Hate MS Word - Help please!

[Leslie Anne]

I was wondering if anyone can suggest a good, fairly intuitive software program for me. Word makes me nuts and just doesn't have what I need.

I'm basically creating a small book/manual with a lot of photographs and illustrations. I need to be able to move them aroud easily, box them up (if possible), and work easily and creatively with text. Someone suggested Microsoft Publisher, but I'm not sure if that's what I need, if it's too complicated, etc.

Can anyone offer some advice, please?

[sageofages]

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne

I was wondering if anyone can suggest a good, fairly intuitive software program for me. Word makes me nuts and just doesn't have what I need.

I'm basically creating a small book/manual with a lot of photographs and illustrations. I need to be able to move them aroud easily, box them up (if possible), and work easily and creatively with text. Someone suggested Microsoft Publisher, but I'm not sure if that's what I need, if it's too complicated, etc.

Can anyone offer some advice, please?

Publisher will do the job you want, but the best *easy* software around would be an older version of Pagemaker (say 6.4..look on ebay, works on XP and Mac).

It is called Adobe Creative Suite now. Creative Suite incorporates Adobe Pagemaker, Illustrator and Photoshop. It is also *way* expensive. Go for the older Pagemaker, and save the bucks.

[Leslie Anne]

Thank you so much, Sage.

Unfortunately there's no Pagemaker 6.4 on ebay right now. I was thinking about getting Photoshop anyway, but you're right....$1,800 for Adobe Creative Suite!

I guess that leaves me with MS Publisher.

Thanks again for the advice! I really appreciate it.

[ISUKappa]

Will you be printing this yourself (or done by a Kinkos-type place) or sending it out to a commercial printer? If it's just in-house, Publisher will work for what you want.

[sageofages]

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne

Thank you so much, Sage.

Unfortunately there's no Pagemaker 6.4 on ebay right now. I was thinking about getting Photoshop anyway, but you're right....$1,800 for Adobe Creative Suite!

I guess that leaves me with MS Publisher.

Thanks again for the advice! I really appreciate it.

There are two Pagemaker 6.5 ending in less than 20 hours. Both are less than $25.00 right now. Just search pagemaker.

Either of them will work!

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne

I was thinking about getting Photoshop anyway, but you're right....$1,800 for Adobe Creative Suite!

DAMMMMMMMMMMMNNNN!!!!!!

I think I will make that a goal for 2009 though, seriously. As I get back into self-publishing, I will need to get that and teach myself the finer points.

Also, Word pretty much does what I need it to do so I'm sorry I don't offer any alternatives in this thread.

[Benzgirl]

Publisher will work. I was able to have someone who attended a local university purchase the entire MS Office Suite for Small Business, that included this for $50. Students can do this but can't purchase more than one suite per year. They do it through their bookstore.

Bookstores don't advertise this, so the student will need to ask for it.

[SigmaChiCard]

Blurb.com comes with Software for exactly this purpose (incredibly easy to use) and allows you to publish through them at very reasonable prices.

[Leslie Anne]

Uh-oh. I just went out and bought MS Publisher. Now I don't know what to do.

Originally Posted by ISUKappa

Will you be printing this yourself (or done by a Kinkos-type place) or sending it out to a commercial printer? If it's just in-house, Publisher will work for what you want.

Will this make a big difference? I finally found some glossy presentation paper that will work with my old inkjet printer so I was going to print it myself. However, my hope was to have it printed at Kinkos. Will I not be able to have it printed at Kinkos if I use Publisher?

How on earth do you get it to Kinkos anyway? On a flashdrive? Arg! I'm so completely clueless. I was going to stop by there and ask but they're closed today.

Originally Posted by sageofages

There are two Pagemaker 6.5 ending in less than 20 hours. Both are less than $25.00 right now. Just search pagemaker.

Either of them will work!

Should I buy one of those and return Publisher? I know Pagemaker is a great program. (Hmm, I should probably buy Pagemaker.) ???

Originally Posted by Benzgirl

Publisher will work. I was able to have someone who attended a local university purchase the entire MS Office Suite for Small Business, that included this for $50. Students can do this but can't purchase more than one suite per year. They do it through their bookstore.

I was thinking about buying through the bookstore, but my tiny university's bookstore is rather pathetic. I'm pretty sure that they're closed until the second week of January and I need to have this thing finished before January 11th. Good suggestion though!

Originally Posted by SigmaChiCard

Blurb.com comes with Software for exactly this purpose (incredibly easy to use) and allows you to publish through them at very reasonable prices.

Very cool! I had no idea something like that existed. I'll keep it in mind for another project. I've got to do this quickly.


Thank you, everyone, for your input!

[sageofages]

See what happens when you ask for advice here!!

[ISUKappa]

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne

Will this make a big difference? I finally found some glossy presentation paper that will work with my old inkjet printer so I was going to print it myself. However, my hope was to have it printed at Kinkos. Will I not be able to have it printed at Kinkos if I use Publisher?

How on earth do you get it to Kinkos anyway? On a flashdrive? Arg! I'm so completely clueless. I was going to stop by there and ask but they're closed today.

I think most Kinkos have a computer with Publisher that should allow you to print it there. A flash drive would be the easiest way to get the files there, or you can burn it to a CD.

[Leslie Anne]

Thanks so much for the info, ISUKappa. It's very much appreciated.

[PhiGam]