The Print Shop is a

desktop publishing Desktop publishing (DTP) is the creation of documents using dedicated software on a personal ("desktop") computer. It was first used almost exclusively for print publications, but now it also assists in the creation of various forms of online co ...

software package originally published in 1984 by

Broderbund Broderbund Software, Inc. (stylized as Brøderbund) was an American maker of video games, educational software, and productivity tools. Broderbund is best known for the 8-bit video game hits '' Choplifter'', '' Lode Runner'', '' Karateka'', and ...

. It was unique in that it provided libraries of

clip art Clip art (also clipart, clip-art) is a type of graphic art. Pieces are pre-made images used to illustrate any medium. Today, clip art is used extensively and comes in many forms, both electronic and printed. However, most clip art today is creat ...

and templates through a simple interface to build signs, posters and banners with household

dot-matrix printer Dot matrix printing, sometimes called impact matrix printing, is a computer printing process in which ink is applied to a surface using a relatively low-resolution dot matrix for layout. Dot matrix printers are a type of impact printer that p ...

InfoWorld ''InfoWorld'' (''IW'') is an American information technology media business. Founded in 1978, it began as a monthly magazine. In 2007, it transitioned to a Web-only publication. Its parent company is International Data Group, and its sister pu ...

magazine, page 57 - 17 September 1984 Over the years, the software has been updated to accommodate changing

file format A file format is a Computer standard, standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. It specifies how bits are used to encode information in a digital storage medium. File formats may be either proprietary format, pr ...

s and

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James Printer (1640 ...

technologies. The original version was for the

Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...

and created signs, cards, banners, and letterheads. Designed by David Balsam and programmed by Martin Kahn, it became one of the most popular Apple II titles of all time. Versions for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

, Commodore 64, and Atari 8-bit computers followed, as did a variant for the

Apple IIGS The Apple IIGS (styled as II) is a 16-bit personal computer produced by Apple Inc., Apple Computer beginning in September 1986. It is the fifth and most powerful model of the Apple II family. The "GS" in the name stands for "Graphics and Sound" ...

Reception

The Print Shop was very successful. In 1985, it and ''

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, three eccentric ...

'' were reportedly the two most widely

pirated Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, ...

Commodore 64 programs. ''II Computing'' listed it seventh on the magazine's list of top Apple II non-game, non-educational software as of late 1985, based on sales and market-share data. In 1988, Broderbund announced that the company had sold more than one million copies, and that sales of the software comprised 4% of the entire United States software market in 1987. In April 1989, it was awarded a "Diamond" certification from the

Software Publishers Association The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) is a trade association dedicated to the entertainment, consumer and business software industries. Established in 1984 as the Software Publishers Association (SPA), the SIIA took its new nam ...

for sales above 500,000 units. The series comprised 29% of Broderbund revenue in fiscal year 1992. ''

Creative Computing ''Creative Computing'' was one of the earliest magazines covering the microcomputer revolution. Published from October 1974 until December 1985, the magazine covered the spectrum of hobbyist/home/personal computing in a more accessible format t ...

''s Betsy Staples, a self-described "truly uncreative person", praised the Apple II version of The Print Shop as "for me—and others of my ilk". Although the review copy of the software did not have documentation, she stated that "it will be superfluous. The program is completely self-documenting". Staples concluded that The Print Shop was "one of the most unusual and useful programs I have seen in a long time". ''

Ahoy! ''Ahoy!'' was a computer magazine published between January 1984 and January 1989 in the US, covering on all Commodore color computers, primarily Commodore 64 and Amiga. History The first issue of ''Ahoy!'' was published in January 1984. The ...

''s reviewer called the Commodore 64 version of The Print Shop "one of the best thought out, easiest to use packages I've come across", reporting that he did not need to use the manual to produce his first greeting cards. He predicted that the software "is destined to become one of the most popular packages for the Commodore 64". Agreeing on the documentation not being needed, ''

'' concluded that The Print Shop was an "easy-to-use, complete, fun" way "to do new things with your printer". ''II Computing'' criticized the Apple II version's inflexible layout options and lack of print preview, but concluded that it "is truly 'a graphics utility for the rest of us', encouraging creativity and self-expression ... you'll want to use this program over and over again".

