David Blatner is a writer and speaker specializing in

desktop publishing Desktop publishing (DTP) is the creation of documents using page layout 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 c ...

software, such as

Adobe InDesign Adobe InDesign is a desktop publishing and page layout designing software application produced by Adobe Inc. and first released in 1999. It can be used to create works such as posters, flyers, brochures, magazines, newspapers, presentations, ...

Adobe Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Microsoft Windows, Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas Knoll, Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the indu ...

, and

QuarkXPress QuarkXPress is a desktop publishing software for creating and editing complex page layouts in a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) environment. It runs on macOS and Windows. It was first released by Quark, Inc. in 1987 and is still owned and ...

. Blatner has written 15 books about various subjects with over a half-million books in print, including ''Spectrums,'' ''The Joy of Pi,'' ''The Flying Book,'' ''Judaism For Dummies,'' and ''Silicon Mirage: The Art and Science of Virtual Reality.'' He also wrote a book on

in the 1990s, ''The QuarkXPress Book'' (winner of the 1991 Benjamin Franklin award for technical writing; later titled ''Real World QuarkXPress,'') but later changed to

, about which he has now written or co-written several books (including ''Real World InDesign''). A cofounder of the InDesignSecrets Web site and ''InDesign Magazine'', and cohosts a podcast by the same name. Blatner also co-hosts CreativePro Week, a week-long set of conferences for creative professionals. He lives outside Seattle, Washington, with his wife, Debbie Carlson, and two sons.

Early life

Blatner was born in Palo Alto and attended

Palo Alto High School Palo Alto Senior High School, commonly referred to locally as "Paly", is a comprehensive public high school in Palo Alto, California. Operated by the Palo Alto Unified School District, the school is one of two schools in the district, the other b ...

. His father is American psychiatric pioneer Adam Blatner and his mother is Barbara Blatner-Fikes. His step-father is

Richard Fikes Richard Earl Fikes (born October 4, 1942) is a computer scientist and Professor (Research) Emeritus in the Computer Science department of Stanford University. He is professionally active as a consultant and expert witness. He led Stanford's Know ...

. In the late 1980s, Blatner was a member of the Palo Alto theatrical improvisation troupe Creative Mayhem, which had also included director

Kirk Wise Kirk Wise (born August 24, 1963) is an American film director, animator and screenwriter best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Wise has directed Disney animated films such as ''Beauty and the Beast'', ''The Hunchback of Notre ...

and alternative comedy performer Jimmy Gunn. Blatner graduated from

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...

Selected non-computer books

*Blatner, David. ''Spectrums: Our Mind-boggling Universe from Infinitesimal to Infinity.'' New York: Walker & Company, 2012. (hardcover) *Blatner, David. ''The Flying Book: Everything You've Ever Wondered about Flying on Airplanes.'' New York: Walker & Company, 2004. (paperback) (hardcover) *Blatner, David and Ted Falcon. ''Judaism for Dummies.'' New York: Hungry Minds, 2001. (paperback) *Blatner, David. ''The Joy of Pi.'' New York: Walker & Company, 1997. (paperback) (hardcover)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blatner, David American technology writers Living people 1966 births Palo Alto High School alumni Pomona College alumni