Sidebar on wordprocessing/page composition software

By Donald Jenner

One of the more difficult writing decisions to make is, what kind of program to use:  wordprocessing software -- where the emphasis is writing and presentation is slightly less important, or page-composition software -- where presentation is central, and the mechanics of writing are marginally less well accommodated.  The differences are more a matter of emphasis these days; wordprocessing programs offer more and more "desktop publishing" capability, while page-composition programs have ever-stronger editing capabilities.  The most important difference may be in the way the document is organized.

Rule number one:  Forget about "character-based" (or "DOS-based") wordprocessors like Wordperfect.  They don't handle pictures well enough, and frankly, they are rather clunky compared to the "GUI"-based wordprocessors for Windows and the Macintosh.  These essentially character-based applications are tuned for people who work for lawyers or the like and don't have to produce well-formatted, graphically sophisticated documents, tied to a range of related materials.

We like GUI wordprocessing packages and have used several:  We normally use Microsoft Word for Windows, but Lotus (formerly Samna) Ami Professional and its lookalike from Software Publishing (Professional Write Plus, the technology for which was bought by SPC from Samna) are strong contenders, because of their strong page-layout capabilities.  

We encountered a serious problem with AmiPro.  To do its magic with different page-presentation modes on the screen, Samna chose to develop its own screen font capabilities.  The idea seems to have been to preclude the need to "greek" fonts in full-page presentations.  Unfortunately, AmiPro's screen fonts are tuned for relatively low-resolution VGA and EGA displays.  Our display systems, at 800x600 and 1024x768, looked awful when using the Ami screen fonts -- not at all WYSIWYG.  Disabling the Ami screen fonts -- suggested by Lotus/Samna's tech support -- was no solution; Windows screen fonts looked worse.  On the other hand, AmiPro handles pictures with much greater facility than competing products.

We also tested the new PageMaker 4.0 and Ventura Publisher (both available for Windows and for Macintosh).  PageMaker offers very nearly full-featured wordprocessing; Ventura accepts already edited text.  We are more familiar with PageMaker because of frequent use in a range of page and graphics composition chores.  We use Ventura for specialized purposes; we particularly favor it for jobs where Ventura's programmability automates some kinds of publishing chores.

A page-composition program makes sophisticated graphics handling much easier.  The substantially more visual orientation (also an Ami strength, however vitiated in high-resolution environments) makes document design a great deal easier.  Even if a wordprocessor like Word is used to produce an interim document, PageMaker or Ventura make good choices for final product.  PageMaker's text and table editing capabilities are sufficiently powerful that it makes a good top-to-bottom documentation tool.  In the rest of this story, PageMaker is assumed, but the many of the same techniques can be applied in other page-composition or wordprocessing programs.

One of the particular strengths of PageMaker 4.0 is its internal image adjustment.  This is not a substitute for detailed preparation before the picture is put in the document.  It does give that last "fine tuning" needed to optimize brightness and contrast when output from the page-composition system.  In this image-control facility, PageMaker also allows control of the raster-screen density -- the number and size of the dots used to render the picture at print-time.  With a top-flight printer like the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet III, it is possible to increase the line density from the rather coarse default value to a value of 70 lines or so -- with an effect almost as good as the 90 to 120 lines produced on a typesetter.  Do this with some care, and experiment; denser line settings will result in some loss of contrast.

Scanned images can be combined with line art -- the output of illustration or CAD software -- for very dramatic presentations.  An architect can paste a picture of a house on a photo of the site to give a sense of totality understood in the creative process.  This can be a deal-making image.  The same approach can produce more powerful effects than a standard model, when used in a computer-generated animation, a slide show, and a printed leave-behind; all of these can be created from the same basics.  

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