A decade or so ago the publishing software were distinctly divided into two groups, desktop and professional. On one side were PageMaker and on the other FrameMaker and QuarkXPress. WordStar was primarily used as a substitute for a typewriter albeit as a powerful one. Microsoft was yet to enter the fray with its word, a part of the Office suite. Adobe PageMaker may lay claim to be the most popular ,desktop publishing software application to-date .It used a proprietary postscript software of Adobe which the users found extremely useful. CorelDraw, a vector based software, was projected successfully as a complete solution for desktop publishing. The availability of an extensive cache of fonts and clipart made it popular for small print runs. But these were for small print runs. The biggies of the print industry have publishing software which are much more costly but at the same time with extensive facilities. QuarkXPress has been a long time favorite with the top of the shelf publishers. There are some publishing software which are neither here nor there. Some of them have tools to develop web based material as well as for print. Adobe InDesign is one of those publishing software which fall in the intermediate category.

QuarkXPress

QuarkXPress on the other hand is professional software used for publishing books and periodicals and still continues to be a favorite with publishing community. Its superior workflow management tools are specifically designed to meet large level formatting and page layout. Progressively Adobe brought out a slew of software, meant for the publishing industry. Today, Adobe is phasing out PageMaker in for of InDesign which has features like XML and JavaScript support. Adobe FrameMaker continues to support the professional publishing community.

Adobe InDesign

Adobe InDesign is an intermediary publishing software whose capabilities lie somewhere between Adobe PageMaker and FrameMaker. The software suite is used for designing posters, brochures and newsletters. Released by Adobe it took time for InDesign to find a foothold in the publishing industry due to many reasons. One of them is attributed to its bundling with other Adobe software. Users of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator find it easy to learn and use due to its similarity with their front-end. Its multilingual support and JavaScript capability are some of its unique features. Adobe Corporation sites these features to woo users of QuarkXPress to shift to InDesign. Also, it is promoting this software as a replacement for PageMaker whose further development has been stopped.

Adobe claims that its latest version InDesign CS2 provides faster production for professional layouts. The issue of compatibility with previous versions (which was missing in version CS1) has been resolved in the latest version.

Another reason sited by Adobe for transiting to InDesign is the time taken to familiarize with its interface. The reduction in training time and saving in resources is accomplished by use of familiar tools used in Photoshop and illustrator. InDesign is also targeted at advertising agencies by incorporating a workflow management tool which makes it easier and faster to use in a creative environment.

Copyright (c) 2007 Dean Barnard