Adobe Aims to Migrate PageMaker Users to InDesign New Year, New DTP Software Eric Grevstad
Mon 1/5/04 -- Adobe Systems hints that "the future layout and design needs" of its PageMaker customers will be better met by its flagship desktop publishing package, InDesign CS. So it's spurring loyalists to start their migration by offering InDesign CS PageMaker Edition, which combines the newer program with a PageMaker plug-in pack, templates, and training materials.
Shipping in the first quarter of this year as a $349 upgrade for registered users of any version of PageMaker, InDesign CS PageMaker Edition extends InDesign's conversion support to include PageMaker 6.0 as well as 6.5 through 7.x and QuarkXPress 3.3 through 4.x documents. Another plug-in automatically rearranges a document's pages at print time into an imposition with complete control over margins, gaps, bleeds, and crossover traps; PageMaker buffs will also find automated bullets and numbering, a browser with over 80 professionally designed templates, the ability to switch InDesign keyboard shortcuts to match PageMaker's, and a Position tool that works similarly to the Crop tool in PageMaker. Video instruction discs complete the package.
InDesign builds on PageMaker workflows with more powerful production features and creative tools such as a Story Editor for integrated word processing functionality, superior typographical and transparency controls, and a context-sensitive Control Palette that efficiently formats text, edits objects, and fine-tunes tables in one location on a workspace.