Background

This two-day course explains how to use PageMaker to produce well-designed documents quickly and easily. Special emphasis is placed on the principles of good design in DTP, as well as giving delegates a thorough grounding in the essentials of operating the software. Delegates will work on a set of sample documents (for a fictional company) during the course, giving hands-on experience of different types of document and the specific features of PageMaker, while learning to achieve a consistent "corporate style" for them all.

Course Outline

• Basics
  • PageMaker documents: the .P65 file, templates, links to text and image files; saving your work
  • PageMaker defaults; selecting a target printer and default styles
  • Screen layout and menus: using the mouse & keyboard short-cuts
  • The Toolbox: using the right tool for each operation
  • Rulers and column guides
• Text
  • Loading and placing text files; using autoflow; style tags
  • Creating a page layout: Master pages & formatting text
  • Use of typefaces: point sizes, line spacing, kerning, indents & tabs and paragraph settings
• Page design
  • Page design: columns, margins, rules, borders, backgrounds
  • Text editing: cut, copy & paste; using the clipboard; preparing and importing text files from a wordprocessor, using PageMaker's Story Editor; rotating text
  • Assembling a document: handling page and column breaks, with style tags, inserting and removing pages
• Graphics
  • Using boxes, circles, and rules; selecting and applying colours; grouping and aligning shapes
  • Image handling: placing imported images; cropping, sizing and scaling; wrapping text around pictures
• Printing
  • Printing: print options; overview of process colour separations and spot colour; achieving predictable colour output on desktop printers and in commercial print