Product Reviews

Publisher 98 is one of a host of programs aiming to plug the gap between cheap-but-basic layout using a word processor and high-end (and high-priced) professional DTP applications like QuarkXPress and PageMaker.

It's a tricky gap to fill. Ideally you want all the layout tools of the big boys - multiple columns, graphics, image and text manipulation, linked text chains and so forth - in a form non-professional designers will understand.

Whereas Serif PagePlus 5, Publisher 98's main rival, is a general purpose DTP tool, the Microsoft program is pitched more at businesses. And the new version dovetails very well with Office 97, using the same Office Assistants, AutoCorrect tools and as-you-type spellchecking.

It's on the design side, though, that Publisher 98 really hits the mark. It is ready for virtually any business document you'll ever need. You can make letterheads, invoices, compliments slips, and fax covers with the minimum of effort.

Documents are constructed using Wizards - which practically do the job for you, and have the flexibility to retrace their steps. A simple click changes your layout as often as you change your mind, and a scrolling menu makes it just as easy to alter your colour scheme. If you get tired of the pre-set Wizard designs, you can also work manually on a blank page with Publisher's powerful and easy-to-use DTP tools.

The Publisher

ADVERTISEMENT

interface is simple. Templates are flexible, fast to set up and elegant, something that sets it apart from PagePlus 5. The Serif program is powerful and good, but doesn't have the polish of Publisher 98.

The clip art bundles that come with these packages illustrate the difference. PagePlus has 17,500 images, but most of these are awful and the templates are even worse. Publisher 98's collection is considerably better.

Underneath its friendly veneer, PagePlus is quite complicated. You can convert print documents to web pages, but only via a wizard that checks your layouts and tells you what's going to cause problems. Very clever, very necessary, but way over the head of most casual users. Publisher 98 redesigns your document for the web using the same theme and colours, but optimising the layout to view with a browser. It even breaks your document up into manageable pages and automatically links them together. You don't get pixel-perfect translation from print to web page, but does that really matter?

There are limitations, though. While Publisher 98 is perfect for office or home use (where the output device is a desktop printer) or to produce files you'll ask your local print shop to output on continuous-tone printers, it isn't geared up to produce separations for commercial printers. You can output pages as eps files which can be imported into a QuarkXPress document, say, and output from there, but if you anticipate long four-colour print runs, this is the wrong package.

With this exception in mind, Publisher 98 is an extremely good design tool for those with no real design training. It's fast, friendly and flexible for the office. At home it's just as effective, because its clip art images and easy-to-use DTP tools aren't purely business-orientated. At the price, it's good value. Existing users can upgrade for £49.99, and while the basic DTP tools are largely unchanged, it's worth it for the new version's better clip art and excellent design wizards.