"Desktop publishing (DTP): Combining text and graphics into documents such as books, magazines, brochures, and manuals by using a computer system, special software, and high-resolution output devices." Jones Telecommunications and Multimedia Encyclopedia
 

This page provides essential information about desktop publishing. It provides a tutorial on using "fast-publish" desktop publishing templates and on tutorials teaching basic image editing for the capture and manipulation of images that go in newsletters, web sites and many other applications. In depth guidelines for composition and design and reference to the large array of facilities and technologies available are also provided. The page also lists the current North Carolina instructional objectives that lead to integrating desktop publishing into K-8 school curriculum. A bibliography lists further resources both on the web and on book shelves. These skills are also the foundation for "webtop" publishing on the Internet.
 

Page Table of Contents
Introduction	History	Basic Features	Reviews	Selecting-Learning Desktop Software	Design Guidelines
Capture Still Images	Image Editing	Image Composition Concepts	Manipulation of the Captured Image	Educational Relevance of DTP	Web and Shelf Bibliography

Introduction

The end result of thinking and problem solving, the acts of publishing or performing, should be a more formal sharing of the finished activity. Computer systems support publishing in a number of ways but when the ideas are shared on paper we sometimes use the term desktop publishing and often confuse this term with the concept of word processing. Desktop publishing historically has meant organizing previously composed images and text together for display on a piece of paper, whether for newsletter or book. This would be a likely definition on a state technology exam. This distinguishes such work from simple word processing which is generally thought of as a text only process. However, most composers know that word processors now include many features that were once reserved for desktop publishing software. Often the document never is seen on paper, just a shared file on a computer screen. Further, web pages can be a replacement for print publishing. Also, composers that are editing video on a computer have been stretching the term to include the publishing of digital video as desktop publishing. Typical of the cyberspace age, the definitions keep evolving.

In the inline frame below are thousands of images associated with desktop publishing (DTP). In this live search below of Google's image database for the term "DTP," notice the wide variety of meanings of this term found within these images.  By clicking these images, the reader can follow up these leads and gain greater depth in understanding this concept. The reader can extend this activity further by clicking within Google's input box and typing other related terms, for example: desktop publishing, brochure, design.

As these Googled images imply, a central issue in desktop publishing can be summarized in one word: design. Our students have been placing elements in patterns from early childhood, from wooden blocks to collages of cutouts. Desktop publishing provides us an opportunity to ask them to think more formally about those patterns and their designs. Teachers can begin by asking students to think about daily and common design decisions. The setting of the table for the evening meal can be set "nice" or sloppy, roomy or crowded. The pattern of the table setting changes to fit the content of the meal and the special nature of the occasion. This event can help writers see that a printed page is like a table and instead of silverware and tableware elements, we use images, blocks of text and empty space to create not only pleasing design but a more functional arrangement as well. Just as a table setting makes the meal taste better and proceed more efficiently, so thoughtful page design may not only make its reading more pleasant, but can effect whether it is read or even understood. Many of the design guidelines for merging text and images are the same for both the printed page and web pages, but there are also important differences. The Webtop Publishing link in the sidebar will cover web site differences more deeply.

Once computer technology became powerful enough, why did desktop publishing rocket into widespread public use in the 1980s? One must be able to imagine a time before personal computers and needing a document that included one or more images. Just prior to personal computers, the choices involved a typewriter, a graphic layout artist, Xerox type copy machines and/or a printing press. The existing printing press system required a room or rooms full of large, noisy, expensive and dangerous machines. For those with typerwriters, layout and duplication meant typing and drawing on messy and time consuming carbon paper. A last vestige of carbon paper thinking is the concept behind the letters CC for "carbon copy" that are available within every email composition. Finding a better way to typeset text, include images and produce a number of copies has led through thousands of years of creativity and re-invention. This history began with rollers pressing symbols onto clay tablets. It evolved from chiseling wood blocks, to the printing press and moveable type, the linotype, and offset printing (e.g., offset lithography). These were processes which were much more expensive and more time consuming than using the typewriter. Adding color images drove the price of reproduction up even higher. In contrast to all this, not only the could entire printing process be placed on one desktop with a computer and desktop printer, but the entire composition process from its creation to multi-copy sharing was included as well. In the 1990s, the Internet and World Wide Web software simplified the very final step, the global distribution of an infinite number of color copies whenever a copy was needed.

Specific desktop and webtop publishing assignments that follow this tutorial are in the sidebar Evoke section of this chapter.

History of Desktop Publishing

The history of desktop publishing began with the introduction of low-cost laser printers which provided the first high quality output competitive with the printing presses of the day. The first laser printers were built by Canon and marketed in 1983. A series of other developments quickly followed. Today desktop publishing software is as common as spreadsheet and database software. Increasingly, desktop publishing features are incorporated into standard word processors. 

