Looking for free prog

[BoyPete]

Hello
A friend suggested I post here with my prob. My sons homework is getting too
complicated for MS Word to deal with. I'm looking for a free equivalent to
MS Publisher. I have a link to a free d/load for Serif Page plus5. Can
anyone suggest anything else. All suggestions appreciated.

 

[mike ring]

Hello
A friend suggested I post here with my prob. My sons homework is
getting too complicated for MS Word to deal with. I'm looking for a
free equivalent to MS Publisher. I have a link to a free d/load for
Serif Page plus5. Can anyone suggest anything else. All suggestions
appreciated.

As a result of getting broadband and a general clean up, I've just tried
Open Office.

Although TBH I've hardly used it, I've used the word processor and Draw
package, and I'm very impressed.

The suite has lots of bells and whistles, so I should have a look at it

mike

 

[Harvey Van Sickle]

On 15 Nov 2005, BoyPete wrote

Hello
A friend suggested I post here with my prob. My sons homework
is getting too complicated for MS Word to deal with. I'm
looking for a free equivalent to MS Publisher. I have a link
to a free d/load for Serif Page plus5. Can anyone suggest
anything else. All suggestions appreciated.

I'll second Mike's recommendation to try OpenOffice, at least
before trying freebie stuff from Serif. (I don't know if OpenOffice
has an MS Publisher clone; sorry.)

Serif may have mended their ways, but when I tried something from
them a couple of years ago I had to register it. The resulting
amount of pressure selling -- including cold-calling to my home, as
I'd been dumb, dumb, dumb enough to give the number -- got to be
really very deeply annoying. The mileage of others may vary, but
they'd be a last resort in my books.

 

[BoyPete]

On 15 Nov 2005, BoyPete wrote


I'll second Mike's recommendation to try OpenOffice, at least
before trying freebie stuff from Serif. (I don't know if OpenOffice
has an MS Publisher clone; sorry.)

Serif may have mended their ways, but when I tried something from
them a couple of years ago I had to register it. The resulting
amount of pressure selling -- including cold-calling to my home, as
I'd been dumb, dumb, dumb enough to give the number -- got to be
really very deeply annoying. The mileage of others may vary, but
they'd be a last resort in my books.

I'm aware of serif 'techniques'.....if thats the price..so be it. Ta

 

[BoyPete]

As a result of getting broadband and a general clean up, I've just
tried Open Office.

Although TBH I've hardly used it, I've used the word processor and
Draw package, and I'm very impressed.

The suite has lots of bells and whistles, so I should have a look at
it

mike

Thanks mike. I'm aware of Open Office. I have 'assumed' it is much the same
as MS

 

[B. R. 'BeAr' Ederson]

A friend suggested I post here with my prob. My sons homework is getting too
complicated for MS Word to deal with. I'm looking for a free equivalent to
MS Publisher. I have a link to a free d/load for Serif Page plus5. Can
anyone suggest anything else. All suggestions appreciated.

If Linux is an option, you can try Scribus:

http://www.scribus.net

It is getting better on every update. But it isn't a player in the
upper market segment, yet.

One of the best ones and free for personal use is Ragtime Solo:

http://www.ragtime-online.com

It is the lightware (and nagware if one counts the startup message)
of the commercial Ragtime product.

In the desktop publishing fields the choice of programs very much
depends on the actual needs. If your son does a lot with equations
and visualization of formulae (for instance), a completely different
kind of program would be better...

HTH.
BeAr

 

[Susan Bugher]

Serif may have mended their ways, but when I tried something from
them a couple of years ago I had to register it. The resulting
amount of pressure selling -- including cold-calling to my home, as
I'd been dumb, dumb, dumb enough to give the number -- got to be
really very deeply annoying. The mileage of others may vary, but
they'd be a last resort in my books.

