Since the late 1980s, computer applications have played a large role in book printing. During the late 1980s and 1990s, Quark XPress was the most ubiquitous graphic design program in book printing, newspaper publishing, graphic design and book publishing generally. At one point in the late 1990s, Quark XPress held a 90 percent market share in the field. Adobe's program was at one time a poor alternative to the many features and capabilities of the Quark program, but, more recently, it has become a serious competitor. Microsoft Publisher has also made headway in the market.
In the 1990s and early 21st century, the computer applications WordPerfect and Microsoft Word became major factors in book publishing, especially at the composition and editing stages. As documents are transitioned into the layout and publishing phase, those applications become less common. In the late 2000s, Microsoft Word was in the middle of a controversial copyright scandal. In August 2009, a federal court in Tyler, Texas, ruled that Microsoft's 2007 edition of Word had infringed on the copyright on a patented product. Microsoft's appeals were rejected.
Book printing software cuts down on wasted paper, expedites the publishing process and makes most editing tasks easier and more time-efficient. Most users also find the most common publishing applications easy to learn and intuitive. For example, both Adobe InDesign and Quark XPress, the most common publishing applications, require very little up-front training, since the programs are designed for users to move through stages of complexity. Though both programs have many features, an average computer user will not have to master them to perform basic functions. Ideally, that user would pick up the more complex features gradually.
One of the largest drawbacks of desktop publishing has been a lack of compatibility with some software versions and web browsers, particularly with Apple's browser. Quark XPress's version 5 was incompatible with Apple's Leopard Internet browser. Similarly, until the release of Apple's OS X 10.5.4, released in 2007, Adobe InDesign was highly incompatible with the Leopard browser, but the problem has been resolved. Also, both of these programs are highly expensive for individual users, running around $700 and higher as of 2010.
Initially released in 1987, Quark XPress allows multiples users to simultaneously work on a document, has multi-layer transparency and runaround, and provides a wide range of layout templates. Though competitors have closed the gap, along with Adobe InDesign, Quark XPress still owns a large share of the market in book printing.
Similar to Quark XPress in many ways, Adobe InDesign is another graphic design program. Written in JavaScript, Adobe InDesign offers numerous layout styles, an intuitive interface, and multilingual capabilities.
Microsoft Publisher is a desktop publishing program, ideal for self-publishers or small publishers. This application includes a range of design elements, including layout templates, but does not have tools like layered transparency, copy-editing support and full PDF output. The new edition, with enhanced professional resources, was due out in June 2010.
The standard word-processing application, Microsoft Word, was first released in 1983. The program's features include spell-checker, cut-and-paste function, thesaurus, dictionary and bulleting functions. Most book manuscripts are still composed and submitted in this format.
Unlike other programs dedicated to design and layout, Corel's WordPerfect is an enhanced word-processing program. While Microsoft Word is standard for composing documents, WordPerfect's Reveal Codes and style libraries features allows authors and copy editors to quickly revise the formatting, spelling and style in books, without altering the code architecture, making it an invaluable resource for publishers and printers.