QuarkXpress®

QuarkXpress® is by far the preferred application among commercial printers and professional artists. Among its strengths are its ability to handle color separations and Pantone™ process and spot colors. The "Collect for Output" utility is a must-use feature for preparing your files for printing — it will gather all your images and save them with your file. Its chief disadvantage is that it will not gather all the fonts used in your file. You must gather all your fonts manually. Available for Windows™ and the Mac™.

Adobe PageMaker™

PageMaker™ is arguably an easier-to-learn and less expensive alternative to QuarkXpress®. The newest version (6.5) ships with an excellent utility called "Save for Service Provider" that will analyze basic problems with your file ("preflight"), and will gather both images and fonts to a removable disk to send out for printing. Available for Windows™ and the Mac™.

Adobe InDesign

Version 1.0 of InDesign™ was recently released to mixed reviews. Copy Central and most commercial printers do not currently support it. Version 1.5 is scheduled for release in April 2000. Available for Windows™ and the Mac™.

Corel™ WordPerfect™

Like Word®, WordPerfect™ is not a design tool. Few commercial printers will accept WordPerfect™ files. Your best bet is to print the highest quality black and white laser output, and let us use the hardcopy for reproduction. WordPerfect™ does not support the Pantone™ color system and should not be used for color documents. There is no way to assure that the color on your screen will resemble the printed color. Available for Windows™ and the Mac™. Adobe™ InDesign®

Microsoft™ Word®

Word™ is a good word processor, but it is not a design tool. It can be used for black and white documents, but should not be used for color. If the font you use in your document is not installed on the computer which is used to print, Word® will substitute another installed font, but will not tell which font has been substituted, or even that a substitution has been made. If you want your selected font to be used, you must include the font on your disk with the document. You must gather all images and fonts manually. Available for Windows™ and the Mac™.

Microsoft™ Publisher®

Currently, commercial printers offer limited support for Publisher® and only for full-color offset digital printing using spot color inks. But things may change because so many people are using Publisher®, and because the newest version (Publisher 2000™) is greatly improved. The new edition now supports Pantone™ color printing. If you wish to use process or spot color, you must upgrade to Publisher 2000™. There is also a new utility on the File menu called "Pack and Go" which will gather your images and embed your TrueType fonts. This is mandatory if you use TrueType fonts. This utility will not embed or gather PostScript fonts, so you must still do this manually. There is also a handy "Design Checker" which will alert you to some basic problems with your design project. Note that rotated text using PostScript fonts may not print correctly on some printers. Available for Windows™ only.