Re: Laying out a newsletter

[Al Geist <al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com>]

Hi Odlie Sullivan-Tarazi,

I would like to add to Barry's comments that while Word and Open Office 
may work for a newsletter, they are not designed for page layout, and MS 
Publisher is to inflexible to really get creative outside of their 
templates.  Before anyone gets in a tizzy....I'm not against Microsoft 
products.  However, very few printers will accept raw Publisher files 
and those that do often turn them immediately into PDFs for processing.

FrameMaker is out of the question.  It cost too much.  It has a very 
steep learning curve and it's designed for large (as in page number) 
publishing projects, not newsletters.  You need something that is 
versatile, flexible and relatively inexpensive.  I would pass on 
PageMaker, because it's being phased out by Adobe.  InDesign is my 
choice.  It can easily do newsletters and most publishing projects. 
(I've done projects up to 200 pages with no problems.)   It's also a 
standard in most design houses which means you will have a better chance 
of finding answers to your questions from your printer than you would if 
you were using other programs.

Above all, keep in mind that these are our opinions.  I would highly 
suggest that the first thing you do is contact the printer (if you 
intend to print your newsletter outside of your company).   You may be 
surprised how much time, money and headaches it will save you.

Hope this helps

--

Al Geist
Technical Writing, Online Help, Marketing Collateral, Web Design, Award 
Winning Videos, Professional Photography
Voice/Msg: 802-658-3140
E-mail: al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com <mailto:al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com>
URL: www.geistassociates.com <http://www.geistassociates.com> (online 
portfolio/resume)

See also:
URL: www.geistimages.com <http://www.geistimages.com> (fine art prints 
for home or office and note cards for all occasions)

"When the situation is absolutely hopeless, you have nothing to worry 
about."
                        Compliments of The Monkey Wrench Gang


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