Best web publishing programs

We explain what each tool has to offer, what makes it distinct, and all the details you need to choose between them. If you've already got your heart set on InDesign, the current industry standard, check out our Adobe Creative Cloud discount page, or see our guide to how to download InDesign. Meanwhile read on to see the other options available. InDesign has been the go-to software for print professionals for over a decade now. The one big downside to InDesign is that you need to pay a monthly subscription, either for the single app or as part of an All-Apps subscription to the Creative Cloud.

If your company is paying for that, then no worries, of course, but if you work for yourself, you may want to investigate some of the alternative apps on this list before making your decsion. Serif's Affinity range of apps unashamedly offers cheap, subscription-free alternatives to Adobe tools. They match most of the features of Adobe's software while also including some of their own unique tools.

It's well worth checking out. Given the cheap price, it may well even be worth buying it and using it alongside InDesign, as many designers say they find it faster and more efficient for particular tasks. Back in the s QuarkXPress was the market leader in desktop publishing software. That was before Adobe launched InDesign at around half the price, and publishers voted for their wallets. However, Quark, as it's often known as, is still used in many companies.

Since InDesign is now subscription-only, it may be worth considering if you don't want to pay monthly. First launched in , QuarkXPress is still being updated on an annual basis and it remains a very capable, high-end too, both for print media and digital publications. First released in , Microsoft's tool for desktop publishing puts more of a focus on page layout and design than you'll find in Microsoft Word, which is squarely focused on text composition and proofing.

Nonetheless, Microsoft Publisher has been a little neglected in recent years. As a result, it's lagging behind rivals. However, if you already pay for a Microsoft subscription, then you have this software along with Word, Excel and others, so it's worth giving it a try as long as you have Windows that is; there's no version for Mac or Linux, and no mobile apps.

Despite its lack of pro features, there is a lot to like about it, including some useful templates and preloaded colour presets. You get all the features that DTP programs have, from guides to text flow between boxes. Its interface is very intuitive and easy to use. I like that you can select styles, margins, fonts, columns and almost anything else from a dropdown menu. Dialog boxes are also available if needed. This allows users to quickly edit a page layout.

Verdict: This publishing application was created almost 15 years ago. Its frame and layer system is similar to InDesign and Affinity Publisher. With it, you can design leaflets, books, posters and magazines. Besides, you can create interactive forms and PDFs to post to social media. This is great open-source desktop publishing software.

Besides, you can use a free thumbnail maker for creating magazines. If you get a free version, you will face some limitations, such as just 3 pages per document, 25 MB of storage, 72 DPI export resolution. Visit Figma. Sketch is an extremely popular interface design tool focused on simplifying the process of creating beautiful, high-fidelity mockups. Sketch gained popularity in the early s when it won a design award from Apple. Designers love Sketch because its uncluttered and intuitive interface makes it easy to create beautiful designs quickly, without the steep learning curve often associated with other design tools.

Sketch also has a comprehensive ecosystem of plugins and integrations that bring added power and make it simple to integrate Sketch into your workflow.

Sketch offers a free, full-featured, day trial. Visit Sketch. Tired of being beaten out by simpler tools that were better-suited to interface design and prototyping, Adobe released XD in as its answer to the other tools on this list. XD is a powerful, vector-based tool that also supports prototyping animations.

The program also supports opening and editing files from Sketch, making it a popular choice for Windows users who need to collaborate with other designers who use Sketch. Adobe offers 7-day free trials for both options. While InVision got its start offering a cloud-based prototype service that integrates with tools like Sketch and Photoshop, it now offers its own full-featured interface design and prototyping tool called Studio.

Think of InVision Studio like an advanced version of Sketch, complete with advanced motion animations, collaboration tools, and options to create and share prototypes. InVision Studio is currently in free beta. Visit InVisionapp. Framer X is a rapid prototyping tool that supports complex animations and generates the code for React components on the fly.

Designers like Framer for its responsive design features, an array of premade components, and support for advanced animations. Developers love it because it simplifies the process of turning a design into production-ready code. Framer X offers a day free trial. Visit Framer. Semble offers you a visual creation environment to create your content apps from scratch. They will even convert your DPS layers as part of the contract. Aquafadas allows publishers to convert their existing print layout from InDesign.

Aquafadas offers content 'enrichment' tools like video, animation, etc. Just like Adobe, Aquafadas has strongly oriented itself to the corporate market and is focussing a lot on sales enablement. A neat feature of the Aquafadas publishing solution is ConversionFlow. Publisher pricing. Aquafadas review.

Paperlit has kept its focus on 'pure' digital publishing for magazines and brands. It offers you the possibility to export your app from Indesign. Paperlit review. Clients include Allstate and Porsche. I have seen iMirus in action at conventions in the past, so I still keep them on the list.

But it seems hard to find new examples of their work. Magloft allows you to create 'responsive' publications that will be easily readable on your mobile devices: smartphones and tablets. Magloft offers a visual drag-and-drop editor allowing you to create content and design your publications. Magloft's pricing starts at about USD monthly, bringing it in reach for beginning magazines.

Magloft review. The Readz digital publishing platform helps brands and organizations create beautiful interactive publications, like reports, magazines, brochures, and more. Readz offers a drag-and-drop visual editor, with pre-made modules and a wide variety of animations. Readz offers brands and organizations a powerful digital publishing platform. Readz allows you to start from InDesign, build with templates or from scratch. Zmags offers content creation software without the code.

Zmags promises. Zmags has concentrated its technology efforts entirely on the fashion and retail sector. Like Readz does with Shopify, Zmags offers integrations with many eCommerce platforms that allow brands to create shoppable content. If you don't want shoppable content, then the Zmags digital publishing solution is not your choice.

On the min side, speed tests reveal that Zmags' content is rather slow even when surfing the Zmags website a spinner regularly appears , and the quality of their technical SEO is doubtful at a minimum. Joomag's digital publishing software allows you to do free or paid publishing and offers a Newsstand option.

JooMag will offer you a flipbook or a templated approach to create your digital magazines. You will have to start from scratch, but the templates allow you to get results in a reasonable time nevertheless. The templates are somewhat restrictive, and as a result, brands using this digital publishing platform wanting to create a branded look should not select this technology. Designers will love the granular control, interactive elements and total creative freedom offered in the Readz design studio.

But there is also a powerful marketing stack so marketers and advertisers can drive their content goals:. Readz's digital publishing platform also offers the possibility to restrict access to content, for example, for internal, partner, or member-oriented publications. The Readz plans offer interactive, digital publications, and Readz is an obvious choice for companies looking for a solid ROI on content and advertising.