Hewlett-Packard produced the HP LaserJet in 1984 and in that same year Apple Computer introduced the first Macintosh. Adobe introduced PostScript page description language (PDL) for printers in 1985. In the same year Aldus developed a software application for the Macintosh computer focused on desktop publishing called PageMaker which revolutionized the production and publishing process. Adobe later bought the PageMaker application. 

Optional Supplementary Reading

• Desktop Publishing History, Jones Telecommunications and Multimedia Encyclopedia
• Goodman's lecture on desktop publishing, Deakin University, Australia.

Selected Basic Features for Current Desktop Publishing

There are two critical features that distinguish this software from basic-text word processors: 
 
1. Page Layout (the ability to place different fonts of text and image objects on the same page without being forced into continuous columns)
2. Image/Graphics Control (features that allow the user to resize, rotate, crop and otherwise shape an image)

Examples of desktop publishing output are as near as any magazine, brochure, book and current product documentation. Many companies advertize their services and give examples of exemplary work on the web.
• Conway Production Examples
• Mitchell Desktop Publishing & Web Design
• Principal Computer Solutions


It is now routine in professional publishing for even one page to contain a complex mix of main story text and sidebar text with a related story. Within this text will be a range of artwork , photographs, and graphs and charts. 

A multitude of other features are discussed in the software reviews section below.

Current Reviews

Selecting, Learning and Using Desktop Publishing Software

Some applications provide a "fast-publish" newsletter assistant, wizard or procedure. These programs provide a basic template for further modification. However, some additional skills generally have to be learned to use the template system effectively.  Tutorials are provided for selected applications commonly found in schools. Other assignments depend on these basic skills with the "fast-publish" process. Microsoft Publisher will be used for the newsletter assignment of the current chapter. Microsoft Publisher and all Office applications are available for free to Western students.
 
• The "fast-publish" process for creating and editing a newsletter with Microsoft Word 2001.
   
• Videoclips on the  "fast-publish" process for creating and editing a newsletter using Clarisworks. 
   
• A 7 page tutorial (Word document) on how to use Microsoft Publisher to make a newsletter: Microsoft site; or local site. Other Training and Tutorials (About.com)

 

There are many more challenging and more powerful desktop programs. These include:

• Quark Express    Training and Tutorials (About.com)
• Adobe PagemakerTraining and Tutorials (About.com)
• Other Training Resources (About.com)

Design Guidelines for Effective Desktop Publishing

Planning Guidelines

• a. Needs Assessment: Is paper or web publication the best way to communicate a given topic or would some other method of communication be better (e.g., email with attachments, telephone call, a meeting)? Given a particular audience, what content, style, and purposes work best?
• b. Compose: Who will proofread your text? Will you use clip art from scanners and graphic libraries? Will you need graphics created by spreadsheet data? What software is best to edit those images once you have them?
• c. Construct, Merge and Display (print or web page): What program is most efficient for inserting, placing and modifying your text and graphics? What structure using lines, columns, headers and footers best displays what you have composed? How high a text and image quality is needed for your audience, 72 dpi (dots per inch), 600 dpi, higher? Is color essential?

Principles of Design

Design in desktop publishing (DTP) is a reasoned organization of form in cooperation with content. The layout of our kitchen table changes our attitude towards and our appreciation for its content. Working with a set of key design concepts increases the number and depth of ideas we use when designing. Designers differ in their terminology so expect some variance as different designers explain their reasoning. Here are five principles used by designer Tom Lichty that give direction to his work: proportion, balance, contrast, rhythm and unity.
 
• Proportion. What is the ratio of 1 element to another? For example, the top margin should be less than the bottom margin but the left and right margins should be the same.
• Balance. The optical center of a page is slightly above its mathematical center. Exact or formal symmetry, for example, would put the same size element above and below and equally distant from the center. Informal symmetry can shift the balance to be less boring and more dynamic.
• Contrast. Each page or frame should have one key idea. The key idea or key element should stand out from other elements by contrast. The contrast might be one of size, shading or emotional impact.
• Rhythm. The repetition of elements raises interest level and draws the eye onward. The progression might be one of numbers, large to small, black to white, and unusual shape to conventional. The Z pattern is another. The eye generally starts at the optical center of a page and scans right, then left and down and then right. Elements along this path get greater notice.

Unity (harmony). "Unity is when each element of the design complements all the others. Unity is when design elements of a similar purpose are grouped together. Unity is when typography is confined to a single family and white space is concentrated on the pages" (Lichty, 1994, p.145).

These five elements provides some guidelines for how to move the puzzle pieces of text, image and white space in the frame of a page. an important next step is to learn language more specific to DTP.

Jacci Bear's work on the elements and principles of graphic design is a good next step beyond the general ideas presented here. She adds to Lichty's ideas by including the DTP concepts of line, mass, shape, texture and color.

