"Template Program for publishing." Topic

I have been asked by a publisher to find out if there is a program available to create templates in full color?

The company is looking to have up to nine color block uniform templates in some books as opposed to only three-four per page in an action plate. Some books will have a mix of color action and block plates while other mainly action. It all depends on the era. The more modern the era the more basic uniform block plates that will be considered.

Quark Xpress
Indesign

Or am I missing your point?

Fred, I am not sure if you missing my point or not. They are wanting a programs that they can do block uniform plates like the French Historical Collectable book series.

Thanks for the recommendation, I will pass it along.

Rudy -- not sure what you're looking for based on your original post – but Fred is right on with Adobe InDesign. In publishing (especially magazine and catalog work that is graphics-intensive and more sophisticated with layouts than a standard book) -- most companies have moved to InDesign.

It is a program used to design pages and make layouts. A designer could lay that section of the book out in InDesign and then use the same format for future publications.

Both Xpress and InDesign are complex bits of software, which need someone trained and experienced to get the most out of them. They would be categorised as DTP or page layout software.

But there are plenty of designers out there who can be hired either to setup the initial template, or to design the whole book.

To get the uniform plates in (assuming a drawing or painting) they will need to be scanned, then fine tuned in Photoshop, then placed in the layout software.

You can think of the layout software as a program that creates boxes (typically invisible ones) in to which text and images can be dropped. Rather than Word which is essentially a single box. (Word can be forced to work as page layout program, but is only really suited to very short publications).

You'll find a load of good (and not so good) freelance designers who can use InDesign on Craigslist or equivalent.