The Print Shop Companion

The Print Shop Companion, developed by Roland Gustafsson and released in 1985, added a calendar feature, an updated graphic editor,

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

and border editors, and a "Creature Maker" game, as well as an expanded library of fonts, borders, and graphics. Initially, to use the new fonts and borders in The Print Shop Companion had to modify the original program; subsequent releases of The Print Shop included built-in support for Companion. In 1986, the first

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

version was released. It featured graphics by Marney Morris and was the most powerful version available at the time. It was popular in schools and contained a unique feature with which graphics could be transferred to or from a

MacPaint MacPaint is a raster graphics editor developed by Apple Computer and released alongside the original Macintosh personal computer on January 24, 1984. It was sold bundled with its word processing counterpart, MacWrite, for US$195. MacPaint was n ...

file. Graphics libraries for The Print Shop came from Broderbund and other vendors. Libraries were produced for the original version and continued to be rolled out as late as the 1990s. User-produced graphics were also commonly distributed by various user groups, and even submitted to

disk magazine A disk magazine, colloquially known as a diskmag or diskzine, is a magazine that is distributed in electronic form to be read using computers. These had some popularity in the 1980s and 1990s as periodicals distributed on floppy disk, hence t ...

s, such as the ''

Softdisk Softdisk was a computer program, software and Internet company based in Shreveport, Louisiana. Founded in 1981, its original products were disk magazines (which they termed "magazettes", for "magazine on diskette"). It was affiliated and partly ...

'' family of magazines.

The New Print Shop and subsequent versions

The New Print Shop came out in 1988 for Apple II and

, and improved on the original. Print Shop Deluxe, for Mac, MS-DOS, and

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

, followed in 1993. Deluxe used a new all-graphical interface still found in Print Shop programs today and allowed for the creation of calendars. Print Shop Deluxe Companion added new modules and graphics, and the Ensemble version combined The Print Shop, the Companion, and several graphics libraries on one CD. Many new versions of The Print Shop followed, such as Ensemble II. Now over 20 years old, Print Shop still generates printed

greeting card A greeting card is a piece of card stock, usually with an illustration or photo, made of high quality paper featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions such as birthday ...

s, banners, and signs. It offers new types of printed output, including CD and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

labels and inserts,

iPod The iPod is a series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices that were designed and marketed by Apple Inc. from 2001 to 2022. The iPod Classic#1st generation, first version was released on November 10, 2001, about mon ...

skins, and

photo book A photo book or photobook is a book in which photographs make a significant contribution to the overall content. A photo book is related to and also often used as a coffee table book. Early Early photo books are characterized by their use of ...

pages. For small-business users, it also offers projects such as

business card Business cards are card stock, cards bearing business information about a company or individual. They are shared during formal introductions as a convenience and a memory aid. A business card typically includes the giver's name, types of co ...

s, letterheads, and

presentation A presentation conveys information from a speaker to an audience. Presentations are typically demonstrations, introduction, lecture, or speech meant to inform, persuade, inspire, motivate, build goodwill, or present a new idea/product. Presenta ...

s. On January 15, 2010, a new version for the PC-supporting

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, ...

titled The Print Shop 2.0 was released, published by Encore, Inc. It is published in Standard, Deluxe, and Professional variants. To address Windows 7 support for pre-2.0 projects, an incremental release to the old line, The Print Shop Version 2.1 was released in July 2010. For macOS (formerly Mac OS X), the most recent version is 4.0, developed and published by Software MacKiev, and released in December 2017. An update to provide 64-bit compatibility (version 4.1) was released in December 2021.

Reception

''Print Shop Deluxe'' was reviewed in the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Guide Book where it was praised for "produc nghigh-quality greeting-cards, signs, stationery, banners, calendars, gift tags and posters".

Notes

External links

* Current site fo
The Print Shop 23 for Windows 10
* Current site fo
The Print Shop for PC & Mac

Broderbund website

The Print Shop Club
an Apple 2 version running in emulation in the browser {{DEFAULTSORT:Print Shop, The Desktop publishing software Apple II software Atari 8-bit computer software Commodore 64 software DOS software Classic Mac OS software Desktop publishing software for Windows 1984 software

Reception

The Print Shop Companion

The New Print Shop and subsequent versions

Reception

See also

Notes

External links