PageMaker was one of the first desktop publishing

Desktop publishing

Desktop publishing is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal computer.The term has been used for publishing at all levels, from small-circulation documents such as local newsletters to books, magazines and newspapers...

 programs, introduced in 1985 by Aldus Corporation

Aldus

Aldus Corporation, named after the 15th-century Venetian printer Aldus Manutius, was the inventor of the groundbreaking PageMaker software, a program that is generally credited with creating the desktop publishing field. The company was founded by Jeremy Jaech, Mark Sundstrom, Mike Templeman,...

, initially for the then-new Apple Macintosh and in 1987 for PCs

IBM PC compatible

IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...

 running Windows 1.0

Windows 1.0

Windows 1.0 is a 16-bit graphical operating environment, developed by Microsoft and released on 20 November 1985. It was Microsoft's first attempt to implement a multi-tasking graphical user interface-based operating environment on the PC platform. Windows 1.0 was the first version of Windows...

.

PageMaker was awarded an SPA Excellence in Software Award

Codie awards

The CODiE awards are annual awards issued by the Software and Information Industry Association for excellence in software development within the software industry....

 for Best New Use of a Computer in 1986.

PageMaker relies on Adobe Systems

Adobe Systems

Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...

' PostScript

PostScript

PostScript is a dynamically typed concatenative programming language created by John Warnock and Charles Geschke in 1982. It is best known for its use as a page description language in the electronic and desktop publishing areas. Adobe PostScript 3 is also the worldwide printing and imaging...

 page description language, and in 1994 Adobe Systems

Adobe Systems

Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...

 acquired Aldus and PageMaker.

As an application relying on a graphical user interface, PageMaker helped to popularize the Macintosh platform and the Windows environment.
Version 1.2 for Macintosh was released in 1986 and added support for PostScript fonts built into LaserWriter Plus or downloaded to the memory of other output devices.

Until May 1987 the initial Windows release was bundled with a full version of Windows 1.0.3, after that date a "Windows-runtime" with no task-switching capabilities was included.