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Magazine creator

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40hz:
Cheers! I'll check out your recommendations. Basically I was reading this magazine in pdf format:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxqmldUD2tdTU01JTlhSc3kyQ1E/view?usp=sharing
And found it difficult to read due to the choice of colors in some of the backgrounds and text fonts. I thought there would be some software out there that took this and made it more readable by changing a bit colors, font sizes, relocate articles positions,etc

-kilele (January 01, 2016, 11:08 AM)
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I took a look and all I can say is: Ouch!

FWIW, that sort of thing is fairly common when somebody with little graphic design experience gets turned loose on an epub magazine or newsletter. Indeed, some design professionals are guilty of that as well because (not being readers themselves) they tend to see text as just another graphic element in a layout rather than as something intended to be read.

Good luck! :Thmbsup:

kilele:
I took a look and all I can say is: Ouch!
-40hz (January 01, 2016, 11:38 AM)
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Yes it's quite awful ;)
Maybe I can suggest these guys a few easy to use programs.
So far what I've found is the free version of Serif Pageplus which seems easy and may suffice for their needs.
http://www.serif.com/desktop-publishing-software/
Also the web service Madmagz: https://madmagz.com
looks good and offers a printing service which they may find useful. The web version seems to be free at the moment.

tomos:
Agreed: ouch!!

(Still not sure are you looking for some method of modifying other peoples work, or some way for them to get a better end result.)

I have no training in this field but can say: the minimum that needs to be changed is --


* obviously the background colours used :-/
* make space between columns a little wider
* text needs to be 'justified'
* more paragraphs in text with slightly wider spacing between lines after paragraph
In my opinion, it would be very passable (for what it is) if those changes were made.

kilele:
Nice tips, Tom. I'll pass them along to the authors of the zine.

Well I meant a program to improve presentation and readibility of any document in general. Maybe the software could detect possible issues and ask the user about actions to be performed.

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