Desktop publishing is different from word processing in the way that it handles text and graphics.
Features such as layers, watermarks, multiple columns, text wrapping, text threading, and text blocks are all features found in most desktop publishing programs. Today with advanced word processing programs such as Word, these features are also being added to word processing. Desktop publishing's real power is in the ability to manage threaded text blocks. Think of a newspaper and how the cover story will usually flow onto another page. This flow, or connection, is called threading, and it allows the author to add or delete text to these text boxes and the text will flow and stay connected together.