DESKTOP PUBLISHING (ALSO KNOWN AS DTP) combines a personal computer and WYSIWYG page

layout software to create publicationdocuments on a computer for either large scale publishing or small scale

local multifunction peripheral output and distribution.

The term "desktop publishing" is commonly used to describe page layout skills. However, the skills and software are not

limited to paper and book publishing. The same skills and software are often used to create graphics for point of sale

displays, promotional items, trade show exhibits, retail package designs and outdoor signs.

History

Desktop publishing began in 1985 with the introduction of MacPublisher, the first WYSIWYG layout program, which
ran on the original 128K Macintosh computer.

The DTP market exploded in 1985 with the introduction in January of theApple LaserWriter printer, and later in July
with the introduction of PageMaker software from Aldus which rapidly became the DTP industry standard software.

The term "desktop publishing" is attributed to Aldus Corporation founder Paul Brainerd,

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.

Although Macintosh-based systems would continue to dominate the market, in 1986, the GEM-based Ventura
Publisher was introduced for MS-DOS computers. While PageMaker's pasteboard metaphor closely simulated the
process of creating layouts manually, Ventura Publisher automated the layout process through its use of tags/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. Even for 8-bit computers like the Apple II and Commodore 64 software was published: 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 ransom note effect layouts — similar criticism would be levied again against early Web publishers a
decade later. However, some were able to realize truly professional results.

Once considered a primary skill, increased accessibility to more user-friendly DTP software has made DTP a
secondary skill to art direction, graphic design, multimedia development, marketing communications, administrative
careers and advanced high school literacy in thriving economies.

TERMINOLOGY

There are TWO TYPES OF PAGES IN DESKTOP PUBLISHING, electronic pages and virtual paper pages to
be printed on physical paper pages. All computerized documents are technically electronic, which are limited in size
only by computer memory or computer data storage space.

A WEB PAGE is an example of an electronic page that is not constrained by virtual paper parameters. Most
electronic pages may be dynamically re-sized, causing either the content to scale in size with the page or causing
the content to re-flow.

MASTER PAGES are templates used to automatically copy or link elements and graphic design styles to some or
all the pages of a multipage document. Linked elements can be modified without having to change each instance of
an element on pages that use the same element. Master pages can also be used to apply graphic design styles to
automatic page numbering.

PAGE LAYOUT is the process by which the elements are laid on the page orderly, aesthetically, and precisely.
 • CorelDRAW is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Corel Corporation of Ottawa, Canada. It is
also the name of Corel's Graphics Suite. Its latest version, named X5 (actually version 15), was released in
February 2010.

• In 1987, Corel hired software engineers MICHEL BOUILLON and PAT BEIRNE to develop a vector-based

illustration program to bundle with their desktop publishing systems. That program, CorelDRAW, was initially

released in 1989. CorelDRAW 1.x and 2.x runs under Windows 2.x and 3.0. CorelDRAW 3.0 came into its own with

Microsoft's release of Windows 3.1. The inclusion of TrueType in Windows 3.1 transformed CorelDRAW into a

serious illustration program capable of using system-installed outline fonts without requiring third-party software

such as Adobe Type Manager; paired with a photo editing program (PhotoPaint), a font manager and several

other pieces of software, it was also part of the first all-in-one graphics suite.

• The FIRST BOOK devoted to CorelDRAW was MASTERING CORELDRAW BY CHRIS DICKMAN, published by

Peachpit Press in 1990, with a contribution by Rick Altman. Dickman also founded and published the

independent Mastering CorelDRAW Journal publication, and created and ran the first site dedicated to

CorelDRAW, CorelNET.com, from 1995 to 1997.

Features by version

 Ver. 2 (1991): Envelope tool (for distorting text or objects using a primary shape), Blend (for morphing shapes), Extrusion

(for simulating perspective and volume in objects) and Perspective (to distort objects along X and Y axes).

 Ver. 3 (1992): Included Corel PHOTO-PAINT* (for bitmap editing), CorelSHOW (for creating on-screen presentations),

CorelCHART (for graphic charts), Mosaic and CorelTRACE (for vectorizing bitmaps). The inclusion of this software was the

precedent for the actual graphic suites.[1]

 Ver. 4 (1993): Included Corel PHOTO-PAINT* (for bitmap editing), CorelSHOW (for creating on-screen presentations),

CorelCHART (for graphic charts), CorelMOVE for animation, Mosaic and CorelTRACE (for vectorizing bitmaps). Multi-page

capabilities, Powerlines, support for graphic tablets, Clone tool, elastic node editing, Envelope tool.

 Ver. 5 (1994): This is the last version which was made for, and works on Windows 3.x. Corel Ventura was included in the

suite (and then sold as a separate program). It was a desktop publishing application akin to PageMaker, Quark Express, or

InDesign.

 Ver. 6 (1995): This is the first version which was made exclusively for 32-bit Windows. New features were customizable

interface, Polygon, Spiral, Knife and Eraser tools. Corel Memo, Corel Presents, Corel Motion 3D, Corel Depth, Corel

Multimedia Manager, Corel Font Master and Corel DREAM (for 3D modelling) were included in the suite.

