Desktop publisher needed

[Bridgebuster]

I have been using Pagemaker for years in the Windows world. Now that I've switched over to Mac, and retired, I'm interested in seeing what y'all use as a low cost or no cost replacement for Pagemaker. Thanks for any help

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

-Which version of OS X?
-Which version of PageMaker were you running?
-What kind of documents were you creating?
-Any budget limit?

C

 

[Allen Davis]

Seems you and I have a lot in common. I started using Pagemaker as a beta tester in 1985 and to this day, I still prefer it over InDesign CS 4.

I've never found anything I'd consider as a decent substitute for either PM or ID. Microsoft's Publisher is not only a sick joke, it was a constant pain in my butt before I retired because of all the submissions I'd receive in Publisher format, which I could neither open nor read. (And since I was the head cheese in my department, I forbade the installation of ANY Microsoft software in my office. We used the OpenOffice Suite, which is completely compatible with Word, Excel, etc.)

I've heard some people use Apple's Pages application, but from what I've read, it's pretty anemic.

Sadly, Adobe abandoned Pagemaker in favor of InDesign after the Mac migrated to Intel processors, so the only way to run Pagemaker is under OS X 10.5 or earlier, or with an old OS 9 emulator called SheepShaver, but SheepShaver won't run on any macOS after Yosemite, which I learned from experience.

If you still need something for desktop publishing, you can find various versions of Adobe Creative Suite for sale on eBay. Just beware of buying "upgrade" versions. Most sellers think if there's a serial number on the box, it'll install and run right off the bat, which isn't true. And most of them claim that their offerings are "full versions" and boast about the presence of a serial number. You'll have to jump through a lot of hoops and do a ton of Indiana Jones stuff on Adobe's website to get a new serial number and get the thing running. Read my post on "Adobe Woes" I put up here somewhere (it'll have a "warning: rant" disclaimer in the thread title.

If you go that route (buying CS from eBay) and have trouble, I'd be happy to do what I can to help you out.
I hope this helps.

 

[Dawn Dennis]

Trust me I understand your woes. I cannot get my Flash CS6 to launch at all. I spent almost 4 hours online with Adobe and their "tech support". I gave up and stared all over again with "Pages" (macOS 10.13.4 High Sierra). It works, but I cannot find one "movie" format that it will import and have it actually be viewable in a slideshow. I have tried .mov. flv. avi. .mp4 .gif ... arrgh! Why have an option to import video if it doesn't let you know the formats it will accept.

 

[Allen Davis]

I'm really glad I didn't completely abandon/mothball my G4 MDD with 10.4.11 so I can still resort to using it when I need Pagemaker. Perhaps it's simple laziness on my part that I haven't been more diligent in mastering InDesign to the extent I have Pagemaker.

And speaking of your Flash CS6 launch woes, I now deeply regret not having kept bootable drives with previous versions of macOS. Under Yosemite I had complete CS4 functionality across the board, and with every macOS upgrade I've adopted, I've lost more and more features, functions, etc. InDesign and Illustrator both began crashing randomly with El Capitan, so I learned quickly to hit save every time I did anything.

With Sierra, Illustrator behaves much better, but I'm unable to install new brushes, etc., and InDesign crashes instantly if I hit the Print command, so I simply create a Postscript file and distill it for printing. Come to think of it, I can no longer install new brushes for Photoshop, either, and I've got a boatload stashed away and wishing I could put to work.

Since I've got external HDDs coming out of my ears, I'd love to find where I could download and install Mountain Lion, since my iMac and MBP will both work with that, and I'd have my entire Adobe library working as it was intended. Perhaps Honestone might be able to help me out with that. I know I can't download even Yosemite from the App Store. Don't know if they simply aren't available, or if Apple is holding a grudge against me and won't let me have access to them! (It ain't paranoia if someone really is out to get you! Not that I seriously believe that, but it sometimes smells like it to me!)

All that being said, I'm not touching High Sierra until I can be satisfied I have at least a couple of older macOS drives working, so Sierra is as far as I'm willing to go right now.

I completely sympathize with your problems with Pages. I don't even consider that to be a viable word processor, let alone a layout program.

Apple's never been known for its software library. I used AppleWorks and ClarisWorks back years ago, and I always preferred them to anything Microsoft. They did hit a home run with older versions of iTunes, but that's morphed into a boat anchor in its latest incarnations, and there were a few other applications they've released that were/are stellar. I've never used it, but everyone I know raves about FinalCut Pro. Heck, I'm still behind the cueball in getting a competent grasp on Premiere!