Adobe PageMaker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 PageMaker 7.0 running under Mac OS 9. |
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| Developer: | Adobe |
| Latest release: | 7.0 / N/A |
| OS: | Mac OS 9, Windows |
| Use: | Desktop Publishing |
| License: | Proprietary |
| Website: | Adobe's PageMaker website |
PageMaker was the first desktop publishing program, introduced in 1985 by Aldus Corporation, initially for the Apple Macintosh but soon after also for the PC. It relies on Adobe Systems' PostScript page description language. In 1994 Aldus and PageMaker were acquired by Adobe Systems. The current version is PageMaker 7.0, released July 9, 2001, though updates have been released for the two supported platforms since. PageMaker was awarded a SPA Excellence in Software Award for Best New Use of a Computer in 1986.
Many of the graphical user interface (GUI) elements pioneered in the program have since migrated to the rest of the Adobe suite. Adobe has positioned PageMaker to compete more for the small business market, with Adobe InDesign aimed at the high end, professional designer. PageMaker's feature set is well suited for publications such as corporate newsletters and the straight-news sections of newspapers, but for layouts that need a more complex design, such as magazines or the feature sections of newspapers, it may take much longer to accomplish the task in PageMaker than it would in InDesign or QuarkXPress, if the desired results are possible at all.
While PageMaker is less powerful than InDesign or QuarkXPress, it is simpler to learn than those two packages and yet more powerful than Microsoft Publisher. It is not uncommon for schools that teach page layout to first teach their students PageMaker to get them comfortable with the concepts of desktop publishing, then move them on to QuarkXPress or InDesign.
PageMaker continues to be sold, but Adobe has ceased development of the program. InDesign is seen as the successor product. Even if PageMaker continues to be sold indefinitely, its use will inevitably diminish over time on the Macintosh platform, as it is a Mac OS 9 (Classic) program, and will not run natively under Mac OS X, nor can it run at all on Intel based Macintosh computers. Even in Mac OS X, it has problems, and it is recommended to use an older Macintosh that can boot Mac OS 9.
