LDO Bookshop: Software

Welcome to the software section of the LDO bookshop. This is meant to provide an overview of useful software for Liberal Democrat campaigners.

DTP

Adobe Pagemaker 7.0
Party standard desktop publishing (DTP) program. Even more expensive than Dreamweaver (c. £400) - but a proven tool to help win elections all over the country. Also includes Adobe Acrobat - which is useful for sending around artwork. If you have an old copy, it's much cheaper to buy the upgrade! (Adobe Pagemaker for the Mac and the Pagemaker upgrade for the Mac also available).

Microsoft Publisher 2002
Great reviews (e.g. the one on CNET) - and the party is starting to produce some materials that are reusable for Publisher. Also available as a cheaper upgrade.

Serif PagePlus 6.0
Not as well reviewed as Microsoft Publisher 2000 or Adobe Pagemaker 6.5 - but cheaper and used successfully by local campaigners all over the UK.

Meta Black Roman (Lining Figures) - the official party font
The cheapest way we've found to get the party font is at the FontFont Online Shop. To buy it, go to the front page of the online shop, type "Meta Black", click 'GO' - and then select the font package containing 'Meta Black', 'Meta Black Lining Figures' and 'Meta Black Expert'. If you only want a couple of words, and don't want to shell out the full $45 for the font, you can use the 'view text in this font' function to create graphics for the text you want to use. Once you've bought the font, cheer yourself up, by downloading some of the free fonts on the FontFont site.

Your Handwriting
Impressive piece of software. Installs quickly. First step is to print out some templates on your printer, and then handwrite out each letter of the alphabet one at a time. Next step is to scan the templates in - and the program automatically creates a font of the letters you have written. Some letters then need minor adjustment (up, down, larger, smaller). This is pretty straightforward to do. Net result: almost immediately, I had a font that let me type an alarmingly accurate copy of my handwriting.

Web site editors

Dreamweaver 4.0
Outstanding (although expensive - £250) web page design software. If you're serious about web design, this is an essential piece of software. It's the software of choice for many LDO activists. (Dreamweaver also available in Mac format).

Microsoft FrontPage 2002
Easy tool to set up a web-site over a weekend - and considerably cheaper than Dreamweaver - although if you want to experiment with your first website, don't forget that FrontPage Express is available free with Internet Explorer 5.5 and Netscape Composer is available free with Netscape Communicator. Microsoft Frontpage 2000 available as a cheaper upgrade if you have Microsoft Frontpage 98.

Campaigning software

EARS
The party's main campaigning and fundraising software. Not for sale via this site. Contact Terry Channings either by email or telephone 01503 272014 for more information.

Microsoft Autoroute Express
Useful for route planning (for deliveries etc.), but also has a surprisingly useful feature which lets you plot the location of post-codes on a map. Helpful to see where your members are, or where survey respondents live, or any other plotting of information which can help planning your campaign. Also worth using the drawing tools to add ward boundaries in your local constituency.

Graphics Software

Paint Shop Pro
Extremely useful and versatile graphics program. You can buy version 4 for under £10, and version 7 (the latest) for about £80. Both are excellent, although the latter is better.