Learn to use one of the most affordable and comprehensive desktop publishing packages available. In this hands-on, project oriented course, you'll begin designing, creating, and publishing a wide variety of stunning documents that you're sure to want to use.

In this course, you'll learn how Publisher's built-in layouts and templates can help you quickly complete virtually any desktop publishing project. You'll also learn about the many ways you can modify those templates in order to create impressive and truly original works of your own.

You'll gain plenty of valuable experience in designing, developing, and publishing newsletters, brochures, and Web sites. And if you're new to graphic design, you'll receive plenty of expert guidance in selecting and using images, colors, and layouts.

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Syllabus:

All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.

A new section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

Week One

Wednesday - Lesson 01

Welcome to Publisher 2003! In our first lesson, we'll go over some basic Publisher concepts, including accessing the program and customizing some of Publisher's powerful features. Then we'll talk about how you can access and utilize Publisher's extensive online Help system.

Friday - Lesson 02

You'll get started with Publisher's basics in this lesson. We'll go over all the concepts that you should fully understand before delving into a large project, including how to open, save, and close a file. Then we'll explore the various elements of the main Publisher window, including menu bars, toolbars, and page navigation tools.

Week Two

Wednesday - Lesson 03

Today you'll learn how to enter and edit text, both directly and by importing it from other documents. You'll learn how to format text (including selecting the font, size, and color) and how to change paragraph alignment and line spacing. We'll also discuss how to set off special text by adding borders and fills to the text frame.

Friday - Lesson 04

In today's lesson, you'll learn how to punch up the creativity in your projects by adding graphics. Well go over how to create and format drawing objects, as well as how to insert clip art and import picture files. Once you have the basics down, we'll dive into recoloring, resizing, cropping, rotating, and flipping graphics, tweaking them for just the right impact.

Week Three

Wednesday - Lesson 05

In this lesson, you'll discover how to create and work with tables in Publisher. You'll also learn how to apply and customize table borders, adding shading, colors, and patterns, and merging and splitting cells.

Friday - Lesson 06

Today we'll begin our two-lesson series on creating a professional newsletter in Publisher. We'll begin by going over some basic planning issues (the crucial first steps!), and then we'll continue with some layout tips. We'll talk about selecting or creating a color scheme, developing a masthead, and flowing text on a page and continuing it on other pages.

Week Four

Wednesday - Lesson 07

In this lesson, we'll wrap up our series on creating a newsletter in Publisher. Here, you'll learn how to use the Design Gallery to create a professional sidebar, format a drop cap, create a footer on the background, insert a picture, and group objects.

Friday - Lesson 08

Today, we'll begin our two-part series on creating a Web site in Publisher. In addition to actually creating a simple site, you'll learn some of the technical issues surrounding Internet publishing, including ISPs, URLs, and domain names.

Week Five

Wednesday - Lesson 09

In part-two of our series on creating a Web site in Publisher, you'll learn some of the ways you can dress up your site, including how to add graphics, sound, and other objects. After all of that hard work, you'll be ready to actually publish your site to the Internet, so we'll conclude by going over the instructions you'll need to follow to do just that!

Friday - Lesson 10

Publisher makes it easier (and cheaper!) than ever for even small organizations and groups to create very professional looking brochures in literally a matter of hours. In this lesson, you'll learn how to create a good brochure, from planning what it should contain, to creating the cover, logo, and content, to placing and arranging your text.

Week Six

Wednesday - Lesson 11

In today's lesson, you'll learn the basic procedures for taking your publication from your computer to a commercial printer. We'll talk about the different kinds of printing processes, and when you should choose each type. We'll also discuss how easy and automatic Publisher makes transferring your publication's files to a format your commercial printer can use—whether or not the printer uses Publisher.

Friday - Lesson 12

Publisher offers several ways you can create many publications for your organization that look consistent and professional. In our final lesson, you'll learn how to use two main methods: Templates and Design Sets. We'll go over how to create a template, change an existing template, and then open a new publication using a template. You'll also discover how Publisher's Design Sets can help you create an entire suite of coordinating business materials in a matter of hours.

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Allyson Hart Benavides.

Allyson Hart Benavides is a technical communicator with over 22 years of professional experience. She spent most of those years working as the director of the technical communications group for a large international consulting company. In 1998, she founded her own technical communications firm and works as a consultant for several large corporations. Allyson has used Microsoft Publisher through five upgrades (and 10 years) and considers herself to be a Publisher fanatic. She has taught online courses in Publisher 2000, Publisher 2002, Publisher 2003, and now Publisher 2007, introducing hundreds of students to the exciting possibilities the program has to offer. A firm believer in practicing what she preaches, Allyson relies on Publisher to maintain the marketing presence of her own business.

Requirements:

Microsoft Windows XP or 2000, Microsoft Publisher 2003 or Microsoft Office 2003 (Small Business Edition or Professional Edition only - please be sure to install this software on your computer before the course begins), Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins (two free and simple downloads you obtain at http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and Get Adobe Reader). This course is not suitable for Macintosh users, nor for users of any of the 2007 versions of Microsoft Publisher.

Student Reviews:

Reviews coming soon! Please check back next month.