PageMaker ver. 6.0
Software Review by Clarke Bird

 The truth is, there is no earthly way to adequately explain a program the size of PageMaker within the constraints of a review in PC Alamode. Here is my cheap tip: for those who are mildly interested in buying PageMaker, buy one of the training videos for $39 or one of the training CD-ROMs for $49. This will tell you, but more importantly show you, what PageMaker is all about. If you like what you see, contact the PageMaker SIG to learn more. 

I have been producing PC Alamode using PM6 for the past 15 months. Prior to that time, Cynthia Thompson, the previous editor, produced this magazine using WordPerfect 5.1 DOS. I had one month to take over production of a 64 page magazine and learn how to use PageMaker at the same time. Fortunately I had a one on one teacher. Sunnie Scarlett, PageMaker SIG chair, offered to come to my home office and teach me how to use PM6 to lay out the pages. 

 I had a vision of what I wanted PC Alamode to look like. By showing Sunnie some commercial magazines, she laid out the Table of Contents to make it eminently readable in order to entice the casual browser into the magazine. Every time I open PM6, I am eternally grateful to Sunnie for the one-on-one lessons to get me up to speed. 

 Sunnie had been using version 4.0 and when she started using version 6.0 on my PC, she continually expressed surprise at the new features that had been added since version 4.0. In other words, this new (at the time) version of PageMaker 6.0 was a winner to an old PageMaker user. 

 The first thing I learned when I began using PageMaker is that a page layout program is not a wordprocessor. Oh you can type text directly on the page in PageMaker and it even has a spell checker but no word count feature. Unless you are producing a one page pamphlet, I think typing a lot of text is easier using a word processor and importing (placing) the text where you want it on the page. 

 Placing the text (and graphic elements) on the page precisely where you want it, adjusting (tweaking) it until you have it exactly the way you want it, changing fonts in selected sections, and adding color to the publication requires a software program designed to do all that and more. 

 There is a steep learning curve to PageMaker for several reasons. This is a robust program requiring 20-40 MB (depending upon your choice of installation) of hard disk space. The previous editor, using WordPerfect 5.1 DOS, divided each issue of PC Alamode into about 4-5 files. I produce all 64 pages, including graphic images, in one PageMaker file. That, dear readers, is stability. 

 The 445 page PageMaker User Guide overwhelmed me as a new inductee into page layout programs. There were technical terms regarding working with commercial printers, color management and electronic publishing that I had no clue as to what I was reading. Luckily, Adobe provides a CD ROM tour through the program and a snappy review of what some commercial layout artists/graphic designers have produced using PageMaker. 

 I discover new features to the program each month as I edit PC Alamode and there are hundreds of features that are available that I may never use. 

 A major tool that Sunnie created for greatly helping speed production each month is a font Styles box. If I need a photo caption, I simply type the caption, select it (block it) and click my cursor on Captions on the PC Alamode styles list. Body text is the same throughout the issue but justification changes from full justification in the three column makeup in the front of the magazine to left justification (ragged right) in the two column makeup in the Product Review section. I simply select the text and click on body text - columns and articles, or click on body text - reviews. The text becomes fully justified or left justified, depending upon which I choose. 

 Let me show you how I lay out one of our monthly columnist's pages using PM6. I draw a rectangular box at the top of the page using the Rectangle Tool but I don't assign a line to the box. The purpose of the box is to keep text, when I import or "place" the writers text on the page, from pouring down one column to the top of the page in the next several columns. The box's invisible border keeps the text in place. Next I cut and paste the title of that months column inside the box, moving it with the pointer tool where I want it. I select the text and click on Column Headlines in the Styles menu and vola, the headline grows to the specified font in the specified font size. 

 Working with a lot of text in PageMaker couldn't be easier, once you understand how it works. When you first place text on the page, you place a pointing tool icon (telling you that it is loaded with the text file) where you want the text to begin. Once you click on the pointing tool, text immediately flows down the column, up to the top of the next column and so on until all the text in on the page. If the text block goes beyond the space allocated, the end of the text will flow to the next empty page. 

 PageMaker identifies the border of a text block across the top and bottom by lines with loops, called a windowshade handle. If the loop on the handle has a plus sign, that indicates there is more text in another text block in the adjoining column or on the next page. 

 A down arrow in the loop of the windowshade handle indicates there is more text to be placed on the page. 
 
 

At the beginning, you start with a page

 If you will be producing the same publication several times, a magazine for instance, you have the opportunity to design Master Pages which will impose a layout grid on all your publication pages. In the lower right corner are left and right buttons which allow you to print information on either the left or right page bottom margin, i.e., PC Alamode on the left page and July 1997 on the right page. Master Pages allow you to reproduce the same style publication each time you redo it. 

 The blank pages actually lay on a much larger surface, the Pasteboard. You can store objects off the page on the pasteboard and move them onto the page as you need them. 

 Now you are ready to put something on the page. 
 
 

Tools you will use

The Pointer tool selects objects. You also use the pointer tool to move objects on or off the page. 

 
• The Text tool enables you to type or edit text. 
• The Oval tool draws circles and ovals. 
• The Rectangle tool draws boxes. 
• The Line tool draws a straight line at any angle. 
• The Constrained Line tool limits you to drawing only lines at the 45-degree points of the compass. 
• The Polygon tool lets you draw many-sided objects, flat-sided or star-shaped. See example on page 2 of this issue. 
• The Magnifying Glass allows you to zoom in and out of selected areas on the page. 
• The Rotating tool rotates objects. 
• The cropping tool trims the view of imported graphics.

 Another tool that I am using more and more is the Control Palette. This tool gives the PageMaker user centralized control -- no access to menus required -- for almost all of PageMaker's positioning and text formatting commands. If it visually gets in your way, drag it off the page. You can bring it back by clicking on Window and clicking on Control Palette. 

 There are nudge buttons (triangular arrows) on the Control Palette that allow you to jockey an object into place by adjusting the "X" (horizontal) and "Y" (vertical) coordinates. In addition, if you know precisely where you want to put the object, you can type the action directly into the text-entry boxes. 
 
 

The Group command

Perfect alignment

A Ph.D. in Color Printing

 PageMaker is extremely powerful in working with color on the page. After reading through the 79 page Print Publishing Guide supplied with PM6, I understand a lot more about working with color (what you see on the screen is not what you get on the printed page). I understand what is involved with color trapping and halftones; how to design around potential printing problems and working with imported color graphics. 

 Thankfully we don't use color inside PC Alamode (first of all, we couldn't afford it) or I would have to put the Print Publishing Guide to the test. 
 
 

What's new in PM6 compared to PM5?

Here are features that are new to version 6.0

Multiple master pages. In what is described as a major conceptual advance for this feature, PM6 allows you to create a new master, duplicate one, and assign it to multiple pages. 

 Guide and grid management. With this tool, you can set up column, vertical and horizontal guides and save standard sets for future use (these guides show up on the screen as thin colored lines in order to help place text and graphics accurately). 

 Alignment and distribution. You can center objects on centers, align on sides or tops, distribute with an automatically calculated spacing or type in the spacing you want. 

 Grouping and ungrouping. It is hard for me to imagine using PM without this feature. You can modify any of the group items, including text or object tints and colors, by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking the item to select it first. 

 Position locking and unlocking. Lock a letterhead logo or any other object including a text block, to a precise spot on the page this is particularly helpful when using templates that carry standard elements. 

 Masking. This is neat. You use the Rectangle, Oval or Polygon tool to mask an object (graphic). Now you can import a graphic, move a circle onto the top of it and fit the graphic within the circle or starburst using the Polygon tool. 

 One layer forward and backward. Previously when layering, you had to send the layer all the way to the front or to the back of the stack. Now you can adjust stacking layers one at a time. 

 Preserve stacking/layer order. When you select a stacked object and move it to a new position, it remembers its proper lay 

er sequence in the stacking order as you slide it into place. 

 TIFF clipping path support. PM6 now recognizes Photoshop clipping paths, even if they are embedded in TIFF files. This should mean easier output at the service bureau, since the file structure will be inherently less complex. 

 Zoom tool. Just click on the magnifying glass on the Toolbox, drag a marquee, and you get a new window that contains exactly the portion of the page you want to see. You can magnify up to a maximum of 800 percent! 

 Headers and keylines. Reportedly the Running Headers and Create Keylines feature has new interfaces, making them more straightforward and easier to use. This means they will be more helpful in laying down pages.

 A new Photo CD import filter is used to sharpen and color manage imported photo CDS before you place them on the page. 

 You now have the ability to convert RGB images to CMYK along with the ability to assign tints of existing colors to objects. 

 Do you have what it takes to use PageMaker? First of all, do you have the bucks? When it was introduced, the average street price for PM6 for first time buyers is expensive (SRP of $895; streetprice is $545), upgrade about $140. PM6.5 streetprice is $619.99; an upgrade about $100. 

 Secondly, does your PC have what it takes? PM6 runs on both Windows 3.1 or Win95 although version 6.0 was the first version to be optimized for running on 32 bit PCs. 

 For Win95, you will need a 486 CPU but it will run much smoother on a Pentium. Minimum of 8 MB RAM but 16 MB highly recommended and 32 MB is much better. 24-40 MB hard disk space, and an additional 50 MB available for Windows virtual memory. You will need a CD-ROM drive. A high resolution Super VGA display card. 

 For Win3.1, you will a minimum of a 486 CPU with 10 MB RAM; Hard disk space similar to Win95 requirements above; DOS 5.0 or higher. For optimum performance, Adobe recommends additional HD space and RAM as indicated under Win95 installation above. 

 PageMaker is available at the local computer stores that carry a full line of software products. If you are serious about desktop publishing and want to graduate from neighborhood newsletter publishing, you need PageMaker. 

 Clarke Bird acquired an Apple II+ in 1981 and has been using a PC since he left the Apple ranks in 1983. He has been a member of Alamo PC Organization for four years.