I am making a recipe book and need help with a program!

So basically for Christmas I am making my girlfriend a herbal remedies/cook book and whatever else I happen to put in it!

So what I am looking for is a program where I can build pages really easily and creatively then print the pages and paste them into a book or something

thanks

reply to post by kangajack


If you have Word I'd say you could probably do it thru that.

I haven't had MS Word in years but I know it's pretty easy to customize pages and such.

You could just do a basic page by listing ingredients at the top and the directions below then print each page you do. You could get special paper that has print on it and use that if you want it to have a certain look or you could add your own pics to it.

I use Picaboo for everything like this or Shutterfly. They are free programs online but it costs to print the books. They range in price from probably $15 on up and they print it and ship it free (Picaboo is free shipping).

Good luck!!

reply to post by kangajack


While Microsoft Word can do what you want, you might want to check out Adobe Acrobat XI. To buy the professional program you would pay about $169, but I believe you can download a trial that's good for 30 days. That would give you the time to make your book or anything else you wanted and you would have a good chance to see if this is something you might want to purchase later. It does just about anything you want with words and graphics. It of course also can be used to turn the whole thing into a PDF book that you could send to people online. I love Adobe products. They are all fairly easy to use and of the highest quality. I had a part time job at a University sign shop and they used Adobe Illustrator for all their graphic art posters and signs. I can't tell you enough good things about Adobe.

As a side note I bought a Intuit Graphic Art Tablet for $120. It came with Adobe Photoshop elements and an AutoCAD program and three other programs for drawing and creating Cards, posters, etc.. You can also type into it with your keyboard for creating book pages and I can spend hours playing with it. If you are creative and would like to make Christmas cards, comics, signs or posters you might find it something you would enjoy. I have been drawing for years and drawing on a graphic tablet is amazing. You can try new things and if you screw up, just back up and redo it. It has so many settings for drawing with pastels, paint, charcoal and hundreds of effects you could spend a month just trying new things. I guarantee you would not be disappointed

Good luck and enjoy!

Following the Adobe mention above, I have been using Adobe Illustrator in my work regularly for years (you can also get a trial) which consists of having to do a similar thing to what you described. It is by far the standard in print and digital print design. However, if you are new to Adobe and haven't had any experience with Photoshop for instance, it may be a little tricky to get the hang of it and all it's nuances right away.

Pretty much anything you can think of design wise you can do and there's plenty of tools you can use to add flair and creative input into your pages to really make something unique, but again it can be a tricky beast to tame!

If you do decide to go down this route then I can guide you to some tutorials to get you started online, or if you'd prefer a bit more of a personal response then please feel free to message me any questions or problems you have and I will help out where I can

reply to post by kangajack


what a neat idea !!

i would use a free bookmaking software. they are easy to 'google'.

here a suggestion

and an other

Word processing software is not book writing software. It’s designed for creating business documents. While you can use Microsoft Word to write a book, it is stuffed with functions you don’t need (mail merge and drawing tools, anyone?). Yet all of those toolbars, ribbons and buttons still don’t give you the capabilities you really need.

they are very easy to use. some help you even to publish it.



.......... you are inspiring me............... !!

reply to post by constant_thought


Hey thank you so much for your reply!

I do have little experience in photo shop and I do have Photoshop CS5, I am whiling to download the other one you suggested if need, the trial.

Could you please message me and help me through steps of layout etc.

thanks