Amazon Kindle Reader for iPad

I’ve never been a big fan of the actual Kindle device when it comes to reading books. Mind you I have no problem with the device itself and I think it can be argued that the Kindle may have helped usher in the renewed interest in tablet. But, it’s a single purpose device and I would never read enough books on it to justify the cost. However, for voracious readers I think it would be top notch. However, Amazon didn’t forget the rest of us and people like me can still take advantage of their expanding library of ebooks by using the iPad and the Kindle reader app. I actually downloaded it a week or so ago and bought my first Kindle book for it. I have to say I’m very pleased with how the whole thing has been working out. As with most every iPad app installation was without incident. Once installed you connect to your Amazon account so […]

What software am I supposed to use?

This desktop publishing adventure has turned into a ridiculously expensive folly. And I’m beginning to wonder if I’m not trying to swat a fly with a cannonball. Not only is something like FrameMaker hideously expensive but it’s so damn complicated it’s a wonder anyone can actually use it. Whatever happened to the idea that software should be intuitive? Indesign is quite a bit easier to work with but I can’t see ever justifying its cost. I think it would do what I want but again I don’t want to spend weeks learning to use a piece of software and the hit to the bank account is staggering. I started checking out apps like Serif Page Plus and Xara Designer Pro. Both are pretty useful but again the cost is so damn high. So I have to ask am I even going about this the right way? Here’s the gist of the project. Let’s say I have 10 Microsoft Word documents […]

What software am I supposed to use?

This desktop publishing adventure has turned into a ridiculously expensive folly. And I’m beginning to wonder if I’m not trying to swat a fly with a cannonball. Not only is something like FrameMaker hideously expensive but it’s so damn complicated it’s a wonder anyone can actually use it. Whatever happened to the idea that software should be intuitive? Indesign is quite a bit easier to work with but I can’t see ever justifying its cost. I think it would do what I want but again I don’t want to spend weeks learning to use a piece of software and the hit to the bank account is staggering. I started checking out apps like Serif Page Plus and Xara Designer Pro. Both are pretty useful but again the cost is so damn high. So I have to ask am I even going about this the right way? Here’s the gist of the project. Let’s say I have 10 Microsoft Word documents […]

Desktop Publishing ain’t what it used to be

One thing I do wonder though, with all the advances that have been done to Word over the years is it really incapable of desktop publishing? I know previous versions had multiple problems handling long documents and the Master Document process was buggy as hell. Do those problems still persist? Is Word still incapable of pulling together multiple files, creating headers and footers and then exporting the whole thing out as a well formatted PDF file? I suppose when it comes to documents that have lots of images, cross references and charts things go all to hell. That’s not something I’m really attempting so is Word all I really need? Going down this path of desktop publishing has led me all over the place. Funny thing is, desktop publishing doesn’t mean the same thing now as it did several years ago. Before, publishing meant you were going to an expensive printer and had to have exacting color matching and postscript […]

Desktop Publishing ain’t what it used to be

One thing I do wonder though, with all the advances that have been done to Word over the years is it really incapable of desktop publishing? I know previous versions had multiple problems handling long documents and the Master Document process was buggy as hell. Do those problems still persist? Is Word still incapable of pulling together multiple files, creating headers and footers and then exporting the whole thing out as a well formatted PDF file? I suppose when it comes to documents that have lots of images, cross references and charts things go all to hell. That’s not something I’m really attempting so is Word all I really need? Going down this path of desktop publishing has led me all over the place. Funny thing is, desktop publishing doesn’t mean the same thing now as it did several years ago. Before, publishing meant you were going to an expensive printer and had to have exacting color matching and postscript […]