I'm looking for an easy to learn layout program that allows me to create alternating page layouts. MS Word does NOT seem to have this feature (argh!).
By simplest I mean lowest learning curve. This is subjective, I know, but anything easier than QuarkXpress or InDesign would be wonderful. Of course, if no such beast exists and I need to use Quark or InDesign that knowledge would be nice to know too.
The design I need to work with is this: A book with the main text on the left hand pages in two columns and a two column layout on the right with supporting text in one column and lines in the other for taking notes.
All columns are full page height. Left page columns are equal width and right page columns have the left side column slightly smaller, maybe a 40% / 60% split.
Something like this:
This is the left | text that flows || this is right |___________
hand page with | in two columns || hand page with |___________
|| text in one |___________
|| column and lines |___________
|| in the other. |___________
I don't want to put too much time into learning new software and won't need many features beyond this layout. I'm currently download the InDesign trial to give that a try but from what I read online, I could be in for a bit of a steep learning curve.
I guess what the hard part is, is that I expect to paste in a whole bunch of existing text into the first left hand page and the text should never appear on any right hand page. Supporting text will be added later on the right hand page.
Help locating such software (or that nothing "easy" exists) very appreciated! Please let me know if comments if I need more detail on any of this.