DESK TOP PUBLISHING
The Minimum Requirements
by Philip Siddons


By now major computer magazines have devoted issues to Desk Top
Publishing (DTP). The the hardware and software suppliers are
pumping millions of dollars into marketing, advertising, and
training. And for good reason. New tools are available to
computer users that give them exciting communication abilities.
The good news is that business and educational leaders are able
to have greater control over their data, design, and production
deadlines. Printed communications are becoming more visually
effective. A project report, company news letter, or product
catalogue, whether one or 5,000 pages, can be published with
near typeset quality right on our desktops. Corporate depart-
ments are relishing in the fact that now, in house, they are
able to produce camera-ready publications without sending them
out to a printer. They're saving time, money, and dramatically
improving their printed materials.

Despite the hype that has been circulating about laser printer
output, at least two things emerge worth remembering:

(1) Laser printers' quiet 300 dot per inch resolution pro-
duce superb quality text and graphics output far beyond that
of dot matrix printers.

(2) Laser printers, even when the 600 dot per inch resolu-
tion is available near the end of this year, do not approach
the quality of photo typesetting. Lasers do an excellent
job for the majority of corporate and educational tasks, but
a few jobs will still have to go to the printer.

The Xerox "Ventura Publisher" and Aldus "Page Maker" programs
are presently the best selling DTP software packages. We know
these programs are excellent. Happily there are other fine
software programs arriving daily.

We are also at the point where we are more clear on the differ-
ences between the minimum hardware configurations required for
the good programs, and the hardware one really ought to have to
make best use of their time. In short, an 8 MH processor (or
faster), one MB of RAM (or more), Enhanced Graphics (or Her-
cules) adaptor and corresponding monitor, a 20 MB hard disk or
larger, a laser printer, a good word processor, and a mouse in-
terface. Among the list of "nice to have" are: a drawing or
"paint" software package and a graphics scanner.

Because these hardware and software tools are obtainable for
under $9,000, printed communications are dramatically improving
almost everywhere you look. Laser printing with the improved
type and font styles are causing the highest quality carbon
ribbon letter quality correspondence to look "ordinary." The
industry standard has changed.

But there is one essential ingredient necessary in addition to
the software and the hardware.

The Marketing Division of First National Bank has just
purchased an AST Premium Publishing package and the Ventura
Software for under $ 9,000. The computer resource department
has decided that the 10 MH processor, 1 MB of RAM, the 40 MB
hard disk, the TurboLaser and the scanner, driven by the
software, should be able to produce the quality they've been
looking for without go- ing out to a printer. Wrong.

The last essential component necessary to complete this level
of quality publishing is an operator of the system. We're not
talking about a typist, although it sure does help if she or he
has advanced keyboard proficiency. We're not talking about a
programmer. (OK, it would always help if someone knew some
programming.) What is needed is an individual with the
following:

1. Writing skills. Whoever writes the text or copy, of the
document to be published, must have gift of being able to
have something to say in an intelligent, creative, and inter-
esting way. No matter how wonderful it looks on the page,
if the author has nothing to say, the publication is ineffec-
tive.

2. Sense of Spacial Relationships. The DTP software market-
ing claims that one does not have to learn the art form of
typesetting to produce pleasing and professional communica-
tions. That's partially true. While you do not have to be-
come proficient at kerning and point setting, the power at
the user's fingertips can produce some ugly stuff. An artis-
tic sense of what looks good, a sense of balance, and the
ability to determine if something is easy to read is essen-
tial. These abilities will go a long way toward preventing
crowded spacing, too many fonts on one page, and poor use of
white space between the blocks of text.

3. Dedication To Publishing. An employer simply can not sit
her or his best word processing person down in front of a
desk top publishing system and say:

"Learn this, when you get a chance, and see if you can
print some of our correspondence with this fancy print-
er."

Probably the greatest investment a company has is not the
hardware but the personnel. Depending on the size of the
company and the amount of printed output desired, there
should be at least one or more people who do nothing but
desk top publishing. This means that these people should be
given the initial training on the hardware and software.
Learning the software is best done by doing something with
it on the job, but only after a minimum of a week's worth of
intensive instructtion by authorized software trainers. A
firm should plan on setting aside $3,000 for the tuition and
expenses of the training if the classes are out of town.
Think of the best violin crafted in history. To benefit
from the artesian's work, you've got to have concert master
play it. The same is true of the person operating this fine
publishing equipment.

The corporate world continues to be amazed and pleased by new
and powerful technological excellence. It's a good time to be
living. But the strongest firms would be wise to remember
their most important investment: personnel. They are the soul
of the corporation.