To such non-design people, I’d
In Word, things that should work often
InDesign license at them is just a
rather recommend they use
simply don’t &endash; no matter how
waste of money. Even knowing the
something like FrameMaker, which
hard you stare at the manual. It simply
InDesign manual off by heart
is equally well suited for both File-
does not do what it technically should.
doesn’t help if you don’t have at
New-and-type-ahead-like-in-word
Or it does it and then crashes.
least some kind of eye for design. To such non-design people, I’d
style work and professionally laid
Word documents look different on
rather recommend they use
I’m also quite impressed with
every computer. Not just the image
something like FrameMaker, which
Apple’s Pages. The new version
positions, but also the text flows, page
is equally well suited for both File-
seems to be a lot like InDesign, but
breaks and much more.
New-and-type-ahead-like-in-word
out print documents.
very easy to use, and quite
style work and professionally laid
No ligatures (I hope tht’s what stuff
out print documents.
professional layout package, but it
like fi and tt is called in English).
I’m also quite impressed with
sure is more than most people
You’d expect this from a software sold
Apple’s Pages. The new version
need. And it comes with tons of
in the 21st century, but it simply does
seems to be a lot like InDesign, but
predesigned templates.
not automatically substitute characters
very easy to use, and quite
Sometimes even the non-
with the correct glyphs. Especially in
affordable. It’s obviously not a
WYSIWYG LaTeX might be an
headings, this can look extremely bad.
professional layout package, but it
affordable. It’s obviously not a
option. It is a lot easier to use than it looks. Moreover, it is extremely
gets a lot slower, at least on Windows.
hard to prevent it from producing flawless output, no matter how how much Word user spirit you throw at it. After all, InDesign’s Adobe Paragraph Composer is based on the same algorithm that (La)TeX uses. It’s no use for doing creative stuff, though. But for a technical manual or something like that, it works spectacularly well. One needs to know quite a lot about typesetting to get pages looking as good out of InDesign. For me, there are five reasons why any software is better than MS Word:
sure is more than most people Once you install it, the entire computer
It generally sucks. But while I think that it makes no sense to force a professional designer to use MS Word, I think that InDesign is a bad choice for people without some kind of design background. It’s not like “Let’s buy InDesign so that our print documents will look better.” Someone who has created a WordArt-Rainbow-Type the day before, being proud that he got it to use Comic Sans MS instead of the default Arial and all, can’t be expected to change their judgement of what looks good and what does not over night. To throw an
need. And it comes with tons of predesigned templates. Sometimes even the nonWYSIWYG LaTeX might be an option. It is a lot easier to use than it looks. Moreover, it is extremely hard to prevent it from producing flawless output, no matter how how much Word user spirit you throw at it. After all, InDesign’s Adobe Paragraph Composer is based on the same algorithm that (La)TeX uses. It’s no use for doing creative stuff, though. But for a technical manual or something like that, it works spectacularly well. One needs to know quite a lot about typesetting to get pages looking as good out of InDesign.