If you’re a PageMaker fan and you haven’t yet discovered PageMaker 4: An Easy Desk Reference, do yourself a favor and go buy it! The title should have been “Everything You Always Wanted to Do With PageMaker But Were Afraid to Try.” Or maybe it should have been “The PageMaker Cookbook,” because this is a recipe book for using the program. But “Easy Desk Reference” describes it, too, as the huge (762+ pages) book is wider than it is tall and opens flat at any page to let you follow directions as you work.
Any level of user will find something in it, from beginning basics to explanations of all those dialog boxes and printing terms and anything else that has puzzled you about PageMaker. Eight appendices provide a ready reference guide to all the PM menus and dialog boxes, entry codes, alternate characters, accent marks, and more. A chart of keyboard shortcuts is included. Sure, this information was all available elsewhere — somewhere — but now it’s all together and locating the information you want is simple.
Each chapter deals with a particular feature of PageMaker — spacing, indents & tabs, styles, links, etc. — explaining all the choices the program offers. Almost everything is in easy-to-understand English, and where technical terms must be used, a cross-reference is given to the section that explains that term. Each chapter has a Tasks section, which is divided into three columns: If you want to do this:, Then follow these steps:, and Shortcuts • Hints • Notes. You’ll find step-by-step directions for leading grids, tabs, 1300 point text, circular cropping, just about anything you ever wanted to try and some things you never thought of. There’s a very handy Help! section. The index alone is 26 pages; the Tasks list, another 11. Using this book is like having your own personal tutor standing by — maybe even better, because this tutor is available at any hour of the day or night you happen to be working. You might not need a consultant for PageMaker any more.
Interspersed are serendipitous features on the history of printing, biographies of famous printers, and quotes relating to desktop publishing and quality of life.
The only drawback I’ve found so far is that this book was produced for Page-Maker 4.01 and has not been updated to cover the new features of PageMaker 4.2. However, that’s very minor, considering the book’s scope. I’m sure a new version will come out with PM 5.0 when that is released shortly — at least, I hope it will!
Robin Williams (of Mac Is Not a Typewriter fame) has done it again, with this immensely readable, incredibly useful book.
