Easy does it: create marketing materials with easy-to-learn Macintosh desktop publishing software - includes a related article on new and notable software - Software Review - Evaluation

Entrepreneur, Oct, 1996 by Cassandra Cavanah

At some time or another, almost every small-business owner needs to create printed materials for his or her business. It might be a simple flier announcing a big sale, a postcard telling customers of an address change, or perhaps something more complex, like a monthly newsletter for staying in touch with clients.

Though some of these projects might sound like something your word processing software could handle, you'll get better results from a proper desktop publishing program. Computers have made graphic artists out of almost all of us. That's not to say professional graphic artists are no longer needed, it's just that they're only needed for bigger jobs-like four-color ads in national publications and show-stopping brochures.

In this issue, we examine two Macintosh desktop publishing programs that are touted as easy-to-use and affordable@ Adobe Home-Publisher and Manhattan Graphics Ready, Set, Go. (Windows users should turn to Microsoft Publisher or Compu Works Publisher for similar functionality.)

* THE BASICS

Ready, Set, Go has the fewest hardware equipment needs - a minimum installation requires just 2MB RAM and 5MB of hard-drive space. This program runs on virtually any Macintosh system and is native on the PowerMac. The entire program came on three 3 1/2-inch floppy disks.

HomePublisher, on the other hand, comes on a CD-ROM disk and consumes more than 15MB of hard-drive space. It also needs a full -MB RAM. HomePublisher is also native on PowerMacs but requires a minimum 68030 processor.

Ready, Set, Go is marketed as high-end desktop publisher for the home office rather than a beginner's tool. This distinction is worth not in if you're a seasoned desktop publisher with aspirations of designing all the art work yourself. Ready, Set, Go's robust features include plenty of compatibility with higher-end desktop publishing programs and the ability to import numerous graphics and file formats. It also has a greater ability to manipulate images.

HomePublisher, on the other hand, is limited to PICT, TIFF (grayscale only) and EPS images. This program is truly for the novice publishing market, with the features to match. To add value to this program, Adobe has included more than 2,000 clip-art images on the CD-ROM disk as well as two well-known Adobe products: Adobe Type Manager, which improves onscreen font resolution, and Adobe Acrobat Reader, for viewing and printing files created on one type of computer system on other systems.

* START YOUR PROGRAMS

Although these programs claim to make desktop publishing easy and painless, beginners still need some guidance before they'll be able to create interesting documents.

To meet the novice users needs, HomePublisher includes a function called AutoCreate. With more than 50 AutoCreate templates, HomePublisher gives users easy to-follow layouts for creating fliers, brochures, labels, business cards newsletters and more.

Upon opening HomePublisher, you'll be greeted with design your own publication or let the program "AutoCreate" one for you. Choose an Autocreate template, and HomePublisher will prompt you to select from a number of styles, such as Modem, Traditional and New Wave, all of which appear in a small (though somewhat difficult to view) window.

HomePublisher then asks you to help in the publication's creation by adding text and graphics to the template. If you're designing a newsletter, for instance, you may have already written the copy in your word processor. HomePublisher guides you through the steps of retrieving and inserting the text in your new document and also helps you place graphics, such as logos or photos, that have been scanned into your computer. If you're designing, say, letterhead or business cards, HomePublisher lists elements you may want to include, such as your name, company name, address, phone number and fax. This way, you can input the text in an easy-to-use format before its laid out on the template.

In contrast, Ready, Set, Go opens to a blank page. You can either start a publication from scratch - not an easy task if you've never done desktop publishing before - or open a template file. This makes Ready, Set, Go somewhat less beginner-friendly. Still, the template folder is full of Interesting documents to choose from, including an entire catalog design with 11 different ad layouts and a front and back cover. In fact, the templates tend to include more complex designs than HomePublisher's.

* DESIGNING TIMES

Though templates are important to getting started, the true test of an easy-to-use desktop publishing program is whether you can create impressive designs quickly and easily.

Once you've chosen the basic look of your document - whether it's a business card or a newsletter - you'll probably want to add your own touches, such as a fancy font, a splash of color or a unique design element. That means your publishing program must be easy to navigate and have straightforward tools for getting you from point A to point B.

To fully test both program's useability, I created a flier, complete with a color background and coupon, from scratch. Here are the results: