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Microsoft's trademark signature for Windows 95 is "Where do you want to go today?" When starting out in desktop publishing a similar question should
be asked, "What do I really want to do today?"Many people buy a computer for their homes nowadays because it's the "in" thing to do now to keep up with the Jones's at a much lower cost than a
boat, car or travel trailer. After playing with all of the pre-installed software, (most of which they will never use) the question becomes, "Now what?" Somewhere in the quest to do something practical with
the new expensive paperweight, one decides that greeting cards, signs for the upcoming garage sale or maybe some letterhead is in order. So off to the nearest department store (since lots of smaller cities don't have
a large enough population to support a software only store) to find some software. At this point a big question comes to mind that should have been at the top of the list before buying a computer, "What do I want
to do?" If, as I stated before, you merely want to do greeting cards, then there is no point plunking down the cash for Aldus Pagemaker, Quark Xpress or CorelDRAW 6. On the other hand, one shouldn't buy the first
piece of software, from some company nobody ever heard of, that comes with 50 graphics, 20 fonts and is in the bargain bin for $10 either. Most of the time, but not always, the biggest problem with software is that we
buy it based on all of the things we "might" do rather than on what we really "need" to do. If you're planning on competing with a nearby printing establishment, then get a laser printer, $800 desk
top publishing package and get to work. Otherwise, the Printshop, Printhouse, Print Artist and other similar software will work for the simple stuff. Another important thing to consider is the type and quality of
graphics the package comes with. I would rather take 500 usable color graphics in vector* format than 5000 bit- mapped graphics of things I'll never use. The same thing is true of fonts. Most people have about 10 fonts
they use for just about everything. So again, unless you're going into business, why do you need "500 fonts included free!!". First of all they probably are copies of the real thing (which is another whole
article in itself) and if you install them all, it's just another pointless way to fill up your hard drive. |
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