Editor positions, The New York Post

Define "doing it right."

 

Well, to quote from the job posting, "design savvy." To me that indicates more than the minimum knowledge of building a page -- some degree of creativity, some demonstrated artistic talent, experience to the extent that you've already made mistakes and learned from them.

 

I've made mistakes and learned from them.

Just not on InDesign.

 

IMO, InDesign is better than Quark.

 

Can't say much about it because I haven't used InDesign. But I love Quark. The transition from Q to InD isn't difficult, I've been told.

 

It's not, but it does take some time. It's all about learning where everything is.

 

I have varying experience with InDesign, Quark, Pagemaker, and Harris Newsmaker. Of them all, InDesign is the most straight-forward. Harris is just evil, and Quark is just average. Also very similar to InDesign. Then, Pagemaker is OK if you want to design a nice postcard, but for newspapers it's retarded.

 

jake, try Alfa for a few days and then get back to me on Harris.

 

I'm going to ask a really, really dumb question - I have written for 30 years but never done anything more than proofread.

What is the difference between layout and design? And how does one learn such things? Is it necessary to have an artist's eye? I will read just about anything, so it never makes that much difference to me.

 

layout and design are the same thing.

There are books to learn, but I've always found it easier to learn by doing with someone who knows sitting right next to you to explain.

And does it take an artist's eye? Not necessarily.

 

Agree to disagree. I could teach someone in two days or less how to competently lay out an inside page. Teaching someone to design an adequate front page is something else entirely.

 

You're right, Dickens. That might be the part where an artist's eye comes into play.