Prior to the introduction of page layout software, the only means of producing typed documents was a typewriter. Luckily, that changed over time with a variety of Desktop Publishing (DTP) softwares available to help publishers create elaborate page designs with ease. Yet before a wide range of DTP software was a reality, Aldus Corporation was a pioneer in the field.
On this day, February 27th, in 1986, Desktop Publishing was born, as Aldus introduced PageMaker. PageMaker’s mission was simple: give users an application to format the layout of pages in a neat and aesthetically pleasing way. The original PageMaker was far from perfect, but it did lay an important foundation. In addition to creating PageMaker, Aldus Corporation founder Paul Brainer also introduced the world to the term “desktop publishing,” after using it as a marketing catch-phrase.
Although PageMaker was the pioneering software, Aldus Corporation became defunct in 1994. Aldus was succeeded by one of today’s most important names in Desktop Publishing, Adobe Systems. Adobe currently publishes several programs used by page layout professionals and novices, including: Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat.