chuq@sun.uucp (Chuq Von Rospach; Lord of the OtherRealms) (08/19/86)
About a week ago, I went out and bought MacPublisher II and Mac Designs for
MacPublishing (a subsidiary package) to use with OtherRealms. After poring
through the manual (huge!), working through the examples, and generally
trying to get a feel for the program, I wanted to make a few comments.
The first question is obviously "Why MacPublisher?" I took a close look at
all three layout Packages (ReadySetGo, MPII, and PageMaker) before buying.
ReadySetGo is the least expensive of the three ($99 at ComputerWare) but
also the least functional. People who use it do not recommend it for more
than a couple of pages, and it is primarily a one-shot layout (no dummy
pages, etc...)
Pagemaker, on the other hand, is at the top of the pricelist at $495 ($420
at ComputerWare). It is well worth the money, but I was able to get MPII
as well as Fullpaint and a Thunderscanner for that. The price tradeoff
seems to be worth it -- from what I can tell, MPII does pretty much what
Pagemaker does, but is a more complicated interface.
So, what do I think? Neat! None of the Layout programs stand alone -- you
still need a WP to do your writing, and your graphic tools. But when the
look of the words starts to be as important as the words themselves, these
things are a critical resource.
MPII tends to fail the 'intuitive test' on one level -- you can't just sit
down and figure out how the program works beyond some minimal basics. The
concept of layout, however, is complex enough that I don't think you COULD
write a program that would do it well and be intuitively obvious. Programs
can only be as obvious as their tasks, and layout is an arcane art.
At another level, if you sit down and read the manual, and then sit down and
do the two exercises, you'll be functional with MPII. The manual is well
written (and look pretty, too!) and clear. The interface, once you get used
to the complexity, is well thought out and consistent. It works as
advertised, and does its job without a lot of fighting (my end all
evaluation of a program -- do you spend most of your time working with the
program or around it?)
A few downsides to be aware of. It does not carry formatting information in
from Word or Write -- it will convert your files into TEXT files. MPII is
not HFS compatible, and it will have trouble with some functions on things
in folders. Anything that goes through SFGetfile and SFPutfile is fine, but
"Delete file" fails with error -35 (no such volume). I expect they'll fix
that shortly. It can be slow, especially when bringing in a new page from
disk for display. slow is a relative term, though -- it has a LOT to do on
the display end, and if you prefer you can work from a dummy page and turn
off the formatting until you're ready for it.
All in all, I'm quite impressed. Are there any other MPII users out there
who want to compare notes?
The second product, "macDesigns for MacPublishing" is less impressive. It
is little more than some clip art you can use to liven up your newsletters
and a couple of fonts that could come in handy doing borders and the like.
Most of the clip art comes close to kitsch -- serious newsletters won't want
to use them under fear of falling into the 'cute' category. The fonts look
reasonable, but I haven't tried to use them. Most borders can be built
quite nicely on MPII's graphic pallete, and if not, generated pretty nicely
in something like fullpaint. MacDesigns is only about $40, but think twice
before buying. If you are looking for clip art and things, there are many
better bargains.
chuq
--
Chuq Von Rospach chuq%plaid@sun.COM Delphi: CHUQ
{decwrl,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo}!sun!plaid!chuq
Do not be arrogant because of your knowledge, but confer with the ignorant
man as with the learned.... Good speech is more hidden than Malachite, yet
it is found in the possession of women slaves at the millstones.
-- Ptahhotpebriand@tekig4.UUCP (Brian Diehm) (08/23/86)
>About a week ago, I went out and bought MacPublisher II and Mac Designs for > >So, what do I think? Neat! None of the Layout programs stand alone -- you >still need a WP to do your writing, and your graphic tools. But when the >look of the words starts to be as important as the words themselves, these >things are a critical resource. > >All in all, I'm quite impressed. Are there any other MPII users out there >who want to compare notes? I too got MacPub II after looking at RSG. I discarded PageMaker because of 1) Price (I couldn't justify that much) and 2) rumored grumblings about their upgrade and service policies costing mucho MORE bucks. Under system 3.1.1 I kept getting Bomb Box 25 on my 512K HFS system. Problem fixed under system 3.2. Later I noticed in the manual that they admit this rather graceless exit in case of running out of RAM! Fortunately, they have an auto-save mode that saves each change as you go, so I lost nothing. Unfor- tunately, unless you turn off auto-save, you can't undo changes! For the price, the product is very impressive. Incidentally, one of our graphics-arts people tried it and didn't like it, preferring Just Text, a page layout based on cryptic codes familiar only to professional typesetters. You buy 'em Macs and you buy 'em Macs, and they just chew on the IBMs. . . -Brian Diehm Tektronix, Inc. (SDA - Standard Disclaimers Apply)