Adobe PageMaker 7

Hardly a major release but the new PostScript/PDF functionality extends the old favourite's shelf-life.

PageMaker was the program that invented the whole concept of desktop publishing way back in 1985. What made the program so revolutionary was the way it took traditional design methods, involving the paste-up of typeset text and screened images, and simply translated them to the computer environment. Ironically the secret of PageMaker's early success became the reason for its later problems as its largely manual approach just wasn't suited to more advanced requirements such as handling longer documents, Web repurposing and scriptability.

Adobe's solution was radical. It stopped development of PageMaker - apart from the almost entirely cosmetic 6.5 Plus - and started again from scratch. The result was the totally new InDesign, a next-generation DTP application intended to take over from PageMaker and to take the fight to Quark XPress. But it didn't turn out quite as Adobe planned. The behind-the-scenes advances in InDesign made little practical difference so, not only did InDesign fail to challenge XPress, very few PageMaker users made the transition either.

So now with this unexpected upgrade has Adobe recognised the reality of the marketplace? Is PageMaker back from the dead with a major transfusion of new blood? Or is this just another cynical attempt to wring as much revenue as possible out of the dying patient?

PageMaker has always recognised that by its nature any DTP application must lie at the heart of a larger workflow incorporating text and graphics from different sources. As such the first advance in the new release is the updating of PageMaker's import filters. For text the most important file format is Microsoft Word and PageMaker 7 now supports Word 2000 documents complete with support for index and table of contents markers and footnotes and endnotes. There still seems to be trouble importing Word styles however so I was forced to fall back on the improved RTF import.

More work has gone into improving PageMaker's support for graphics and especially for files produced with Adobe's own applications. In particular PageMaker 7 now supports files in Photoshop's native PSD and Illustrator 9's AI format. The support for the bitmap-based PSD is relatively unproblematic and means that users can now work with a single image file rather than juggling layered PSD and flattened TIFF versions. Strangely though there is no command to automatically open the placed PSD back into Photoshop.

PageMaker 7 can place native Photoshop PSD and Illustrator AI files.

Support for Illustrator 9's AI files is rather more complicated. To begin with the dialog is actually the same dialog as for importing Acrobat PDF files as Illustrator 9's native format is now PDF-based. However PageMaker doesn't have Illustrator 9's flattening technology so is unable to display or print transparency effects. Looking at the readme file it's not too hot on Illustrator 9's spot colour, blends, gradients or feathering either. Generally it looks as if it's better to stick to the tried and tested EPS route especially as the EPS filter has been updated to support PostScript Level 3 which is essential if you're intending to produce in-RIP separations.