Desktop Publishing

(abbreviated DTP) is the creation of documents using page layout skills on a personal computer primarily for print. Desktop publishing software can generate layouts and produce typographic quality text and images comparable to traditional typography and printing. This technology allows individuals, businesses, and other organizations to self-publish a wide range of printed matter. Desktop publishing is also the main reference for digital typography. When used skillfully, desktop publishing allows the user to produce a wide variety of materials, from menus to magazines and books, without the expense of commercial printing

Desktop publishing combines a personal computer and WYSIWYG page layout software to create publication documents on a computer for either large scale publishing or small scale local multifunction peripheral output and distribution. Desktop publishing methods provide more control over design, layout, and typography than word processing. However, word processing software has evolved to include some, though by no means all, capabilities previously available only with professional printing or desktop publishing.

The same DTP skills and software used for common paper and book publishing are sometimes used to create graphics for point of sale displays, promotional items, trade show exhibits, retail package designs and outdoor signs. Although what is classified as “DTP software” is usually limited to print and PDF publications, DTP skills aren’t limited to print. The content produced by desktop publishers may also be exported and used for electronic media. The job descriptions that include “DTP”, such as DTP artist, often require skills using software for producing e-books, web content, and web pages, which may involve web design or user interface design for any graphical user interface.

History

Desktop publishing began in 1983 with a program developed by James Davise at a community newspaper in Philadelphia.^[1] The program Type Processor One ran on a PC using a graphics card for a WYSIWYG display and was offered commercially by Best info in 1984.^[2] (Desktop typesetting with only limited page makeup facilities had arrived in 1978–9 with the introduction of TeX, and was extended in the early 1980s by LaTeX.) The DTP market exploded in 1985 with the introduction in January of the Apple LaserWriter printer, and later in July with the introduction of PageMaker software from Aldus, which rapidly became the DTP industry standard software. Later on, Adobe PageMaker overtook Microsoft Word in professional DTP in 1985. The term “desktop publishing” is attributed to Aldus Corporation founder Paul Brainerd,^[3] who sought a marketing catch-phrase to describe the small size and relative affordability of this suite of products, in contrast to the expensive commercial phototypesetting equipment of the day.

Before the advent of desktop publishing, the only option available to most people for producing typed documents (as opposed to handwritten documents) was a typewriter, which offered only a handful of typefaces (usually fixed-width) and one or two font sizes. Indeed, one popular desktop publishing book was entitled The Mac is not a typewriter, and it had to actually explain how a Mac could do so much more than a typewriter.^[4] The ability to create WYSIWYG page layouts on screen and then print pages containing text and graphical elements at crisp 300 dpi resolution was revolutionary for both the typesetting industry and the personal computer industry; newspapers and other print publications made the move to DTP-based programs from older layout systems such as Atex and other programs in the early 1980s.

By the standards of the 2010s, early 1980s desktop publishing was a primitive affair. Users of the PageMaker-LaserWriter-Macintosh 512K system endured frequent software crashes,^[5] cramped display on the Mac’s tiny 512 x 342 1-bit monochrome screen, the inability to control letter-spacing, kerning,^[6] and other typographic features, and discrepancies between the screen display and printed output. However, it was a revolutionary combination at the time, and was received with considerable acclaim.

Behind-the-scenes technologies developed by Adobe Systems set the foundation for professional desktop publishing applications. The LaserWriter and LaserWriter Plus printers included high quality, scalable Adobe PostScript fonts built into their ROM memory. The LaserWriter’s PostScript capability allowed publication designers to proof files on a local printer, then print the same file at DTP service bureaus using optical resolution 600+ ppi PostScript printers such as those from Linotronic. Later, the Macintosh II was released which was much more suitable for desktop publishing because of its greater expandability, support for large color multi-monitor displays, and its SCSI storage interface which allowed fast high-capacity hard drives to be attached to the system. Macintosh-based systems continued to dominate the market into 1986, when the GEM-based Ventura Publisher was introduced for MS-DOS computers. PageMaker’s pasteboard metaphor closely simulated the process of creating layouts manually, but Ventura Publisher automated the layout process through its use of tags and style sheets and automatically generated indices and other body matter. This made it suitable for manuals and other long-format documents.

Desktop publishing moved into the home market in 1986 with Professional Page for the Amiga, Publishing Partner (now PageStream) for the Atari ST, GST’s Timeworks Publisher on the PC and Atari ST, and Calamus for the Atari TT030. Software was published even for 8-bit computers like the Apple II and Commodore 64: Home Publisher, The Newsroom, and geoPublish. During its early years, desktop publishing acquired a bad reputation as a result of untrained users who created poorly organized, unprofessional-looking “ransom note effect” layouts; similar criticism was leveled again against early World Wide Web publishers a decade later. However, some desktop publishers who mastered the programs were able to realize truly professional results. Desktop publishing skills were considered of primary importance in career advancement in the 1980s, but increased accessibility to more user-friendly DTP software has made DTP a secondary skill to art direction, graphic design, multimedia development, marketing communications, and administrative careers. DTP skill levels range from what may be learned in a few hours (e.g., learning how to put clip art in a word processor) to what requires a college education. The discipline of DTP skills range from technical skills such as prepress production and programming to creative skills such as communication design and graphic image development.