magazine software!

I will be researching magazine making software for this posting! This is definitely an essential facet to the project overall as I have never created a magazine before or used any of these software programs. I'll be including links to the websites with information on these programs, as well as describing the pros and cons I find for each.

I looked at the website FlipHTML5, with information on multiple programs. Their most recommended software was their own FlipHTML5 software. It's free to download and includes a page turning effect that facilitates online publishing and producing. According to the site, bookmarks and annotations can be added as well, which are cool features. It can also be published to any website, which is nice. I downloaded the software and tried it out, and one thing I don't really like is that there are many features limited to premium or pro membership, which has to be paid for. The free features provided, while useful, are somewhat basic. 

The website also provided information on Ziniopro, which is an application for magazines. Here magazines can be created and produced according to the site. Other programs mentioned are Mag+ and AnyFlip. These are both used in the real world to create professional and easy to access magazines. After looking at a few of these programs, I decided to look at a how-to website with more tips and tricks on the process itself. All of the information can be somewhat overwhelming without more of a guideline on the process.

The website envatotuts+ provided information on using templates on Envato Elements and GraphicRiver, which both had interesting concepts. I may draw inspiration from those templates to decide the layout of the magazine. In a later posting, I will discuss ideas for the layout and organization of the pages. The website also suggested InDesign, a program for creating a magazine from scratch. The how-to page also gives detailed information on creating a cover and other facets of the magazine, which I may review later to help me with that process.

I did more research and saw a recommendation for MS Publisher. As it turns out, there's an alternative to this program that's free called Lucidpress. I downloaded this program and began to try it out. It's very easy to use and I am definitely considering using it for my magazine. It includes a variety of fonts and is user-friendly. The templates are limited on a free basis, but otherwise, it seems like a good program.