Many patterns are possible. Through experimenting, the one design that is generally better will emerge. For more in-depth information, select an information source from the bibliography at the bottom of this page.

Principles of Design Sites

• Design & Publishing Center - professional resources for the design and publishing fields. This includes an online version of Design, Typography & Graphics (DT&G) magazine.

Design Forum - This is a discussion board for help with both web design and graphic design. There is much to study at this site so make sure that IF you choose to participate that you first study the topics under discussion well-enough to ask good questions.

Capture Still Images (introduction)

Part of the definition of desktop publishing is that images are integrated with the composition. Once image skills are learned for DTP, this knowledge has many other applications. Still images might be used in many ways other than newsletters, for example: word processing documents, web pages, electronic slide shows, database fields, or as images used by video editing program to make a movie of slides. Use the information and tutorials below to learn how to capture images from different sources so that they can be used in other computer applications.

From Clipart. 

Many common programs provide clip art collections. 
• In Clarisworks, use the Library command found under the File command in the menu bar to reveal clipart. 
• In Powerpoint or Word, click on Insert in the Menu Bar and drag down to Pictures. Appleworks and more recent versions of Microsoft Office applications have a clipart search function that searches tens of thousands of images at their respective company image databases.

From The Web. 

To copy an image on a web page requires just a couple of clicks. Other concerns should be thought through though when grabbing online web images and when teaching such skills.
• On a Macintosh computer,  hold the mouse button down on a web page image for a couple of seconds and a menu appears with a command to copy the image to the clipboard so that you can later paste it into some destination file. Another option is to save it to a disk or drive and then later insert the file into the place it is needed. 
• On a Windows computer, right click the image, and from this menu your only option is to save the web image as a file to disk or a drive.
•  
Other Concerns When Seeking Images
 
Images can be copied from any web page, but this raises numerous copyright issues. Make sure you know the law.
• Copyright in an Electronic Environment (North Carolina Department of Public Instruction)


There are many search engines that have a check box or special link for images collections. Perhaps the most efficient general system for finding a large number of images is Google's. 

• Go to http://www.google.com 
• Features: click the tab or button for images, enter search terms, scroll through the images which are then presented in thumbnail sets of 20 at a time; note that the "mature content filter" can be turned on or off with a click; clicking a thumbnail picture brings up a larger picture in an uppoer frame and the web site from which the images comes in the bottom frame. Because of the requirements for applying educator's Fair Use principle to limited audiences, Google's image collection works well when communicating within a local community, including word processing, newletters, and slideshows. Images used under the Fair Use arrangement for educators can kept and reused for only two years.
If seeking images that will be placed on your web page or if needing to work with images that you can legally keep for longer than two years for educational purposes, there are web sites that do provide images for free whose image use does not violate copyright policy.
• The American Memory Project of the Library of Congress provides over 7 million media files, the majority of which are probably still images.
• Yahoo.com also provides a search system to help find free images.
 
•  A Partial list of other image search systems
• http://memory.loc.gov/
• http://206.210.85.244/amico/apw/ - Art Museum Image Consortium (AMICO) offers a searchable thumbnail catalog of artwork from member museums
• http://www.corbis.com/ - the Corbis image collection representing millions of works from photographers, museums, cultural institutions, and public and private collections
• http://www.hotbot.com (search engine, see left edge of page for image check box)
• http://www.altavista.com/sites/search/simage (search engine, see check boxes)
• http://image.altavista.com/cgi-bin/avncgi search by media type: images, videos or audios
• http://www.scour.com/ - Scour is searchable collection of multimedia on the Web; search by media type: images, audio, video
• http://www.ncrtec.org/picture.htm The Amazing Picture Machine offers a variety of image types including architecture, animals, maps, artwork, world leaders, etc. 
• http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/g/ts/ Yahoo! News Image Gallery presents current news photos and a searchable directory of archived news photos
• Numerous commercial (for sale) images sites are also available. Search for commercial or stock images, photography, and media.
• The Picture Collection - commercial site offering free access to more than 22 million photos, prints and illustrations from the Time-Life magazines and the historical Mansell photograph collection; but registration is required.
• Stock Photography  Searches at Excite.com
• Issues with web images
• Copyright. Images are generally not copyright free for web use, though educators can claim "fair use" for in-class or other "limited audience" educational use. "Fair Use" law does not apply to the web. That is, an image taken from a web page could be put in a Powerpoint presentation or word processing document for educational use with proper citation and reference to copyright law. The same web image could not be placed in a personal or school web page without explicit written permission from the owner of the image.
• Protection. Just as with the text of any web page, images can be about subjects so explicit or graphic in their depiction of certain themes that they are unacceptable for school use. Such themes include violence, sexuality, race, lies and distortions of history and others. That is, it is just as easy to search for acceptable themes as it is to search for the ones that are not appropriate for children and classroom use. Should what we teach about image searching be any different than what we already teach about searching for text? Image searching seems to accent an area of discussion that leads to more fundamental questions. In empowering children to better use the Internet's resources, are we sufficiently preparing them to avoid trouble and/or to deal with situations they might intentionally or unintentionally seek out? Schools pay for filtering systems that shut out Internet sites that are trouble for educational use. Internet Service Providers can also handle such filtering for other groups. Are parents as knowledgeable about such protection services, about how to obtain them and control them as school systems? The same filtered search done at school may yield results that also include unacceptable elements at home. What is the obligation of teachers and school systems to prepare parents in managing their home Internet environment? How is this being dealt with in the school system where you are teaching? Does your school system have any brochures or standard handouts, parent training sessions or community awareness activity on home Internet protection?

Capturing Stills From Any Video Source: videotape, videodisc, camcorder, TV

There is a wide variety of software and hardware applications for capturing video from different computer platforms. Their quality of output varies tremendously. Try before you buy. Here are just some of the video applications that can be found at WCU.
• iMovie video editor (Mac OS) This program that ships free with Macintosh computers is without question the easiest and best application for capturing, working with and editing video for schools and other institutions. Image quality is excellent. It was designed to be a program for beginners and non-professionals in video editing.
• Premiere 5.0 (Win or Mac OS) Cross-platform program designed for professionals.
• Apple Video Player (Mac OS 8.5 or later)
• Video Monitor (Mac OS 8.0 or older)
• ATI Video Player (Win OS)

From Videodisc

Videodiscs are just standard video on a disc instead of videotape. Once the videodisc player is hooked to the computer's video input device, the procedures are the same as capturing a still image from a videotape player.
• Instructional Technology Center videodisc holdings

From Scanners

Scanners allow an image or a relatively flat object to be placed on its surface and make a high quality digital copy of the image. Scanners can be found in every public lab on campus.
• Apple's Color OneScanner (Mac OS, Killian 268)
• HP Scanjet 6100c (Win OS in Killian 268; other scanners can be found in all public labs at WCU).
• Ask the lab's lab assistant about the details of using the lab scanner.

From Digital Still Cameras

Digital still cameras differ from standard photographic cameras in that they contain no camera film. The image is stored as computer data. Image storage is done in two different ways. In one design, the image is stored on a floppy diskette which is then taken out and inserted into a computer where an application can open and edit the file. In the other design, the image is stored in computer chips and a wire must be connected from the camera to the computer to transfer images. The chips may be internal in the camera, or they may be removeable. The removeable chips go by different names such as Memory Cards or Smart Media Cards.
• Apple's Quicktake 150 (RAM storage of images, wire transfer)
• Sony Mavica (saves to .bmp format on Win formated disks)
• Olympus Brio D-150 by Anthony Cody, Middle School Teacher, Oakland, California.

From All or Parts Computer Screens

Every computer screen should be thought of as an image that can be captured in whole, or in part. The press of just a couple of keys makes a digital snapshot of the computer screen that can later be used in other applications.
• Macintosh Computers (capture full screen, window, or any part of window, to clipboard or to disk)
• Windows Computers (capture full screen or window, to clipboard)


These links describe what keys to click to capture all or part of the computer screen. Some key click options will save the screen snapshot to disk and others will save it to the clipboard. The clipboard is a part of the computer's active or RAM memory. 

Converting Images to Different Formats

Often the image that is captured or created is not in the right file format to be used in another application. Many image applications have procedures for saving files into different formats, but when this is not available, there are applications that specialize in image conversion.

If the image is saved as a file to disk, its file format may be fine for applications such as word processing, but will not work on web pages. Another application will have to be used to the convert the file format to something useable for the Internet. Sometimes these tools go by the name of graphics editor. When an image is opened or inserted into  the graphics editor, it can be saved as the file type of GIF or JPEG (also JPG). The GIF format is used for images which are line art or images which are solid uniform colors. The JPG format is used for photographs or paintings or other images with many subtle changes in the tone of the colors used. A PNG format is also emerging as a popular standard for the Internet.

• On a Macintosh, use the applications of Appleworks or the shareware programs GIF Converter or Graphic Converter. Use the Insert command to place the image in a graphic window; select Save As, change the file type to GIF or JPG; add a file name; and save the file to the appropriate folder with other web site files.
• On a Windows computer, there are two applications that are generally found, Paint and Photo Editor. Paint is generally easier to use and is found in the Programs list in the Accessories folder. Use Paint to open the image file and then save it into the needed format.
If the image is saved or copied to the clipboard, it can be quickly pasted into these many graphics applications and then more quickly convert the file type to the necessary GIF, JPG or PNG formats.

