PageMaker for Desktop Publishers

One way to learn PageMaker is just to use it. If you have experience in publishing, PageMaker is designed to be familiar to you, like using a light table. There are a few "gotchas," of course, but if you're an experienced publisher, learning PageMaker should be a snap. It's a complex program. But the good news is that PageMaker is a lot easier to learn than competing products like QuarkXPress.

In addition to the obvious — the PAGEMAKR mailing list — you may want to take advantage of the many training materials available. In 1985, desktop publishing was brand new and unexplored territory. Today, millions of people use desktop publishing software worldwide. Of course, there's a lot more to learning desktop publishing than learning PageMaker: there's typesetting and graphic design, for starters.

Getting Started

If you don't already have PageMaker, get it. You can buy it at Amazon.com, computer mail order warehouses, or and good computer store. It's much easier to learn if you have a copy to practice on. Learn by doing.

There are a lot of good books and other resources available, many listed below. For starters, check out one of the following two books. The Classroom book is best for a step-by-step tutorial approach, the Quickstart book is best for an overview and ... well, a quick start!

Teaching Yourself

Your installation of PageMaker includes a Help file. This will help you with specific topics like creating frames, using the control palette, and familiarizing you with the various keyboard shortcuts. However, it is not a very good tutorial. The manual that comes with PageMaker is quite good as computer manuals go, and will introduce you to the important concepts. However, a real beginner would do well to find an introductory book, CD, video, or training class.

Taking a Class

Many local universities and colleges offer courses in desktop publishing, often featuring PageMaker. Call the art department or the registrar to see if there are classes that might be useful to you. Also ask at your local printer of service bureau to see where their desktop publisher learned the trade. Usually they will say "the school of hard knocks," but they may also have suggestions on local schools, training programs, etc., and will certainly have real-world advice you won't learn in class.

Online Learning

Thunder Lizard Productions <http://www.thunderlizard.com> offers seminars all over the country and come highly recommended by list members.

Taz Tally Seminars <http://www.tazseminars.com> but they don't do PageMaker, just Photoshop, prepress, etc. You might want to consider Taz Talley seminars. A few years ago I attended his Pre-press seminar and it was very informative. I'm not sure if he travels out west though.

VTC Online University <http://www.vtco.com/> has developed over 12,000 software tutorials on various topics, including PageMaker 7.0 and 6.5, and offers them over the internet in Streaming QuickTime format. Other options include premium memberships and CD-ROMs. The tutorials require "the latest version of QuickTime." Blurb from the PageMaker 6.5 tutorials page: "VTC and Diane Presler bring you 19 Hours of movies that will explain in depth how PageMaker works. (VTC has combined 2 titles together, PageMaker 6.5 and PageMaker 6.5 Techniques, so you would now get 2 CDs for the price of one!)"

Another great resource is Ben Willmore. He did the book in Photoshop 5 or 5.5 and his travelling training program is top notch. His website has a wealth of info on it. <http://www.digitalmastery.com/tips_effects.html>

Adobe Press offers a book/CD set called Adobe PageMaker Classroom in a Book. I haven't used it, but I have heard good reports about other titles in their CIAB series. There's a whole lot of beginners guides to PageMaker, such as "PageMaker for Dummies" and "PageMaker Visual Quickstart guide." And, of course, PageMaker comes with a tutorial.

Go to Adobe.com, click Support which takes you to Customer First Support > Top Issues > PageMaker and browse to your heart's content. There is one paper "Recommended Workflow for Creating PageMaker Publications" (you may have to do a search for it) which could have some relevent tips in it.

Marc Zeedar has written a number of tutorials for his students (most of the info still applies (though some of the screens may be different now). Free tutorial PDF documents on his site include an Introduction to Electronic Publishing, which explains the basic differences between vector and bitmap graphics, a one-page tutorial on using Tabs in PageMaker, and an introduction to printing.

If you have a little more money, Mac and Windows Academy have video and CD-ROM based training on just about any topic in computing. CDs are usually in the $29-49 range and come in sets. PageMaker's set is around $240. They would have both 7.0 and 6.5 training.

Recommended Reading

There isn't a book which you can read overnight and became an expert. Most of the people think that they don't need a theoretical base for their job if they are working on computers. Many designers think that they are qualified to be technical editors just because they have sense for esthetics. But it isn't true. Beside knowing how to use particular software, they have to know technical essentials for every particular task which is involved in printing process. So, I suggest that you should read "The Color PC (Mac), Production techniques" from Marc D. Miller & Randy Zaucha. (Hayden Books, 1995.) It is very useful book for the beginning, and I think it is very easy for reading despite the fact that English isn't my mother's language. For other things related to PM 6.5 I suggest "Adobe PageMaker Classroom in a book" by Adobe Press. -- Vladimir Todosijevic <tvlada@verat.net>

For books, I can recommend the "in a book" series from Adobe and the Bible series from IDG. Search for all PageMaker products at Amazon.com, or see below for individual items I recommend.

Adobe's PageMaker Classroom in a Book is a good introduction and is designed specifically for people wanting to learn PageMaker from the beginning in a structured way. Other good PageMaker books:

MacWorld PageMaker 6.5 Bible

Teach Yourself...PageMaker 6.5

If you're a beginner, you might take a look at these:

Design Essentials

Desktop Publishing for Dummies

Desktop publishing: 10 Hour Series

"Skills on Demand" — Learn at your own pace, whenever it's convenient for you - at home, during lunch, or on the road with a laptop. With QuickSkill computer-based training CDs you get interactive tutorials that sport rich graphics and audio features, plus tips, tricks, and shortcuts from ZD Journals. Choose from over 15 topics including Microsoft Office Suite, Lotus Notes, and Microsoft PowerPoint.

Other Resources on the Net

Most of the material presented here was taken from the MacWorld article "Halftones Demystified" and the resources listed below:

PageMaker FAQ <http://www.makingpages.org/pagemaker/pm-faq.html>

PAGEMAKR list archives <http://www.listserv.iupui.edu/archives/pagemakr.html>

Desktop Publishing Glossary <http://www.makingpages.org/pagemaker/glossary.html>

Scanning FAQ <http://www.infomedia.net/scan/>

Scanning, resolutions, tips, etc. <http://www.scantips.com>