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Rating: 
Summary: THE book of its type for novices and experts
Review: Back in early 1985, I was working in a university which was PC heaven. I knew nothing about computers until a salesman came to demonstrate a funny beige box with a tiny screen which, he said, would *soon* have a program called PageMaker running on it that we could use to produce publications, including my particular bete noir -- the university handbook (catalog).
To the horror of the PC jocks, I bought a suite of 4 "Fat Macs" and a LaserWriter for my office, and when PageMaker v.1 turned up I began setting up to produce the handbook. It was a steep learning curve. In the end, though, we made it.
I wish 'Publication Production using PageMaker ...' had been available then. Sure, the PageMaker manual was there, and it was good, but it focused on the program. Gordon Woolf's book is different -- it is a book about producing publications first ... and using PageMaker v.7, the current version and the one I now use, to do the job. The book you want to publish is the focus -- PageMaker is merely the tool.
And that's the point -- this is a book written by an old publishing pro about how to get the publishing job done. Gordon tells us he started desktop publishing when typewriters, monospaced type, physical paste-up and spirit duplicators were still the go. As computers developed and publishing programs appeared, so Gordon moved up the scale. His book follows the same path -- it assumes nothing except that you know how to click a mouse and tap on a keyboard, it focuses on the job, and it tells you how to do the job -- step by step.
The magic of this book, though, is that while it opens up a whole new world for publishing novices, it is also teaching lots of PageMaker (and general DTP) techniques.
I have been using PageMaker on a daily basis for longer than Gordon, I believe, but browsing through the book, I found lots of tips and tricks I have been able to incorporate into my workflow. I feel no shame at using Gordon's book to repair my deficiencies -- Gordon Woolf is a widely acknowledged PageMaker and DTP guru!
'Publication Production using PageMaker' is on my bookshelf and is in the "well thumbed" category!
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Summary: Great help to people converting objects into layout formats.
Review: If you are a writer at a community newspaper and suddenly find your publication has adopted Pagemaker to save time and labor costs in putting text files and graphics or advertising into layout, this is a great book for you.If you have decided to publish your own magazine or newsletter and are a writer instead of an artist, this is a MUST book for you. If, however, you are an experienced Pagemaker user, depending on your expertise, this book may or may not help you. I am well experienced in Pagemaker (since beta version 1.0), yet I still found lots of helpful information, particularly in Chapter 9, Scripts and Tagged Text. Gordon Woolf also has a website for book purchasers to download templates. A nice bonus. This is an excellent book for anybody wanting to learn how to make the most efficient use of the great product from Adobe.
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Summary: Includes access to a helpful website & email advice service
Review: Publication Production Using PageMaker by editor and publishing expert Gorden Woolf is a solid, practical, comprehensive, user friendly, "how-to" guide for using the Adobe PageMaker 7 software application to create professional appearing and aesthetically pleasing newspapers, newsletters, magazines, periodicals, chapbooks, pamphlets, and other formatted publications. From making the most to templates and style tags to applying scripts, plug-ins, graphic art, and more, Publication Production Using PageMaker is packed with basic information and creative tips, tricks, and techniques. Black-and-white computer screenshots illustrate the step-by-step instructions, and a special feature of the book includes access to a helpful website and email advice service. Of special interest is the timesaving and stress relieving advice on organizing workflow, and the recommendations for avoiding the need for repetitive tasking through the utilization of PageMaker functions. Publication Production Using PageMaker is a very highly recommended addition and welcome addition the PageMaker reference shelf for the aspiring publisher.
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Summary: Not as user-friendly as it sounds
Review: The other reviews are very misleading in that it is not a comprehensive how-to on the entire program, as it only covers matters of production in tabloid-formats and newspaper layouts. There is little to no coverage of any other types of publications that can be created using the program, and the langauge is NOT geared toward novices.
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Summary: If you need step by step instruction - Keep Looking!
Review: This book is not what I anticipated. If you are somewhat familiar with Pagemaker it is a breeze. I waited for the mail daily just to receive a book that can't even help me. I ended up at the library checking out a 10 year old book that is still more effective in teaching me step by step instructions. It is called "Pagemaker 5.0 for Windows" it is 2 editions earlier but helps way better than this thing!
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Summary: Do not trust Midwest Book Review's review!
Review: This company likely sells 5-star reviews! They've got thousands of reviews out, and after browsing through a couple hundred in multiple categories I was unable to find even ONE that wasn't a 5-star review. Check their reviews out for yourself!
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