publishing software recommendation

[crittergeek928]

Hey guys,
I need some sort of publishing software for work. Just needs to be easier to make different kinds of forms and such. I googled and found Serif pageplus and scribus. Has anyone used these? Are they easier to make forms on than excel or word?
Thanks,

[pam123]

Not that I don't like open source, I do, but what's the deal with not setting up a template with the software you have ?
Set up the templates, and save them, depends on which version(s) of Windows Office you have, and you're good to go.
If there's a reason that makes Scribus a better deal tell us what it is but this just sounds like you're making life unnecessarily complicated.

[XenaWP]

Word is going to be more challenging to get a layout you like, but it's different field types make doing forms really kicka$$. I haven't used Scribus myself, but members of my professional organization have and say it's a good deal for free (;-)). Do you have MS Office? Doesn't that come with Publisher? I know people who are happy with that for basic page layouts.

But, for utility, the field capabilities of Word may be worth the extra work in doing the form layout itself.

Another possibility is that OpenOffice may offer something to use too.

[crittergeek928]

I may very well be making this more complicated than I should, but I seem to have difficulty getting Word to cooperate. It always wants to shift my paragraphs, mainly when I am trying to do columns of text and tables. I know that there is probably a way to make it do what I want, but it doesn't seem very user friendly. Sometimes when you have those problems it is worth asking if another program is a little easier to understand.
No, I don't have Publisher. Is open office different from Word and Excel?

[pam123]

Documents created in Open Office can be saved in .doc format and are compatible with Word and spread sheet can be saved in the Excel format as well.
It's a more basic program then you get with Microsoft's Office and just for that reason easier to use even though it does many of the same things.
There are occasions when only Microsoft's Office will do but it's become unnecessarily complicated for many ordinary office tasks.

[jessho]

I've used Microsoft Publisher in the past. I liked it, but it was for publishing a newsletter. I never used it for forms.

As far as Office products, I find Word cumbersome for forms, so I use Excel. My forms are pretty simple, though. I usually only have different fonts and sizes, which I combine with different line styles. I know you can import graphics, so I'm sure they can be added.