Introduction to Desktop Publishing Techniques/ Journalism Skills 2

Placing multiple articles on a page/editing techniques

This week's exercises cover two key areas of desktop publishing in the newspaper industry: fitting more than one piece onto the same page, and editing for accuracy and space.

Task 1

1. Go to http://www.socialscience.uk.com/it/dtp1.htm and click on 'Pagemaker 8'. This will open a Pagemaker file.

2. Print this file and proofread the page carefully for spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors.

3. Correct the errors on screen. Check with a partner to make sure that you haven't missed any.

4. When you are satisfied, correct the following:

· Write a two line headline across the top (note: it should fit neatly into the space allocated and be relevant to the article!!). The font should be Gill Sans MT UltraBold (as with the other headline on the page).

· Change the fonts for the text of the articles so that they are all Gill Sans MT.

· Make the lead article fit into the space allocated - how you do this is up to you, but make sure that both articles match by the time you are finished. (hint: this may be done by changing the font size, changing the inset, or giving one article more space at the expense of another - or a combination of these)

· Change the horizontal rule to 8 pt stroke and 45% grey.

· Change the text in the bottom panel to white and make it fit across two lines. Make sure both the horizontal and vertical alignment are centred.

Print out your page and make sure that it is to your satisfaction.

Task 2

Using the 'politics.txt' and 'website of the month.txt' articles on the same website, layout an A4 page for the Stow Rag (the fonts are the same as above - Gill Sans MT for ordinary text, Gill Sans MT UltraBold for headlines).

Save both of the articles on the desktop and start a new Pagemaker publication for this exercise - remember to set up your baseline grid and lock your guides before you start.