CompuServe Thread

Steve, It depends on the quality that you are looking for, the skills you (or your wife) want to develop and the cost. First off, if you are doing full size posters you will have to go with a professional system with a long learning curve and big $$$. If all you want are flyers or newsletter type publications then there are a number of low end options open to you. The first step you could do would be to use a paint program. For graphics, I think most people would agree that a PAINT program is easier than a structured DRAW program but the printed quality of the DRAW program is better after all is done. If the project has a lot of graphics and you aren't too concerned about having HiRes quality then go with a paint program such as DPaint. It will allow you to do logos and *simple* text layout but it would look amateurish. The second level would be to include a wordprocessor such as FinalCopyII or ProWrite. Each of these provide basic text and graphics layout and you can import paint files to print up with your docs. FCII also has built in structured graphics capabilities for simple hilites, etc. So a paint program and a wordprocessor will give you cost effective, simple but adequate results. There are also entery level DTP programs that combine everything in one package (ie. Gold Disks' PageSetter which I have not used). The next step would be a desktop publishing program and possibly a structure draw program. Each of these will give you professional quality at the expense of more $$$ and difficulty. A full system would include all these programs and more. Basically, it comes down to what you want for how much. It would be best to start simple and work up. I hope this helps. Andrew

Might be better off using a 35mm or Large Format Still Camera and Tripod and shooting off yer Monitor and taking the SLIDE to a Printshop and have them Print the Full color Posters. Probably also be more cost effective.,

>>"Would I be better off getting a paint program (DPaint or Personal Paint) or going with a desktop publishing package. I can only afford one." << Steve – I'd like to pop in here with my 2cents worth. If your wife wants to produce the best possible posters/handouts from an output device such as the Epson printer. I would suggest leaning towards the DTP applications rather than the paint programs such as Dpaint. And don't even consider WP's. I mean, lets use the 'right tool for the job' The advantage of using a program such as PageSetter (Gold Disk) is that you will be outputting using CGfonts for all text and have an ablity of using structured drawings & clips (which can be purchased, found in the Libs here, or made yourself with ProDraw). Dpaint is good for making really great pictures on screen, or for really getting into computer art for Arts sake, but I have never seen the advantage when it comes to wanting quality output from such a program. An entry level program such as PageSetter will import bitmap clip art, use a great selection of fonts (and rotate the fonts any way you want), and output to the printer at the highest possible resolution (probably 300dpi for the 24pin). Its the base program for furter expansion towards a really good DTP system. With add on programs such as POST you can even output Postscript to your dot matrix printer. I say this because I do it all the time. I produce flyers, comment cards, posters etc. All for my business and all using ProPage. (course I also have a Postscript Laser printer, but the 24 wire will do good work also). What you have to think about is how many copies of the poster/flyer do you want. In most cases (anything more than 10 – IMHO) what you are going to want to do is produce your MASTER copy on your computer/printer and then take that copy to the local copy center. Most photo-copiers these days can take an 8×10 page (your master) and blow it up to 11×14, 14×22 or even larger. In most cases 300dpi output is perfect for photo coping and enlarging and doing local small business type of work. Of course I'm talking B&W output (the only practical solution for small time DTP work & small business needs) Two or Three color flyers are somewhat available if you want to pay the price at the copy center, but for small production runs (500 or less) it is usually kind of high (IMHO). A couple of other solutions include using one color ink on a color stock – perfect for flyers and posters. I have also taken my 8×10 Masters, have had them enlarged to say 14×22, made 6 to 10 copies and then hand colored them for a real local personalized look. Basicly, I'm just say to really analize what you want to do. What do you mean when you say "make some posters". If your talking about posters to Advertise something – then you what you are doing is Desk Top Publishing! and you need a DTP program and one made for that need. The 3 programs you should consider are; PageSetter or ProPage (both Gold Disk) or PageStream (Soft-Logic). BTW these programs with also do much larger posters and banners than 8×10 and they will 'tile' the output to any paper size and then you can cut and tape the resulting pages together and have your large banner. Of course these are all my opinions, but I just don't think you want to get a program such as Dpaint for doing 'Posters'. I have Dpaint (have had for years) and hardly ever use it. I use Ppage all the time though and love it. Roy Pahnke – Casper, Wyoming – OnLine with CIS since 1985 –