Software for laying out brochures - which one to use?

Hi there Steven,

As a graphic designer for nearly 5 years now, I can say that if you are really serious about producing high-quality print you have two main choices: Adobe InDesign or Quark Xpress. Quark Xpress has been the industry standard now for years, largely due to its flexibility and high-quality results. However, Adobe's InDesign is quickly gaining a foothold in the graphic design industry as it performs excellently also. Personally, I prefer Quark Xpress as it has many advantages over simpler tools like Microsoft Publisher, in so much as it has far higher print quality (crisper text etc) and its ability to export as either EPS or PDF proves extremely useful for creating documents which can be compatible with the printer's equipment. There are disadvantages with these programs however: the enormous price-tag (sadly, you have to pay a premium for industry-standard tools).

If you are designing these brochures to be printed out at home on your own printer, Publisher should be all right for basic stuff. You have less control over the pages you create and will have to work from templates, but it will be very quick to use and easy to pick up.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to what you think you will need. Publisher is basic but should do the job if this is a small project. If you want a really high-quality finish to your brochures try Quark or InDesign (both have free trials available for download). The learning curve is quite steep for a first-time user, but there are tutorials on the internet which may be of help to you. Whatever you choose to do, I wish you all the best with your graphic design work (its a great industry to work in)!

These are OK, but if you want a really professional flexible product with good support - especially for sending to a professional printer. Try PagePlus X2 from Serif. It has all the tools you could possibly need, including a lot of stuff you get in Quark Xpress and things like that, but it's no where near as expensive.

I'm guessing Adobe has a steep learning curve, though is a name synonymous with dtp.

I bought Serif pageplus recently, and with no experience have turned out some great stuff with ease.

Read it's reviews.

About £50 from PCWorld.

Don't bother upgrading when you register though.

Publisher can do a decent job, as I am assuming you know how to use it properly and use aligning, nudging, grouping and order etc. but dependent on how big your client is, national, international wise, you might need the sophistication of Quark.

Look, its depends on you which technology you are applied for creating it.....it based on interest and knowledge because there are so many technology in market so never given emphasis on one for more details just go through the url given below ..

http://www.icreonglobal.com/

Use Publisher ! Thats what I use all the time

Its more powerful than you think !! once you learn to use it properly.