To learn how to use Appleworks or Paint applications, study the links in the next section on Paint or Draw for the computer platform that is needed.
 

Paint or Draw by Hand

 
The terms "paint" or "draw" have distinct meanings in computer applications. One difference is in layering. Paint programs provide a single image layer, so that if new lines or images are placed over other images, they replace the image data that they are over. An advantage of paint programs is that they make it easy to cut or extract a piece of an image for use elsewhere, often as an object in a draw program.

Draw programs provide a stack of image layers, so that sliding an upper layer to one side can reveal image parts that were once covered over and hidden. Each new image element brought into a composition becomes the topmost layer until the Arrange command is used to reposition the new layer in the stack. Any layer can be repositioned at any time. Each layer is an object. These objects are generally of three different types: a picture (photograph or sketch); a shape (square, rectangle, line etc.) or a text box, a rectangle filled with a heading or a paragraph and more.
 

• Create computer images by hand using Paint and Draw features. (Appleworks/Clarisworks on Mac/Win)
• Create computer images by hand using Paint. To carry out similiar activities in the Windows OS, find the application called Paint (go to Start/Programs/Accessories) which provides the same single layer image concept as the Paint application in Appleworks and Clarisworks though with fewer features. The multi-layer Draw concept in a less powerful but still useful way is also available in Microsoft Word (look for the command Draw in Word's pull-down menus, which can be confused from Drawing tables). There is no separate Draw program that is shipped with the Windows operating system like the free Appleworks or Clarisworks shipped with the Macintosh OS.
• There are many commercial applications of the single-layer paint and multi-layer draw concepts which provide these features and much more. Some examples are Illustrator and Photoshop from Adobe and Fireworks from Macromedia.

Pressure Sensitive Drawing Tablets

• There are no publicly accessible versions of these drawing tablet tools available in our computer labs. Buy your own if you like to do freehand painting and drawing. Explore the link below to better understand their value.
• Wacom tablets and pens; price list


These image manipulation skills are fundamental to further work with desktop publishing in later assignments and to web page development. However an image is acquired, any images must be properly labeled on a web page with its source. If you create the image, credit yourself. If it comes from clipart, say so, indicating the software application from which it comes. Any image must be properly labeled with its source, creator and/or web page address. Further, if the web page from which you have taken the image or other media is not a Federal government web site or the page does not give you specific permission to use its images, then do not put yourself in violation of Federal copyright law by using it in a web page. Where permission is explicitly given on a web page, carefully read and follow the qualifications for that permission.

Image Editing

The first edit of an image really begins with the camera or image recording device. Where and how you or someone pointed the camera acted as a kind of image scissors that cut the image from its initial scene. The use of the paint brush or pencil to draw is just another way to frame an image, in this case an image that is in your mind. Once an image is captured in some way, once the first cut is made, the computer provides important tools for further image manipulation.

Integrating the Image Means Reading the Image

When we choose to use an image or images in a composition, their use and placement must be done with thoughtfulness and care. The use of an image needs just as precise a placement and a selection as the words in a sentence. Think of the image as a visual word. From years of instruction in composition, we know it is best to choose our "words" with our audience in mind. Why do we use a certain image? Effective image use depends on knowing what images will be "readable" or understandable by those receiving them. Effective use means finding an image that contributes to making our point, to saying what we want to say. In some cases the visual image may be the only "word" on the page or screen and must do all the work. In some cases the image may have just one word or one sentence with it. This is common with our early reader books and advertising to all ages. Many popular publications using paper and web pages today share the space for communication in such a way that images claim almost as much space as text, and sometimes more.

The reading teacher and the composition teacher share in the teaching of many important ideas. The composer of an image or the composer of a larger composition that integrates images with other media such as text needs to ask the same questions of their work as the readers of the work should be asking. How strong is the relationship between the image, the text and other media in this composition? "Is this image in its original state (i.e., no manipulation or "doctoring")? Why are we looking at this? What is the main idea behind this image? What motivates the creator here? If this image was altered, who did it and why? How did the original artist expect this image to be read (e.g., as an interpretation, a prediction, a documentary)? (Burke, 2001)" Burke's extensive list of other potential questions for reading an image is available at his web site. Shlain (1999) takes the issue of image integration one interesting conceptual step further. He sees the role of images and the role of text in a tug of war for influence of the mind, with text speaking to the linear and abstract left hemisphere of the brain (in his opinion, the more masculine side) and the image speaking to the holistic and visually oriented right hemisphere (in his opinion the more feminine side). Though his provocative thesis is not widely accepted, it does help us to understand the depth of the challenge in creating a harmonious composition where all the media elements support each other. His writing has caused me to think of the multimedia elements of a composition (e.g., images, text, videoclips, sound, etc.) as members of a family. Just as with the members of a human family, the dynamics of the interactions can lead to dysfunctional families that can fail in their mission to sustain each other and thereby cause each to fail. The interactions of the members can also lead to functional families that not only increase the effectiveness and value of each other, but make a larger contribution to the concerns of the world around them. Harmony is an ancient concept but no less relevant in the complexities of composition in our emerging digital world.

