Print Shop Deluxe for Dummies - Richard Hing

Whether you're crafting a birthday card for a surprise party or designing your company's next sales flyer, The Print Shop Deluxe provides a fun and simple way to create professional-looking booklets, brochures, business cards, or Web pages on your desktop.

With The Print Shop Deluxe For Dummies, you get expert advice in easy-to-understand language that enables you to begin creating professional-looking graphics projects right away...

• See how The Print Shop works and take a look at the components that make up a desktop-publishing project.
• Plan and choose the best way to create a Print Shop project.
• Explore the versatile uses of The Print Shop (at home or in the office) to design and make signs and banners, certificates, diplomas, calendars, greeting cards, and labels.
• Use The Print Shop to build Web pages.
• Uncover tips, taboos, and tricks that professionals use to create top-notch publications every day.

Handy appendixes introduce you to the other programs included with The Print Shop program: 3DGreetings, Photo Organizer, Photo Pro, Serif DrawPlus, and The Ultimate Mail Manager.

A longstanding favorite among teachers, parents, and those tasked with boosting office morale, The Print Shop Deluxe can't be beat as a simple tool for creating posters, banners, calendars, and other cool stuff to hang on walls. The Print Shop Deluxe for Dummies, your ticket to learning to use this tool, is typical of the Dummies series in that no prior knowledge is assumed (other than a general familiarity with Windows), but the book manages to avoid coming across as condescending. It acknowledges that smart people can have a hard time figuring out software, and proceeds to show you what you need to know. It's funny too!

In a typical section, you learn how to create greeting cards. The terms the software uses to describe different kinds of cards (quarter-fold, half-fold, and so on) are explained, and then you find out how to use the QuickLayout features to generate a card in a hurry. (Forgetters of anniversaries, take note.) You learn how to create a card from scratch, including borders, graphics, and text (which you can choose from the hilariously named Sentiment Gallery if you can't come up with your own bon mot). A sequences of numbered steps (with tips) shows the project at various points during the creation process. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to use The Print Shop Deluxe for Microsoft Windows. Sections address particular kinds of publications suited to The Print Shop, including banners, certificates, business cards, forms, newsletters, and fancy stuff like coffee cups and T-shirts. An eight-page color section shows how The Print Shop works with color.