Desktop publishing (abbreviated DTP) is the creation of printed materials using page layout software on a personal computer. When used skilfully, desktop publishing can produce printed literature with attractive layouts and typographic quality comparable to traditional typography and printing. This technology allows individuals, businesses, and other organizations to self-publish a wide range of printed matter—from menus and local newsletters to books, magazines, and newspapers—without the sometimes-prohibitive expense of commercial printing.

Desktop publishing methods provides more control over design, layout, and typography than word processing does. However, word processing software has evolved to include some, though by no means all, capabilities previously available only with professional printing or desktop publishing.

Desktop publishing began in 1983 with a program developed by James Bessen at a community newspaper in Philadelphia. That program, Type Processor One, ran on an IBM PC using a Hercules Graphics Card for a WYSIWYG display and was offered commercially by Bestinfo in 1984. (Desktop typesetting, with only limited page makeup facilities, had arrived in 1978–9 with the introduction of TeX, and was extended in the early 1980s by LaTeX.) The DTP market exploded in 1985 with the introduction in January of the Apple LaserWriter printer, and later in July with the introduction of PageMaker software from Aldus which rapidly became the DTP industry standard software.