Design and Image Composition

Once these initial decisions are made about integrating the image, other issues can be considered that can make or break the communication power of the image. A multitude of books are available on the topic of conceptualizing and planning for visual communication so check with your favorite library and the bibliography at the end of this page. Shorter web based treatments are provided here including the rule of thirds and other design ideas.

The "Rule of Thirds" is an important topic that has received many different treatments on the web and represents an important beginning step in still image composition. It is a guide for the placement of elements in an image at the intersection of thirds in the image frame and is related to the golden section or golden ratio. Here are three excellent but short treatments on this simple guideline to more effective shooting and cropping of images.

• Rule of Thirds by DPChallenge, a digital photography contest.
• Rule of Thirds by Anthony Cody, Middle School Teacher, Oakland, California.
• Rule of Thirds by Silverlight.
• Rule of Thirds Google Search

There are many other design elements to consider in image composition. However, there is no one right way to approach or to precisely describe the mental frame of reference that raises the quality of image work. The many ideas that emerge here from these resources should also be carried into video composition.

• Beginnings of Photographic Composition by Kodak.
• Top 10 Photographic Fundamentals by Bluebird Meadows.
• Beginner's Guide to Digital Photography, by Anthony Cody, Middle School Teacher, Oakland, California.

Manipulation of the Captured Image

Once an image is captured, it often needs to be changed or edited. This is done for several reasons. It may be that the initial image capture was poorly composed. It may also be necessary in order to fit the image into its display space and/or to remove distracting and irrelevant parts. For web use, it is also extremely important that the file size of the image be cropped and/or scaled to keep the image at the absolute smallest size possible yet still get across its message.

The Microsoft Paint program is on every Microsoft Windows computer. Being empowered to make image changes commonly include learning these skills in any image editor:

• Scaling or Resizing. 
• Common Tools: ClarisWorks/Appleworks  (Mac) ; a Paint Tutorial  1:18 ms; 930k (Win).
• This means that the entire image is kept in view but reduced to a smaller size. This generally reduces image quality but also makes the image take up less storage space and transmit faster.
• Cropping. 
• Common Tools: ClarisWorks/Appleworks  (Mac) ; Paint Tutorial 1:14 ms; 862k (Win).
• This means to take or capture some portion of the image, erasing or cutting away the rest. Cropping is often done to improve the image composition based on the conceptual issues discussed above or to make an image better fit into its display space. For web work, cropping has the advantage of making the image take up less storage space and therefore will transmit more quickly across the Internet.
• Re-formatting. 
• Common Tools: ClarisWorks/Appleworks  (Mac) ; Paint Tutorial 35ms; 408k (Win).
• This means to change an image format from one type to another. For example, your paint or draw program may save files in common formats for your operating system, PICT (Macintosh) or BMP (Windows) but these formats are not used by Web browsers which use JPEG (JPG), GIF or PNG. These web formats also automatically compress the file size of the image to allow faster Internet transmission. GIF is used for line art and solid colors. JPG is used for photographs and other images with continuously changing shades of color.
• Reducing image resolution. 
• Common Tools: GIF Converter  (Mac) ; Paint Tutorial 52 ms; 596k (Win).
• Reducing resolution does shrink file size but lowers image quality. This can be done in several ways. One example would be moving an image with millions of colors to a grey scale image. Another example would be changing the image to only 256 colors.  Reducing resolution can also be achieved by using a higher level of compression when saving photographs as jpeg files.

File size is very different from display size. Both are important. File size refers to how much space an image takes up on a disk or hard drive. To make this file size measurement, simply look at the file size when the operating system lists the contents of a disk or folder. This sometimes requires using the View command in the menu bar to activate the feature that shows file size.

Keeping image and other file sizes "light" is necessary because many homes in the United States and the world will be using 56kb modems for many years and at this speed, images on a web page that are too numerous and/or too large can make the display of a web page too slow. When the display is too slow, users tend to stop the display and move on, never seeing and reading the composition on which so much time was spent.

Display size refers to how many inches, centimeters or pixels an image is tall and wide. There are commands that can make an image appear small in a web page which do not reduce the size of the file. That is, making an image just appear smaller will not speed up the display of the image and its web page. The measurement is usually given in pixels and requires special software applications that report such information. Pixels are the tiny dots that make up a computer screen. Netscape Composer uses standard HTML commands that will compress an image to fit into a certain vertical and horizontal space measured in pixels, but this approach does not reduce file size and speed up web page display. As a rule, this "shrink it" approach to controlling display size should not be used in favor of solving this problem using other applications. Several other software programs beside the basic Microsoft Paint application are available that can do these basic image editing features and more. This includes most programs with Paint or Draw in the title. As examples, all of these features can be found in these commercial programs: Clarisworks 5.0, Appleworks 6.0, Paint, Photoshop and Microsoft Publisher. 

There are also freeware and shareware programs that do these jobs. Every teacher should have a couple of such programs for both the Mac and Win platforms to load on school and home computers. It may be useful for you to go to these web sites and download and copy to your disks the applications you need.

Macintosh. Use the Appleworks program that ships free with the Macintosh OS.

Other useful programs can be downloaded for free. Go to http://www.download.com, search for these titles, and download these applications if the links below do not work your you. Use the Help features of these programs for details on how these procedures are done in a specific program.

• GIF Converter (easier to use)
• Graphic Converter (more features and can handle more graphic formats)

Windows. Beginners should learn to use the Paint program that ships free with the Windows OS. Click on Start/Programs/Accessories to find Paint. To use Paint to determine file size and display size, click Image in the Paint tool bar and select Attributes.

Other useful programs can be downloaded for free that allow the computer user to: capture screens; cut and crop images; do some image editing; deal with a wide range of graphic formats as well as special effects filters, cropping, resizing, rotating, the ability to use clip art as brushes; and have support for scanners and more. 

• For background information on and links to downloading a wide variety of free Win graphics programs, see:
• Win9x: Highly Rated Graphics Programs
• Sue Chastain's page at about.com for Free Stuff for Graphics Software.

Thumbnails

The term "thumbnails" refers to images that have been reduced in size but when they are clicked on, cause a much larger version of the image to be displayed. The above basic image editing skills are required in creating thumbnails. Thumbnails allow a web designer to put many small images on one web page and still load or display across the Internet in a reasonable time. The time it takes for a web page to appear depends in large part on how many images are on a page and how large the images are. Cropping and scaling are used to make thumbnails. The procedures for creating thumbnails can be found in the companion webtop publishing page.

Examples of thumbnails are easy to find. Search the web using the term thumbnails and some additional key word. (Given the adult orientation of some web images, never do a free search and open a web page of images that you have not previously visited and evaluated if you are working with a group of students!) Here are some examples of educationally useful sets of thumbnails.

• Reading. Mowgli's Brothers by Kipling.
• Health and the Environment. Community Maps and Charts created by GIS software
• Math. Fractals ; Math Rescue (screen shot thumbnails at bottom of page)
• Social Studies. Schools and Children.
• Science. Hubble space telescope solar system photographs.

Educational Relevance of DTP

The primary means of communication for learners is generally the written word. Desktop publishing provides a different and motivating range of formats that are different than the structure of the standard essay. Some formats involve highly compressed (less text) forms of writing that challenge the writer's ability to summarize as well as to integrate meaningful images that support the text including brochures and newsletters. The heavy use of images and image production tools such as cameras and scanners prepares the user for more advanced work in multimedia using the web and electronic presentation software. 

Simpler desktop publishing assignments will require students to create brochures, newsletters or even product documentation for different school processes or equipment that other students and teacher use. More sophisticated and involved work could incorporate school newspapers and yearbooks. 

Relevant North Carolina K-12 Computer/Technology Skills

 
General goals for all grade levels.

Goal 2. The learner will demonstrate knowledge and skills in the use of computer and other technologies.
Goal 3. The learner will use a variety of technologies to access, analyze, interpret, synthesize, apply, and communicate information. 

Fourth Grade.
2.4 Edit a word processing file to make indicated corrections. (KU/WP/DTP) 

3.1 Create, format, save, and print a word processed document. (KU/WP/DTP) 

Fifth Grade.
2.4 Use a word processing application to create and format a document. (KU/WP/DTP) 

Sixth grade.
3.2 Use word processing/desktop publishing applications to create documents related to content areas. (KU/WP/DTP) 

Seventh grade.
3.2 Use word processing/desktop publishing for assignments/projects. (KU/WP/DTP) 

3.3 Research, create, publish, and present projects related to content areas using a variety of technological tools. (KU/WP/DTP/DB/SS/MM/T) 

Eighth Grade.
3.2 Use word processing/desktop publishing for assignments/projects. (KU/WP/DTP)) 

3.3 Research, create, publish, and present projects related to content areas using a variety of technological tools. (KU/WP/DTP/DB/SS/MM/T)

Shelf and Web Bibliography

Shelves

Concept

Barry, Ann Marieseward (1997). Visual Intelligence : Perception, Image, and Manipulation in Visual Communication. State University of New York Press.

Berger, Arthur Asa (1998). Seeing Is Believing : An Introduction to Visual Communication. Mayfield Publishing Company.