 Ver. 7 (1997): Context-sensitive Property bar, Print Preview with Zoom and Pan options, Scrapbook (for viewing a drag-

and-dropping graphic objects), Publish to HTML option, Draft and Enhanced display options, Interactive Fill and Blend tools,

Transparency tools, Natural Pen tool, Find & Replace wizard, Convert Vector to Bitmap option (inside Draw), Spell checker,

Thesaurus and Grammar checker. The suite included Corel Scan and Corel Barista (a Java-based document exchange

format).
  Ver. 8 (1998): Digger selection, Docker windows, Interactive Distortion, 3D, Envelope and tools, Realistic Dropshadow

tool, interactive color mixing, color palette editor, guidelines as objects, custom-sized pages, duotone support. Corel Versions

was included in the suite.

 Ver. 9 (1999): Mesh fill tool (for complex color filling), Artistic Media tool, Publish to PDF features, embedded ICC color

profiles, Multiple On-screen Color Palettes and Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications 6 support. The suite included Canto

Cumulus LE, a piece of software for media management.

 Ver. 10 (2000): CorelR.A.V.E. (for vector animation), Perfect Shapes, Web graphics tools (for creating interactive

elements such as buttons), Page sorter, multilingual document support, navigator window. Open, save, import and export

in SVG format.[2]

 Ver. 11 (2002): Symbols library, image slicing (for web design), pressure-sensitive vector brushes, 3-point drawing tools.

 Ver. 12 (2003): Dynamic guides, Smart Drawing tools, Export to MS Office or Word option, Virtual Segment Delete tool,

Unicode text support.

 Ver. X3 (2006): Double click Crop tool (the first vector software able to crop groups of vectors and bitmap images at the

same time), Smart fill tool, Chamfer/Fillet/Scallop/Emboss tool, Image Adjustment Lab. Trace became integrated inside Draw

under the name PowerTRACE.

 Ver. X4 (2008): Whatthefont font identification service linked inside CorelDraw, ConceptShare, Table tool, independent

page layers, live text formatting, support for RAW camera files.[3]

 Ver. X5 (2010): Built-in content organizer (CorelCONNECT), new color management, web graphics and animation tools,

multi-core performance improvement, digital content (professional fonts, clip arts, and photos), object hinting, pixel view,

enhanced Mesh tool with transparency options, added touch support, and new supported file formats.[4] It has developed

Transformation, which makes multiple copies of a single object.

FEATURES

Supported platforms

CORELDRAW was originally developed for Microsoft Windows and currently runs on Windows XP, Windows Vista,
and Windows 7. The current version, X5, was released on 23 February 2010.

Versions for Mac OS and Mac OS X were at one time available, but due to poor sales these were discontinued. The last port for

Linux was version 9 (released in 2000, it didn't run natively, instead it used a modified version of Wine to run) and the last version

for OS X was version 11 (released in 2001). Also, up until version 5, CorelDRAW was developed for Windows

3.1x, CTOS and OS/2.

Problems installing or running older versions of Corel Draw under Windows 7 may be overcome by using Microsoft's 'Troubleshoot

Compatibility' - right click on the setup.exe file on the installation disk to select this facility (tested on version 12 with Win
7, where previous attempts without MS 'Troubleshoot Compatibility' failed).

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES

Several innovations to vector-based illustration originated with CorelDRAW: a node-edit tool that operates differently on different

objects, fit text-to-path, stroke-before-fill, quick fill/stroke color selection palettes, perspective projections, mesh fills and complex

gradient fills.

CorelDRAW differentiates itself from its competitors in a number of ways:

The first is its positioning as a graphics suite, rather than just a vector graphics program. A full range of editing tools allow the user

to adjust contrast, color balance, change the format from RGB toCMYK, add special effects such as vignettes and special borders to

bitmaps. Bitmaps can also be edited more extensively using Corel PhotoPaint, opening the bitmap directly from CorelDRAW and

returning to the program after saving. It also allows a laser to cut out any drawings.

CorelDRAW is capable of handling multiple pages along with multiple master layers. Multipage documents are easy to create and

edit and the Corel print engine allows for booklet and other imposition so even simple printers can be used for producing finished

documents. One of the useful features for single and multi-page documents is the ability to create linked text boxes across

documents that can be resized and moved while the text itself resets and flows through the boxes. Useful for creating and editing

multi-article newsletters etc.

Smaller items, like business cards, invitations etc., can be designed to their final page size and imposed to the printer's sheet size

for cost-effective printing. An additional print-merge feature (using a spreadsheet or text merge file) allows full personalization for

many things like numbered raffle tickets, individual invitations, membership cards and more.

CorelDRAW's competitors include Adobe Illustrator and Xara Xtreme. Although all of these are vector-based illustration programs,

the user experience differs greatly between them. While these programs will read their native file types and vice versa, the

translation is rarely perfect. CorelDRAW can open Adobe PDF files: Adobe PageMaker, Microsoft Publisher and Word, and other

programs can print documents to PDF using the Adobe PDFWriter printer driver, which CorelDRAW can then open and edit every

aspect of the original layout and design. CorelDRAW can also open PowerPoint Presentations and other Microsoft Office formats

with little or no problem.