** Sabi ni Holden noong Wed, 09 Oct 2002 08:58:40 +0800 > > 1. A Desktop Publishing Package (DTP) ala PageMaker or (better yet!) > > Ventura Publisher... > > Not as good as the packages you mentioned but I use Sketch on a regular basis. > Sketch is a vector graphics application. You could also try Kontour or > OpenOffice Draw.
I'm not sure Manny needs a vector graphics application, but a document layout package. And no, OpenOffice.org doesn't cut it. Here's a list of what we should expect from DTP (Manny might add to it): 1. the ability to lay out documents in a wide variety of formats -- e.g., two, three, or four columns; 2. the ability to import graphic images -- GIF, BMP, JPEG, etc; a weakness of several word processors (and even PageMaker) is that they stretch the graphic image to fit the frame, which isn't always what you want. Instead, you'd like to be able to draw a frame, import a graphic into it, then adjust the size of the frame so that the graphic fits into it neatly. That was one thing that I liked about Ventura Publisher, and why I hated PageMaker. 3. widow-orphan control. Sure, OpenOffice.org and even AbiWord can do this, but they often do so by leaving an empty line at the bottom of the page or column. A true DTP will adjust the inter-line spacing by small increments so that the bottoms of the columns align. Too bad the FrameMaker beta for Linux didn't pan out. Oh yeah, I suppose one could use TeX, but most users will want a WYSIWYG front-end. Mabuhay. _ Philippine Linux Users Group. Web site and archives at http://plug.linux.org.ph To leave: send "unsubscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fully Searchable Archives With Friendly Web Interface at http://marc.free.net.ph To subscribe to the Linux Newbies' List: send "subscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
