Published December 31, 2008 | 
For the first time in seven years or so, I am designing and formatting a book for print. Last time I did it, I used Quark; it was a freelance job, not terribly complicated. For most of my freelance book-production jobs, and invariably for my own books, I used PageMaker, starting with 4.0, when it was still an Aldus program.
I love PageMaker. I miss PageMaker. It was a clean, elegant program, and it worked beautifully even on complicated multi-element designs. I could go into a trance while peacefully formatting my pages. I knew I was getting professional results, and I had (and have) extremely high standards for book design. That’s because I started in publishing in 1980–just at the beginning of the computer typesetting revolution and long before the average person knew what an em-dash was. I carry with me the standards of a statelier past.
Part of my frustration, of course, is that instead of formatting in an honest-to-Gutenberg typesetting program, I am doing it in W*rd. Which is a complete piece of crap for any kind of complex formatting. I keep saving, knowing that a crash could wipe out my files. I need a copy of InDesign. And a pony.
What old programs or other outdated technologies do you miss?
I miss my old Tandy 4D computer. Still.
I dream of wires, the old days…
I miss Corel Ventura. It was my main program for designing newsletters back in the day and, while far from perfect, did the job amazingly well.
I also miss the old manual paste-up system of publishing: Compugraphic 7600 photo-typesetter, developer system, and waxer. Hearing the constant clicking of olfa knives while you struggle to get rows of text to align – by gosh, back then you knew that you were Publishing, and that you were a respected Professional in the field.
I so hear your pain on using W*rd for publishing – I did an 800-page textbook in that program, so the customer could edit it themselves later for subsequent printings.
FrameMaker (since they killed it for the Mac. I think there’s still some sort of Windows version out there, but Adobe doesn’t seem to be committed to the future of it, even though it’s way better for longer format pieces like books and manuals than InDesign is).
You might look into the various flavors of LaTex if you want real strong control of your output.
I started on Ready! Set! Go!. Even though it’s still around, it’s such a miniscule portion of the market it might as well not exist.
I kinda miss using hot wax for pasteup. And Zip-a-tone.
WordPerfect, with the astonishingly helpful Reveal Codes feature.
Someone else who misses WordPerfect! Aww.
Hell, WordPerfect 8 was the best word processor of which I am aware.
Finally gave it up last year when I switched over to the Mac. On which MFing MS Word is a complete nightmare when I’m trying to do report production, so I entirely sympathize, Lynn.
I also miss WordPerfect. I have not used any version since 5.1, which was for DOS, but it was fabulous. You could do a printer’s spread without jumping through fucking hoops. And, yes, reveal codes.
FrameMaker for Windows is a fine program but missing some basic functions that are Windows-standard, like drag and drop. Sheesh. It is too bad the market for Frame is so small, since it is the best program ever for handling long docs. Yes, I am a technical writer.
I miss Palm Graffiti, the best system for entering text on a hand-held device. All the soft and hard keyboards in the world don’t make up for it. I hope somebody ports it to, or writes something like it for, Android.
I used Aldus Pagemaker 4.0, also! Mine came in a box with 5-1/4″ disks and a note telling me that if I wanted 3-1/2″ disks, all I had to do was fill out the form and send it in.
I miss WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS,the best word processor I have ever used.
Wordperfect. *grieves*
Best. word processor. ever.
Apparent example of someone buying a superior competing product just to kill it. Bastards.
Pagemaker. *grieves*
Ah, my beloved, how ye have waned.
I kind of liked Eudora, too.
A former boss loved hypercards… a precursor to Filemaker, I think… but I never got attached to it.
Ah, yes, Reveal Codes! “Tools, Options, All” does not hold a candle to it. It really is amazing MS did not run with that.
Wait, no it isn’t.
At my last job I had to format book-length reports in Word and it was one of the more miserable experiences I have had in my professional life. I do not envy you right now. I miss Pagemaker as well. I too enjoyed working in it.
I miss my HP-11C. Then again, I don’t do the kind of math anymore that made having an 11C really cool.
I miss MacDraw.
still have fond memories of an old dos program called helppc. one of the best interactive help systems i’ve ever seen.
I used PageMaker too. Loved it.
I kind of miss AmiPro, which was the word processor I used before the evil that is Word. Nowadays, I use Open Office Writer, which I love. Anything that puts less money in Bill Gate$ pocket.
Oh, zip-a-tone! I’d forgotten about that.
Of course, I remember doing paste-up when you actually pasted up with rubber cement.
::is old::
I miss (in no particular order) WordPerfect, PageMaker, FileMaker Pro, Quattro and Paradox. *sigh* I get nostalgic for FileMaker Pro and WordPerfect and still resent, to this day, Micro$oft Word.
OOg roxxorz my boxxorz. Can’t remember who recommended it to me when I got my new computer but I’m glad they did. My one quibble with Writer is the note function.
Amen to FrameMaker on the Mac. I think I have InDesign, but I’m not sure how to use it. FrameMaker, I can do.
I have been using a product called CopyWrite by Bartas Technologies (http://www.bartastechnologies.com/products/copywrite/) for my creative fiction, but it is more of a creative development tool, not a formatting or submission tool.
Pages is the latest from Apple to be a M$Word clone. The iWork 2008 version is much superior to the iWork 2006 version. It has some nice things, but it’s still not designed for larger projects.
How soon do you need it? Let me see what I can do.
WordPerfect 5.2, which I in fact still have, though I no longer use it (as John Clute still does, and Tom Disch did.) The most elegant and usable word processor ever written, and the only one in which I could easily and quickly write macros, which were then easy to edit on the screen. I practically constructed my own program, whereby I could do things only a writer would want to do: with a clack transpose sentences or paragraphs, turn clauses into sentences, assemble cuts form one doc into another without leaving the first (one click per cut) and other things. When Word was already becoming unintelligible and creating insoluble blockages, WP really was perfect.
Ah me too. What pleasure to do your whole mechanical and, last thing, remove all the filthy fingerprints and smudges that were caught in the rubber cement, and leave the whole thing spotless.