Burke, Jim (2001). Illuminating Texts : How to Teach Students to Read the World. Heinemann. [Author's web site and his web companion to text]

Elkins, James (1999). The Domain of Images. Cornell University Press.

Finnegan, Ruth H. (1988). Literacy and orality: studies in the technology of communication. Oxford, UK ; New York, NY, USA: Blackwell.

Kress, Gunther R. , Van Leeuwen, Theo  Gress, Gunther R. (1995). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design.  Routledge. [web essay on this book]

Messaris, Paul (1994). Visual 'Literacy' : Image, Mind, and Reality. Westview Press.

Schapiro, Meyer (1996) Words, Script, and Pictures : Semiotics of Visual Language. George Braziller Publisher.

Scholes, Robert (1989)   Literary Criticism. Yale University Press. [Reviews]

Shlain, Leonard. (1998). The Alphabet versus the Goddess: The Conflict between Word and Image. Viking. [Booklist Review.]

Snyder, Ilana (Editor), Michael Joyce (Editor) (1998). Page to Screen: Taking Literacy into the Electronic Era. Routledge.

Shlain, Leonard (1999). The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image. Arkana; ISBN: 0140196013

Stephens, Mitchell  (1998) The Rise of the Image the Fall of the Word. Oxford University Press. [Booklist Review.]

Technique

Devall, Sandra Lentz. (1999). Desktop publishing style guide. Albany : Delmar Publishers. [xviii, 453 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm. ASU MAIN STACKS Z253.53 .D47 1999]

Hinderlitter, Hal (2000). The GATF guide to desktop publishing. Pittsbusrgh, Pa. : Graphic Arts Technical Foundation. [WCU]

Lichty, Tom. (1994). Design principles for desktop publishers, 2nd ed. Belmont, Calif. : Wadsworth Pub. Co. [xiv, 226 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. WCU GENERAL Z253.53 .L53 1994] 

Parker, Roger C. (1993). Looking good in print : a guide to basic design for desktop publishing, 3rd ed. Chapel Hill, NC : Ventana Press. [xxxiv, 423 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. The Ventana Press Looking Good series. WCU GENERAL Z253.53 .P37 1993.]

Bivins, Thomas. (1992). Fundamentals of successful newsletters : everything you need to write, design, and publish more effective newsletters. Lincolnwood, Ill., USA : NTC Business Books. [ix, 208 p. : ill. ; 29 cm. WCU GENERAL Z286.N46 B58 1992. 

Parker, Roger C. (1990). Newsletters from the desktop : designing effective publications with your computer. Chapel Hill, NC : Ventana Press. [xix, 306 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. WCU GENERAL Z286.N46 P37 1990.]

Parker, Roger C. (1989). The makeover book : 101 design solutions for desktop publishing. Chapel Hill, NC : Ventana Press. [WCU GENERAL Z286.D47 P36 1989. ]

Saliger, Joanne R. (2000). QuarkXPress 4.0 : a step-by-step approach. Englewood, Colo. : Morton Pub. Co., [318 p., [3] p. of plates (2 folded) : ill. ; 29 cm. + 1 compact laser optical disc, Macintosh/Windows, Demo version of QuarkXPress 4.0 included; ASU, being processed]

Student writing center [computer file] (1995). School edition, v1.01. Computer program. Fremont, CA : Learning Co. 3 computer disks ; 3 1/2 in. + 1 teacher's guide and student activities (1 v. (various pagings) : ill. ; 28 cm.) + 1 user's guide (172 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.) + 1 ready reference card System requirements: 68030/25MHz Macintosh or better; 4MB RAM (2MB free); System 7.0 or higher; hard disk; color monitor. [WCU CMC SOFTWARE LA-L LEG st-4+ 1995 LIB USE ONLY]

Green, Phil (1999). Understanding digital color. Pittsburgh : GATF Press. [ASU  Z258.G74 1999]
 

Web

Teaching DTP in the Classroom (About.com)

Lesson plans utilizing DTP in K-12 classroom, software tutorials, and templates for teachers. Lesson plans utilizing DTP in K-12 classroom, software tutorials, and templates for teachers. 

Center for Media Literacy, http://www.medialit.org/  with its Links to Other Media Literacy Sites Online

Chandler, Daniel (1995). Biases of the Ear and Eye: 'Great Divide' Theories, Phonocentrism, Graphocentrism & Logocentrism. Online. [http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/litoral/litoral.html]

For other current information on reading images, search Google. http://www.google.com/search?q=reading+images
 

• Desktop Publishing (DTP), wikipedia.org
• Desktop Publishing, a comprehensive desktop publishing resources site.
• Nerd World another comprehensive source.
• Desktop Publishing Secrets, for those interested in making a living with desktop publishing.
• A List Companies providing Desktop publishing services
• Categories of Web sites about Desktop publishing