If nothing has changed recently they require less info now ***BUT***
reqistration is keyed to the hard drive. From the horse's mouth:

From: "Patrick Connor" <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 10:14:38 GMT
Subject: Re: Free versions of Serif software
Newsgroups: alt.comp.freeware

<q>
The registration key is currently hard drive specific, so installing on
another computer requires a new registration key.
</q>

See that post/thread if you want more info.

Susan
--
Posted to alt.comp.freeware
Search alt.comp.freeware (or read it online):
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Pricelessware: http://www.pricelessware.org (not maintained)

 

[Duddits]

Hello
A friend suggested I post here with my prob. My sons homework is getting too
complicated for MS Word to deal with. I'm looking for a free equivalent to
MS Publisher. I have a link to a free d/load for Serif Page plus5. Can
anyone suggest anything else. All suggestions appreciated.

RagTime Solo
http://www.ragtime-online.com/

regards

Dud

 

[Mike Dee]

Thanks mike. I'm aware of Open Office. I have 'assumed' it is much
the same as MS

MS Office doesn't have a "draw" module, Open Office does, it's
called "Draw". It can be used for creating flyers, basic page
layout, etc... Extra pluses of Draw are saving your work as PDF
or Flash.

about Draw: <http://www.openoffice.org/product/draw.html>
some screenshots:
<http://www.openoffice.org/screenshots/ooo20/draw/index.html>

However...

The free DTP program "Ragtime Solo" is similar to Publisher (better
IMO) is the same as the full professional Ragtime, but unlike Serif
no registration required ever.

From the 1st of "5 reasons to use Ragtime Solo"
<http://www.ragtime-online.com/link.cgi?priv_pub>

"1. You don’t want to persuade your wordprocessor or spreadsheet
program to do layout any longer."

It has a good interactive tutorial to get you up to speed quickly.

 

[BoyPete]

Many thanks for all your replies. I'm gonna have a play with Ragtime.

 

[Demetris]

RagTime Solo
http://www.ragtime-online.com/

From "Questions and Answers about Ragtime Solo":

Q: What are the differences between RagTime Solo and the commercial version?
A: [...] Dictionaries for spell checking and hyphenation are not
included. They can be bought for 15 ¤.

I have never used Ragtime Solo, and have two questions:

Can such a package be considered complete without a hyphenation dictionary?

Does Ragtime Solo work with third-party hyphenation dictionaries? Are
there free hyphenation dictionaries that can be used with it?

Greetings,
Demetris

 

[John Corliss]

Harvey Van Sickle wrote:



I'm aware of serif 'techniques'.....if thats the price..so be it. Ta

Fake the info, get a Yahoo or some other throwaway account to get the
registration code.

 

[Mike Bourke]

The other aspect of open office that may or may not be relevant depending on
the nature of your son's homework is that it has a module especially
designed for entry and display of mathematical formulae.

Without knowing in what ways Word is becoming too limited for him, we are
pretty much advising in the dark.

Mike

 

[Mike Dee]

I have never used Ragtime Solo, and have two questions:

Can such a package be considered complete without a hyphenation
dictionary?

Ragtime Solo is free for non-commercial use only. I use Ragtime for
personal use, so this consideration hasn't troubled me over much.

You are under no obligation to try the program. But should you choose
to and discover that you like it, yet can't live without hyphenation
then the small euro charge should recitify that situation for you.

Does Ragtime Solo work with third-party hyphenation dictionaries?
Are there free hyphenation dictionaries that can be used with it?

I don't know, perhaps. I use stand-alone spelling checkers with most
apps that don't contain spell checking... maybe there's one that does
hyphenation too.

 

[Michel Firholz]

Hello
A friend suggested I post here with my prob. My sons homework is getting
too complicated for MS Word to deal with. I'm looking for a free
equivalent to MS Publisher. I have a link to a free d/load for Serif Page
plus5. Can anyone suggest anything else. All suggestions appreciated.

Maybe someone knows a freeware programm that can offer
a kerning option to write in block mode in a more professional
way than Office?