Randy H. answered • 06/03/19
35+ Year Vet in Print & Digital Publishing, Certified Adobe Trainer
While there are many variations and additions/modifications, if we're talking basic programs for Desktop Publishing, we're talking about four elements:
1) Image Manipulation/Management Program - In professional terms, this is generally defined as Adobe Photoshop, though there are other options available. It's useful for acquiring images from digitizing devices like scanners and digital cameras, and important for preparing those images for eventual publication.
2) Word Processing Program - While it's technically possible to enter text directly into a page layout program, the speed and benefits of entering and editing/massaging text in a fully featured word processing program like Microsoft Word, WordPerfect or Google Docs makes entering text directly into a page layout program unnecessarily messy and costly in time and effort.
3) Page Layout Program - This is the software used to actually produce your publication. It serves as the hopper you pour your digital images and word processing text into, and offers the tools placing, moving and manipulating those elements into the publication pages you want to produce. The leaders in this type of software are Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress.
4) PDF Packaging Software - While both the page layout programs liste above have the ability to produce PDF files, a dedicated PDF editor lets you massage that DTP output for a wide range of publishing options for print and digital use. Adobe Acrobat contains all the tools you'd conceivably need to prepare PDF files for publishing use. There are other PDF editors, but they generally don't have the comprehensive set of tools Acrobat has for publishing needs.
