Free Software, Part 2

Part 1.

I would like to share with you another open source program that I really like: OpenOffice. Like Microsoft Office, only free. In addition to word processing, spreadsheet and database features, the OpenOffice suite also has a really nifty (but basic) design program: OpenOffice Draw. Overnight Prints recommends Draw as one of the programs in which to design postcards. Since we will be printing our invites through them, I thought I'd try it out.

Here's what OpenOffice looks like when you first open the program:

Check out the nifty color feature- you can select colors as CMYK or RGB:

I really like how you can work on the document and see a preview simultaneously:

One of the things I really like about OpenOffice is that it saves the document in the OpenDocument format, which means it can be read by any other program in the OpenOffice Suite. You also have the option of exporting the file as a .pdf, which is fabulous if you want to share it with other people who don't have the program or submit your design to be printed.

(And yes, that is a mock-up of our invitation, which will be discussed in a whole separate series of posts.)