Newsletters - DTP - Articles about Computing

In the not-so-distant past, small- or medium-sized companies or organizations had to make a major policy decision before publishing a newsletter. Their preliminary document had to be edited perfectly before being sent to a harried printer, who often took a long time to do a (sometimes messy) job. However, it was usually not worth sending it back for improvements or corrections, because it took so long between the time until it was returned again. Newsletters were also expensive to produce, and they were rarely subject to significant change.

We really can't blame the printers for being so inflexible. Their equipment did not lend itself to efficient work, such as that which can be produced today. Perhaps that is why any minor change was subject to a steep fee. Furthermore, in the not-too-distant past, printers often refused to make changes that would require re-arrangements in the basic format.

Things have certainly changed for the better. Today, desktop publishing programs prepare newsletters - quickly, efficiently, and easily.

Those modern programs do face certain limitations. Don't expect to be able to prepare newsletters with a large format, such as that of some daily newspapers. The programs are intended for standard paper sizes. That's usually not much of a consideration, since few neighborhood or commercial business printers can handle large (and inconvenient) sizes either. DTP programs work well with documents printed on paper that is no larger than letter-size or A4.