark keyboard shortcuts and upgrade path? PageMaker users clearly felt left out, and stayed away in droves. Clearly, Adobe has realized that they could not simply ignore PageMaker users, as they have been doing. With this release, Adobe is finally addressing its loyal customers. As Jo Ann Buckner, senior product manager for Adobe, says "We want to make it very clear for users, this is how you did it in PageMaker, this is how you do it in InDesign. We think that with just a couple hours of experience, PageMaker users will be doing everything they used to do in PageMaker."

InDesign CS PageMaker Edition includes a full version of InDesign CS and adds a PageMaker plugin pack, designer templates, and InDesign training. It will be available in the first quarter of 2004 at an estimated upgrade price of US $349 for registered users of PageMaker. (According to Adobe's Dov Isaacs, the PageMaker plugin pack may be available for sale as a download only.) If you're interested in learning more about InDesign CS, CreativePro has two reviews that will be of interest:

InDesign CS: Adobe Ups the Ante Once Again (Sandee Cohen)
QuarkXPress 6 vs. InDesign CS: Taking Sides (David Blatner)

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