DTP: Numbering Pages, Part 18: The Future
Future desktop publishing and word processing programs may merge into new, combined programs that offer all of the features that we now expected from each individual program. We will then have a single, eminently useful document preparation tool. At that time, we will not discuss features that are available only on desktop publishing programs or only on word processors.
Future desktop publishing programs will create fine documents, using tools that are now found in separate graphics programs. People will be able to use one program to prepare a book or document of any size, without losing any of the functionality of today's programs.
Furthermore, the final implementation of Unicode as a typeface standard will result in fonts that allow users to select from over 65,000 different characters. With each release of Windows Microsoft tries to convince us that Unicode has finally been implemented in its entirety. May we live to see the real final implementation.
With Unicode, your Times New Roman typefaces, which are available on every Windows computer in every language, will be able to print in Times New Roman English, Times New Roman Hebrew, Times New Roman Simplified Chinese, Times New Roman Thai, and so on. The same will be the case with Arial, and with many of the other font families that you enjoy.
That technology is available today. However, it has not yet been fully implemented in all of the available publishing programs. Computer-based fax programs seem to be among the last printers to be able to use these new features.
However, that's just a matter of time. Tomorrow's new document preparation programs will be able to do more on your desktop than yesterday's large, complex printing equipment could do on multimillion-dollar machines.
Graphics, word processing, and desktop publishing are all merging, and some of the most exciting advances in computerization are taking place in this new combined field. You've joined the computer world during its most exciting era, and you've been able to peek into some of its most exciting advantages - through the viewer of the page number!
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