Many free desktop publishing software downloads are fine for a specific job, such as labels or business cards, but they aren't full-featured design tools. However, a few free programs for Windows have powerful publishing capabilities, including page layout, vector graphics, and image editing programs. Oct 22, 2019 If you're a beginner when it comes to desktop publishing, then the software above may seem a little overwhelming at first. That's why Xara Page & Layout. Xara Page & Layout Designer has beautiful templates and a sleek interface, making it a good choice for professionals and home users alike. It doesn't have as many templates and art assets as other programs, but those it includes are well-designed. This software is easy to. Download the latest version of RailModeller Pro for Mac - Create trackplans for model railroad trains and slot cars (was RailModeller). Read 12 user reviews of RailModeller Pro on MacUpdate. Epson Print Layout Software. Streamline your printing workflow. Available for Windows ®, Mac OS ® and now for iOS. Includes Photoshop ® plug-in.
Set up in Pages on iPhone or iPad
To set up your document on your iPhone or iPad, open your document and make sure you're in editing view.
Switch between word-processing and page layout
In word-processing documents, text flows from one page to the next, which makes them ideal for documents like reports and letters. In page layout documents, you can arrange objects like text boxes and graphics however you want, making them ideal for newsletters and flyers. You can switch between these two types of documents:
With the document open, tap the More button , then tap Document Setup.
Switch to a different document type:
To switch to a page layout document from a word-processing document, tap Document, then turn off Document Body.
To switch to word-processing from page layout, turn on Document Body.
Change margins, page orientation, and page size
With the document open, tap the More button , then tap Document Setup.
In a word-processing document, tap Document. If you're in a page layout document, skip to the next step.
To change the page orientation, tap Portrait or Landscape.
To change paper size, tap an option under Paper Size. If you want to print your document on 8.5” x 11” printer paper, choose Letter. If you want a custom size, tap Custom Size, enter the dimensions, then tap Done.
To adjust the margins for a word-processing document, tap the More Options button , then drag the arrows around the body text box. You can change the margins of all sides of the page.
When you're finished, tap Done.
In Document Setup, you can also turn on vertical text for your document as well as change the background of your document.
Use facing pages
You can set your document up as a two-page spread. Documents set up as two-page spreads can have different headers, footers, and master objects on left- and right-facing pages. Use facing pages for layouts for printed books, or for double-sided documents that you intend to print.
With the document open, tap the More button , then tap Document Setup,
In a word-processing document, tap Document, then turn on Facing Pages. In a page layout document, turn on Facing Pages..
You can set different headers and footers for the left and right facing pages:
In a word-processing document, tap the More button , tap Document Setup, then tap Section. Turn on “Left and right pages are different.”
In a page layout document, tap the More button , tap Document Setup, then turn on “Left and Right are different,” located under the Facing Pages button.
When you're finished, tap the close button (on iPhone) or Done (on iPad).
You can view facing pages as a two-page spread, or as a single page:
On iPhone, tap the More button , then turn Two-Page View on or off.
On iPad, tap the View button , then turn Two Page on or off.
Work with headers and footers
You can add or remove headers and footers, show or hide them, add content to them, and more.
Learn how to work with headers and footers on iPhone.
Learn how to work with headers and footers on iPad.
Set up in Pages for Mac
Pages for Mac is a powerful word processor that gives you everything you need to create and edit documents from your Mac.
Switch between word-processing and page layout
In word-processing documents, text flows from one page to the next, which makes them ideal for documents like reports and letters. In page layout documents, you can add objects like text boxes and graphics that you can arrange however you want, making them ideal for newsletters and flyers.
You can switch between these two types of documents:
To convert a word-processing document to a page layout document, open the document, then choose File > Convert to Page Layout.
To convert a page layout document to a word-processing document, open the document, then choose File > Convert to Word Processing.
Change paper size, page orientation, and margins
Click the Document button in the toolbar, then click Document.
To change the paper size, click the Paper Size pop-up under Printer and Paper Size, then choose an option. If you want to print your document on 8.5” x 11” printer paper, choose US Letter. You can also set a custom paper size.
To change the orientation of your page, click the orientation under Page Orientation.
