Re: Page Layout- Indesign, Quark, OpenOffice Writer?

["David Neeley" <dbneeley -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Rob,

If it's a "basic" book such as a novel or non-complex nonfiction work,
I suggest doing it in Lyx: http://www.lyx.org

Not only is Lyx free, it is based upon the TeX typesetting language
and the output can be stunning! The type handling, as you might
expect, is well beyond what you would probably get from any of the
programs you listed. After all, since you don't seem to be all that
familiar with the tools, I presume that your knowledge of type is also
limited?

It is quite true that InDesign or Quark are *capable* of superior
typesetting, but their defaults are not necessarily completely optimal
for your chosen page format. Most of these programs, for example, set
line spacing by a formula based upon the point size of the type. There
are other factors in play, though, to do it well, in addition to point
size.

In addition, Lyx requires very little effort once you set it up and
select a style--simply apply the style and forget about any formatting
decisions.

Lyx is available for Linux or other Unix iterations, for the Mac and
for Windows. The software you install should also include Ghostscript
and Ghostview, which will give it the ability to output .pdf files
that can then be placed online or used by a printer to output your
book.

David



Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2007 17:06:06 -0400
Subject: Page Layout- Indesign, Quark, OpenOffice Writer?
If I'm laying out a *basic* book for online printing, what's the best
program to use? What's the "lingua franca" for page layout these days. I
used to work with Pagemaker, but I'm hearing InDesign and Quark.

--
Rob Hudson
Business Writing Instructor
Software Developer
Towson University, MD
www.iteachwriting.com
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