                           Ventura Publisher
                           v4.01 for Windows

                             by Tony Curro

    When you mention desktop publishing, two names stand out: Ventura
    Publisher and Aldus PageMaker. Both are high-end DTP programs. These
    are the programs by which others are measured.

    Ventura Publisher has it origins in DOS, using the GEM environment.
    For those who are not familiar with GEM, it was a monochrome,
    sort-of-Windows like environment for DOS. It had folders, icons, the
    ability to run, copy, move, delete and otherwise handle files. It
    was not big on GUI, although it did have a similar interface.

    Several years ago, Ventura ventured into the Windows platform. It is
    a heavy program, but still a leader in the DTP marketplace.

    This program is NOT for the novice. Nor is it for the DTP dabbler.
    This is a complete product that needs much dedication to learn.
    Saying that it can take several months to be proficient in Ventura,
    would not be far off. Ventura Publisher is capable of producing
    stationary (letterhead, envelopes, etc.), business cards,
    newsletters, proposals and so on. It is excellent in producing long
    documents such as books. For the heavy, or dedicated DTP user, this
    will be time well spent. For the DTP dabbler, novice, or average
    user, look to low-end products.

    A full installation requires about 11MB of hard disk space. This
    includes the program, style sheets, and enclosed graphics.
    Installation, of  the program and related files, needed to run
    Ventura, use up only about 4MB. Ventura will run on a network.

    One thing I discovered about Ventura out of the box, was the load
    time. I have a ton of fonts. My \SYSTEM directory has about 17MB of
    files, with most being fonts. I was sitting here thinking that
    Ventura had frozen my system. Calling technical support I was told
    it takes longer to load when you have a large number of fonts.
    During this time you do NOT see any disk activity. Ventura is
    creating the font information directly into memory. Armed with this
    information, I started Ventura, and waited almost 10 minutes to get
    the opening screen. Reducing the number of fonts, and/or turning off
    TrueType, greatly reduces the start up time.

    Ventura uses a basic approach to desktop publishing. You create your
    text with your word processor, or other program. You start Ventura,
    create or load style, and import your text and graphics (if
    desired). Frames are required for everything you do in Ventura. Each
    item, be it graphics or text, needs a frame. You can create a
    graphic frame inside a text frame. Each frame is controlled
    separately.

    Ventura only installs itself. You must add the utilities, graphics
    and style-sheets separately. There is a large selection of
    professionally designed style-sheets for a variety of subjects.
    These include: Thesis, Text Book, Journal, AD, Brochure, Memo, Press
    Release, Proposal, letterhead, Resume, labels, business cards,
    newsletter, purchase order, calendar and more. Over 50 to choose
    from. A book is included that shows samples of all forms, and
    another book showing all the over 70 graphics included. Filenames
    for all selections are given in the books, so you know which files
    to install from the floppies.

    Adobe Type Manager (ATM), is also  included. Manuals include Quick
    Reference Guide, Training Guide, Reference Guide. The Training Guide
    has 11 exercises to get you started.

    Ventura reads a variety of text and graphics formats:

        Text - Reads TXT, WP, DOC (Word, MM, Word for Windows), PRN
        Graphics - Reads CGM, GEM, PIC, EPS, WMF, IMG, PCX, TIF and
        more.

    I found a discrepancy with an example in the sample document. While
    showing you how to insert text, and symbols from the keyboard, it
    said to press ALT-189, to insert the copyright symbol (small c in a
    circle). However, in Windows 3.1, this is generated by ALT-0169.

    Ventura has since released a newer version of Publisher v4.10. I
    have not seen this version yet. I was pleased with this product.
    However, I want to stress again that it is for the dedicated user.
    If you are in need of a high-end DTP program, you cannot go wrong
    with Ventura Publisher.


                            Product Information

                            Ventura Publisher
                            v4.01 for Windows

                            List Price -- $795
