In print publishing, using the computer to lay out text and illustrations prior to creating film negatives for every page or going directly to plate. Prior to digital workflow, the typesetting and prepress stages were far more time consuming and labor-intensive. Handwritten or typewriter-written manuscripts had to be re-keyed for typesetting, and artwork had to be photographed to the exact size of the final layout.
Today, text is delivered by the author in a word processing file, and artwork is provided as a digital image either from the application that created it or from a scanner. The computer is used to integrate everything on screen and resize elements as required to fit the page. See
CTP and
desktop publishing.