To change the margins in a word-processing document, in the Document Margins section, click the arrows or enter values in the fields next to Top, Bottom, Left, and Right. For the Blank template, all margins are automatically set to one inch. If you're using a different template, margin sizes vary.*
* If Japanese, Chinese, or Korean is the primary language for your device or is added as a preferred language, you can also turn on vertical text for your document.
Use facing pages
You can set your document up as a two-page spread. Documents set up as two-page spreads can have different headers, footers, and master objects on left- and right-facing pages. Use facing pages for layouts for printed books, or for double-sided documents that you intend to print.
In a word-processing document, click the Document button , then click Document. In a page layout document, click Document button .
Select Facing Pages.
If you want different footers for the left and right facing pages:
In a word-processing document, click the Document button , click Section, then select “Left and right pages are different.”
In a page layout document, click the Document button , then select “Left and right pages are different.”
You can view facing pages as a two-page spread, or as a single page. Click Zoom, then choose Two Pages or One Page. If you're viewing your document as a two-page spread, choose Fit Spread to fit the two-page spread vertically on your screen.
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Work with headers and footers
You can add or remove headers and footers, show or hide them, add content to them, and more. Learn how to work with headers and footers on Mac.
Add page numbers
If you want page numbers to appear in the same location on every page, put them in the header or the footer. You can add page numbers or page counts to your document header or footer—click into the gray text box, then click Insert > Page Number.
After you've added page numbers, you can change the starting number and numbering style:
In a word-processing document, click the Document button , then click Section. In a page layout document, click an empty area on the page, then click Format to show the Page Layout inspector.
Under Page Numbering, click the Format pop-up menu to choose between numbers, roman numerals, capital letters, and lowercase letters.
You can also choose whether you want numbering to continue from the previous section, or start at a specific number.
To place a page count into your document, click into the header or footer text box, then choose Insert > Page Count.
Add dates and times
You can add the date to any part of your document—click into your text, then choose Insert > Date & Time.
Pages automatically detects the date style from the system preferences of your Mac. Learn more about updating your time and date style.
Set up in Pages for iCloud
Pages for iCloud allows you to create and edit your documents online. Pages for iCloud has the same document setup options as Pages for Mac. Adding page numbers and turning Facing Pages on in Pages for iCloud are slightly different, however.
Add page numbers
You can add page numbers anywhere in your document by clicking into the header, body text, or a text box, then clicking the Paragraph button .
To insert the current page number, choose Page Number.
To insert the total number of pages, choose Page Count.
To format your document to show both, choose Page Number, type “of” in the header or footer, then insert the Page Count.
Use facing pages in Pages for iCloud
You can turn facing pages on in Pages for iCloud to set your document up as a two-page spread, but you can't view the pages side-by-side. To turn on facing pages, click the Document Setup button , then select Facing Pages.
Learn More
Turn on iCloud Drive to keep your documents up to date across all of your devices.
You can set up your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac to update Pages automatically. Learn how to turn on automatic downloading. Make sure you accept Pages, Numbers, and Keynote in the App Store to guarantee your apps update automatically.
Once the scrappy upstart, InDesign is now the dominant page layout app. Is there any alternative that comes close?
Adobe's switch to software as a service has sent budget-minded creative professionals looking for alternatives to the Creative Cloud apps that don't cost them a monthly fee. As the Mac App Store has grown in popularity, alternatives have cropped up. Pixelmator serves many users' needs for a Photoshop replacement. Sketch 3 is an excellent alternative to Illustrator. But where's a solid alternative to InDesign?
I've checked around; I've even polled some of you on Twitter to find out what you like. And my results have come up a bit short. Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't think that there really is a solid alternative.
Disrupting the disruptor
InDesign exists in an interesting place in the design ecosystem. It started life itself as a market disruptor — Adobe introduced InDesign as an alternative to QuarkXPress at a time when Quark ruled the desktop publishing market. Because of unwise management, hostile customer service, and other foibles, Quark was utterly loathed by many of the businesses and users that depended on its software.
Adobe didn't hit a home run with the first version of InDesign, but steadily improved it and integrated it so thoroughly with other Adobe products that it eventually became indispensable. Now InDesign is the market behemoth, and at least for some, Adobe has become the evil empire they're trying to get away from.
