LESSON 2: INTRODUTION TO PAGEMAKER 8.
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Introduction
There are many Desktop Publishing software in the market. They include, Adobe Pagemaker,
Ventura, Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft office Publisher among others. We shall use Adobe
Pagemaker throughout this course.
By the end of this lesson the learner should be able to:
Define the operational terms used in Desktop Publishing
Create a new publication
Use the tool in the toolbox in executing their relevant tasks.
What is Adobe Pagemaker?
Adobe Page maker is a powerful Desktop Publishing(DTP) package produced by Adobe. DTP
packages are neither graphic packages nor words processors, although they have some of the
characteristics of both. Their main strength lies in their ability to combine text and graphics
which have been produced in other packages into a single document, sometimes consisting of
many pages.
Five areas where PageMaker can be used include;
Designing a particular text or image object.
Creating illustrations
Producing publications.
Writing and editing text and graphics
Composing templates
Pagemaker can be very useful in any institution such as Health, Education , Politics,
Research among others.
NB: Identify how Pagemaker can be applied in the institutions mentioned above.
Definition of terms
Before you can start using PageMaker three operational terms will dominate most of the
activities you will be carrying out.These terms /activities are ;
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Click –To press and release the mouse button (this always refers to the left button unless
otherwise indicated.)
Double click-To press and release the mouse button twice
Click and Drug-To press and hold the mouse button as you move it on the mousepad.
Starting or launching PageMaker
Double click on the PageMaker short cut in the desktop or
Click the start button
Click All Programs
Click Adobe
Click PageMaker
Click Adobe PageMaker 8.0
(some MAC system require only a single click)
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Creating a page
PageMaker allows you to create a page either from scratch or from a template.
To create a page from scratch.
I. click on File>New
A document setup dialogue box appears as shown below. Enter the required details in the
document setup, then click ‘OK’ button in the dialogbox. .
To create a page from a template
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A typical template window with up to fourteen visible templates
Choose/Select by Double Clicking the template that has the desirable features according to you
from the template window that appears when you star PageMaker version 7.0.This will
automatically be transferred into your page in the publication.
Opening an existing file
Click on ‘File’, then ‘Open’. The Open Publication window will appear. Select the required
drive and directory. Note that only PageMaker files will appear. Click the “Open” button along
the file name. The file becomes active and its content appear on your screen.
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Pagemaker tools in the Toolbox
Pagemaker has a toolbox from where one can pick a tool to help him carry out a particular task.
You select a tool by clicking inside its icon in the toolbox. You should know that the tools in the
toolbox are just among other tools that Pagemaker has for accomplishing most of the tasks
during publication.The picture below show Pagemaker Toolbox and the icons representing the
tools themselves. The following are the tools and their functions.
1. The Pointer tool is used for selecting, moving and
resizing text and graphics.
2. The Text tool is used for typing and editing text.
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Pagemaker toolbox: Note the tools’ icons in the box
3. The Rotation tool is use to rotate both text and graphics
4. The Cropping tool is used to trim off part of the graphic
that is unwanted by the publisher.
5. The Line tool is used to draw straight lines and any
angle.
6. The Constraints Line tool can be used to draw straight
lines at angles of 45 degrees
relative to a horizontal or vertical line.
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7. The rectangle tool is for drawing rectangles and
squares.
8. The rectangle frame tool is a placeholder or a container
where text and graphics can be placed and they tend to take the same shape as that of the
rectangle frame tool itself.
9. The Oval /Ellipse tool is used to draw circles or ovals.
10. The Oval/Ellipse frame tool is a placeholder for text
and graphics whose shape need to be changed to oval or circle.
11. The Polygon tool is a tool for drawing polygon shapes.
12. The Polygon frame tool is a placeholder or a container
where text and graphics can be placed and they tend to take the same shape as that of the
Polygon frame tool itself.
13. The Hand tool is used to navigate the publication pages
and is content.
14. The Zoom tool is a tool that is used when one wants to
magnify a page and its objects.
END OF LESSON 2
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