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Re: Startup! How, what?

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Posted by DHenry on April 01, 1997 at 21:10:01:

In Reply to: Startup! How, what? posted by Suzannne on March 17, 1997 at 16:15:51:

: Besides a decent printer, what equipment should I purchace(Presently a new system is out of the question. New one to be purchaced in Jan. 1999).

: Which software packages are easiest for a beginner to begin learning? I am taking a course in DTP in college, but none of the software is available to us.

: Suzanne - MORE - As a student, you should qualify for educational prices on software. Ask your course instructor for help contacting the company that supplies the school. The major contenders in DTP are PageMaker and Quark Xpress. Quark is more precise, but not as flexible in handling multiple pages of text. Once you learn one, the other is not so hard - if you feel you need both. Again, spend at least 200 hours with one app before you try learning another one. Much of what you learn will make the second app easier to learn, but trying to do both at once only increases the fog factor. Each will take longer to learn!

: Your software is WHY you buy a computer. Choose the app, make sure you have the machine to support it. Then - and only after you are happy with your progress learning the app - then get a solid printer and/or scanner. If the print quality needs to be the best possible, consider finding a service that can do your output, and maybe get a cheap (4 to 5 hundred bucks) colour ink-jet for proofing and correspondence. Bank financing might allow you to pick up a top-quality HP lazer, and pay for it with the contract you landed that REQUIRED you to invest in serious gear. Remember that the printer technology should last twice as long as your computer, so should a scanner.

: For all you students out there - remember to be patient, and expect to throw out everything you do in the first year or three. I learned through an apprenticeship (before IBM's first 8088, or the first Mac), and spent years handling paper and making coffee before I was allowed to mix a colour. It took me a year to learn how NOT to cut my fingers with an X-acto knife. Publishing, no matter how little desk space we now need, still demands craft. People haven't changed the physiology of getting the retinal image into the brain since Gutenburg (o.k. - since well before that), and this means sticking to a basic set of rules. Styles change faster than fashions in Paris, but the basic mechanisms of human perception only change to the extent that culture affects perception.

: Read! The library is full of beautiful books, all about type and design. Imagine how you would do that page ...

: Best Wishes,

: A guy with a big, old, oak drafting table.

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: : Besides a decent printer, what equipment should I purchace(Presently a new system is out of the question. New one to be purchaced in Jan. 1999). : : Which software packages are easiest for a beginner to begin learning? I am taking a course in DTP in college, but none of the software is available to us. : : Suzanne - MORE - As a student, you should qualify for educational prices on software. Ask your course instructor for help contacting the company that supplies the school. The major contenders in DTP are PageMaker and Quark Xpress. Quark is more precise, but not as flexible in handling multiple pages of text. Once you learn one, the other is not so hard - if you feel you need both. Again, spend at least 200 hours with one app before you try learning another one. Much of what you learn will make the second app easier to learn, but trying to do both at once only increases the fog factor. Each will take longer to learn! : : Your software is WHY you buy a computer. Choose the app, make sure you have the machine to support it. Then - and only after you are happy with your progress learning the app - then get a solid printer and/or scanner. If the print quality needs to be the best possible, consider finding a service that can do your output, and maybe get a cheap (4 to 5 hundred bucks) colour ink-jet for proofing and correspondence. Bank financing might allow you to pick up a top-quality HP lazer, and pay for it with the contract you landed that REQUIRED you to invest in serious gear. Remember that the printer technology should last twice as long as your computer, so should a scanner. : : For all you students out there - remember to be patient, and expect to throw out everything you do in the first year or three. I learned through an apprenticeship (before IBM's first 8088, or the first Mac), and spent years handling paper and making coffee before I was allowed to mix a colour. It took me a year to learn how NOT to cut my fingers with an X-acto knife. Publishing, no matter how little desk space we now need, still demands craft. People haven't changed the physiology of getting the retinal image into the brain since Gutenburg (o.k. - since well before that), and this means sticking to a basic set of rules. Styles change faster than fashions in Paris, but the basic mechanisms of human perception only change to the extent that culture affects perception. : : Read! The library is full of beautiful books, all about type and design. Imagine how you would do that page ... : : Best Wishes, : : A guy with a big, old, oak drafting table.

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