Desktop publishersUsing computer software, desktop publishers format and combine text, numerical data, photographs, charts, and other visual graphic elements to produce publication-ready material. Depending on the nature of a particular project, desktop publishers may write and edit text, create graphics to accompany text, convert photographs and drawings into digital images and then manipulate those images, design page layouts, create proposals, develop presentations and advertising campaigns, typeset and do color separation, and translate electronic information onto film or other traditional forms. Materials produced by desktop publishers include books, business cards, calendars, magazines, newsletters and newspapers, packaging, slides, and tickets. As companies have brought the production of marketing, promotional, and other kinds of materials in-house, they increasingly have employed people who can produce such materials. Desktop publishers use a keyboard to enter and select formatting properties, such as the size and style of type, column width, and spacing, and store them in the computer, which then displays and arranges columns of type on a video display terminal or computer monitor. An entire newspaper, catalog, or book page, complete with artwork and graphics, can be created on the screen exactly as it will appear in print. Operators transmit the pages for production either into film and then into printing plates, or directly into plates. Desktop publishing is a rapidly changing field that encompasses a number of different kinds of jobs. Personal computers enable desktop publishers to perform publishing tasks that would otherwise require complicated equipment and human effort. Advances in computer software and printing technology continue to change and enhance desktop-publishing work. Instead of receiving simple typed text from customers, desktop publishers get the material over the Internet or on a computer disk. Other innovations in the occupation include digital color page-makeup systems, electronic page-layout systems, and off-press color-proofing systems. In addition, because most materials today often are published on the Internet, desktop publishers may need to know electronic-publishing technologies, such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), and may be responsible for converting text and graphics to an Internet-ready format. Typesetting and page layout have been affected by the technological changes shaping desktop publishing. Increasingly, desktop publishers are using computers to do much of the typesetting and page-layout work formerly done by prepress workers, posing new challenges for the printing industry. The old �hot type� method of text composition—which used molten lead to create individual letters, paragraphs, and full pages of text—is nearly extinct. Today, composition work is done primarily with computers. Improvements in desktop-publishing software also allow customers to do much more of their own typesetting. Desktop publishers use scanners to capture photographs, images, or art as digital data that can be either incorporated directly into electronic page layouts or further manipulated with the use of computer software. The desktop publisher then can correct mistakes or compensate for deficiencies in the original color print or transparency. Digital files are used to produce printing plates. Like photographers and multimedia artists and animators, desktop publishers also can create special effects or other visual images, using film, video, computers, or other electronic media. (Separate statements on photographers and on artists and related workers appear elsewhere in the Handbook.) Depending on the establishment employing these workers, desktop publishers also may be referred to as publications specialists, electronic publishers, DTP operators, desktop-publishing editors, electronic prepress technicians, electronic-publishing specialists, image designers, typographers, compositors, layout artists, and web publications designers. Related news articles Aleratec Announces Price Reductions for Its LightScribe Publishing ... - Oct 9, 2006 PrimeZone (press release),It is the first expandable LightScribe DVD/CD Desktop Publisher that allows users to purchase only what they need now and upgrade later. ... French Connection: Mandriva Acquires Linbox - Oct 6, 2006 CRN,See CRN Online Mandiva also acquired Linux distributor Conectiva in Brazil and assets from US Linux desktop publisher Lycoris last year. ... New Aleratec LightScribe DVD/CD Publishing System Enables Fast ... - Sep 25, 2006 PrimeZone (press release),The Aleratec 1:2 DVD/CD Copy Cruiser LS (Aleratec Part No. 260151, Best Buy SKU 795020) is the latest Aleratec LightScribe DVD/CD Desktop Publisher. ... Aleratec Announces LightScribe DVD/CD Publishing System - Sep 25, 2006 Popular Photography Magazine...from Aleratec. The Aleratec 1:2 DVD/CD Copy Cruiser LS is the latest Aleratec LightScribe DVD/CD Desktop Publisher. The Aleratec ... More information on Desktop publishers from The U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook Overview of Desktop publishers occupation Number of Desktop publishers in the U.S. Salary and earnings for Desktop publishers Working conditions for Desktop publishers Significant points for Desktop publishers Training requirements for Desktop publishers Labor Information Home | Occupational data by city | Search Rainforests | Madagascar | What's new |