InDesign vs Word

[ibook4a]

Hi

Would InDesign be a better program to use than word for creating documents? (ignoring the price difference)

A -🙂

 

[mfacey]

That entirely depends on what kind of documents you are trying to create. Try elaborating a bit and I'm sure we'll be able to give you a good answer.

 

[Father Jack]

InDesign is a D.T.P. program. If you regularly have quite a few pictures / diagrams that you need to place in your documents then InDesign would probably be best. If it's mainly text, then Word would be the best choice.

FJ

 

[ibook4a]

well theres no specific type of document i intend to use it for....Sometimes I'll put pictures in and want to make it look cool, but on other occasions i will need to write essays, and whats D.T.P. mean?

I'm thinking I might get InDesign and then just download Neooffice for when i need to write essays.

Thanks for your help

A

 

[janey]

indesign sounds expensive and overkill for what you want to do...

 

[ibook4a]

indesign sounds expensive and overkill for what you want to do...

possibly....however, I'm a student so prices of microsoft office and indesign are comparable (I think)

 

[arkitect]

and whats D.T.P. mean?
A

Not to be rude, but if you don't know what DTP means you probably haven't got much use for InDesign. 😉

However: Why not download the trial version and see?

 

[janey]

possibly....however, I'm a student so prices of microsoft office and indesign are comparable (I think)

definitely go with office, particularly office 2008 when it comes out later. indesign isn't the appropriate app for you 🙂

 

[ibook4a]

Not to be rude, but if you don't know what DTP means you probably haven't got much use for InDesign. 😉

I've looked it up now.

However: Why not download the trial version and see?

I will

 

[iMeowbot]

Sometimes I'll put pictures in and want to make it look cool,

NeoOffice or MS Office may be all you need then, they have pictures and "looks cool" covered. Try one of those first before springing for InDesign. While it's very nice for what it does, it's also weighed down with features that will only get in your way if you're not preparing things with commercial printing in mind.

and whats D.T.P. mean?

Desktop publishing.

 

[ibook4a]

NeoOffice or MS Office may be all you need then, they have pictures and "looks cool" covered. Try one of those first before springing for InDesign. While it's very nice for what it does, it's also weighed down with features that will only get in your way if you're not preparing things with commercial printing in mind.

Desktop publishing.

Ok thanks, I'll do the trial, but unless i fall in love with indesign i'll do what pretty much everyone seems to be advising.

A🙂

 

[telecomm]

What about Pages? (Though if it's for school next year I'd wait for the new version). It essentially combines page layout/word processing functionality.

 

[chaosbunny]

If Word is a bicycle, then InDesign is an aeroplane.

And you don't need an aeroplane to get to the grocery store.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Dunepilot]

What about Pages? (Though if it's for school next year I'd wait for the new version). It essentially combines page layout/word processing functionality.

Sounds to me as if Pages is exactly what the OP needs. I'm a big fan of Pages myself.

 

[tomoisyourgod]

If Word is a bicycle, then InDesign is an aeroplane.

And you don't need an aeroplane to get to the grocery store.

Just my 2 cents.

haha brilliant! very insightful I like that one 🙂

 

[JFreak]

If it's mainly text, then Word would be the best choice.

Why not the freebie TextEdit or such?

IMO, Word is bloated piece of junk. Even Word files created by earlier version cannot be reliably opened with a new one; or, it will be okay if by "opening" you simply mean that the content can be read. But if you mean that "opening" a document means it is 100% the way you left it when you last saved, then Word is your worst enemy.

InDesign is pixel perfect.

 

[Nym]

If Word is a bicycle, then InDesign is an aeroplane.

And you don't need an aeroplane to get to the grocery store.

Just my 2 cents.

Perfect, I couldn't have described it better 🙂

 

[Father Jack]

whats D.T.P. mean?

A

Desk Top Publishing.

It allows very precise placement of text and graphics on a page. As ARKITECT says if you are not familiar with the term D.T.P. then you probably don't really need it.

Neo office is a great program and it allows you to read and write Word format documents.

Cheers FJ 🙂

 

[Bern]

Sounds to me Pages from Apple iWork is exactly what the OP needs.

 

[zero2dash]

Yeah, just get iWork. Pages is much better than Word.

InDesign is a 'pro' app. It's not as un-user friendly as Illustrator, but nevertheless...to someone with little to no experience with any other 'pro' page layout app (PageMaker or Quark), InDesign will look too complicated.