Publisher 2010 keeps me in line the way others can't

My job typically has me writing about Microsoft OneNote, but allow me to switch gears for a moment. Once each quarter, I volunteer to work on an electronic newsletter for Microsoft's Most Valuable Professional (MVP) community. MVPs are individuals who don't work for Microsoft, but who share their vast knowledge about our products with other people — in local software user communities, on blogs and Web sites, in books and publications, and via social networking.

Making technical things understandable for more people is a shared goal of MVPs and writers like me. By working on the MVP newsletter, I get to help celebrate our MVPs in the community and showcase their content contributions and accomplishments throughout the year.

Though you can do newsletters in Microsoft Word or other programs, Publisher is the best tool for the job because you can freely move objects (blocks of text, images, line art, and so on) anywhere on the page to bring a design together. I originally created the design template in Publisher 2007, but as we began work on Microsoft Office 2010, I immediately switched to the Publisher 2010 Beta.

The addition of the ribbon was an instant favorite because it's such a great interface for a design program. It functions like a toolbelt that keeps everything at my fingertips. But I really started to love the new version when I stumbled upon the new alignment features, which are practically invisible until you begin using the program.
 

At the start, I relied on the standard green guides that I drew on the page to align the various stories, photos, and headlines. As I was slowly moving things into place, I suddenly noticed new pink guides appear on my screen that provided additional clues to how my objects would best align. The old "snap to guide" behavior was still there, but it had gotten a lot smarter!

The new pink guides automatically tell me where the precise center of a column is, for example. No more pixel-by-pixel measuring or guessing. If I like the center guide that appears — I just snap the object to it and I'm done. Likewise, I can automatically align objects near the left, right, top, or bottom edge. Publisher looks over the rest of the page and the other objects on it to help me see where things could line up evenly. I don't always have to take the suggestion, but in most cases, it's a snap!

Matt Wood, Senior Development Lead on the Publisher Team, recently talked about the new alignment features in Publisher 2010. This video briefly shows the new guides in action:
 

 
When you rely on software to get your work done, it's often the little changes that make upgrading to a new version worthwhile. For me, the new alignment features in Publisher 2010 are a great example of this. Such small improvements are easily overlooked, but they're often just the thing that make using a product delightful.

So, if you have a newsletter or flyer or something else to design for your work, your school, or your family, I really hope you'll give Publisher 2010 a try.

-- Michael C. Oldenburg