Having said that, InDesign is a darn nice piece of page layout software. It's powerful and it's ubiquitous. If you have InDesign and are familiar with how it works, it's reminiscent of the old marketing phrase, 'No one ever got fired for buying IBM.'
Though the full Creative Cloud suite costs $49.99, it's worth pointing out that if all you need is InDesign, you can subscribe to just it for $19.99. And if you're a Creative Suite user, you can 'upgrade' to Creative Cloud for $29.99 per month for your first year.
$49.99 per month - Download now
QuarkXPress: Everything old is new again
Quark, for its part, soldiers on with QuarkXPress. With QuarkXPress 10.1, Quark continues to iterate Quark with very powerful features. Last year's version 10 release saw a thorough under-the-hood and feature-rich modernization, with 50 feature enhancements, a throughly optimized graphics engine, improved interface elements and much more.
More recently, the 10.1 release makes tweaks that even further, incorporating InDesign-style Dynamic Guides (like Smart Guides), 8000 percent zoom, layout export, a reimplemented and greatly improved Books feature, and HTML 5 animation support.
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Unfortunately, all that power comes with a price, and a hefty one at that: $849, a lot more than budget-conscious creatives will be willing to pay, especially those that still have a negative connotation of Quark.
$849 - Download now
iStudio Publisher
iStudio Publisher came out in 2009, coincidentally the same year Apple really brought Pages into its own as a powerful page layout tool. If you've exhausted what the older version of Pages can do for you — or if you're horrified by what happened to it in 2013 – give iStudio a try. There are a ton of templates you can download, too.
C.Four published it then handed back to the original creators. It'll be interesting to see what they do with iStudio Publisher — certainly one to keep your eye on.
$29.99 - Download now
Swift Publisher: Consumer-focused page layout tool
Some of you pointed out Swift Publisher as a possible alternative to InDesign. In fairness, developer Belight Software isn't trying to copy InDesign feature for feature, or even attempting to make a professional page layout app. But they have succeeded in creating a surprisingly powerful, lightweight page layout app with a lot of cool features at a very low price.
Looking over Swift Publisher, I don't liken it to an InDesign competitor as much as a more sophisticated version of an tool like Print Explosion or The Print Shop — and that's squarely its market: for consumers looking for a way to make really pretty layouts for their projects. You can use it to print flyers, newsletters, brochures, calendars and other content either freeforming them from scratch or using built-in templates and clip art.
$19.99 - Download now
Pages: Apple's alternative
I can hear some of you out there groaning already. Pages took a big step backwards last year when Apple reworked the Mac versions of its iWork apps to work in lockstep with their iOS counterparts. And of all the apps, Pages took the biggest hit in terms of interface and functionality; changes I don't see it getting back any time soon.
Having said that, Pages' price for new Mac owners is certainly right — it's free with the purchase of a new computer, after all. What's more, it does have a powerful set of page layout features that make it powerful if you're patient enough to use it right.
But if you're a long-time Pages user, you're probably still suffering with some of the missing features and functionality from previous versions. Either that, or you're still using the older iWork '09-era version that Apple leaves behind when it upgrades.
$19.99 - Download now
MultiAd Creator: Consumer or pro, it's your choice
It's been a few years since MultiAd has done anything significant to Creator, but it's still an alternative that some may want to consider. Creator combines page layout, drawing, illustration and image editing tools in one. It supports different export options, text on a path, automatic CMYK-RG conversions and full support of OpenType fonts.
Creator is available in two trim levels - Creator Express, a consumer-friendly version available for download in the Mac App Store, and Creator Professional, which is available for purchase directly from MultiAd. Professional adds a slew of important features like Pantone color library support, file conversion (including InDesign Interchange), trapping and more.
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Creator Express:
$29.99 - Download now
Creator Professional:
$499 - Download now
Still looking
None of these options really fit the bill for what I was looking for — an inexpensive alternative to InDesign that's powerful enough for a creative professional to get by. It seems that we've come along way with image editing and illustration alternatives to Adobe products, but page layout still needs work.
Maybe I just have to accept that InDesign is the page layout king, and move on. Or maybe you're familiar with something that isn't listed here. If that's the case, I heartily welcome you to share your comments with me below.
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