Product Reviews

If you want to lay out the parish newsletter or a football fanzine, you could do it in a word processor - but it might end up looking a bit amateurish. If you want your publication to look really polished, you need a desktop publishing (DTP) package. The trouble is, professional DTP packages, such as Adobe's InDesign, which is used to design Computer Buyer, cost hundreds of pounds. Serif's PagePlus offers a stripped-down approach for the less well heeled. We looked at the new release - version 9.

PagePlus lets you arrange your work in columns and boxes just like professionally printed magazines. The software offers all the layout options you could possible want. You can create 'artistic' text for headings and 'frame' text for multi-column, multi-page articles. You can import photos and vector-based line drawings, or use the built-in drawing tools to create illustrations and shapes directly on the page. The Resource CD supplied includes not just a vast library of project templates to work from, but also 20 professionally written tutorials to show you how to get the best out of the program and its features.

It uses templates, wizards and colour schemes to help you create publications quickly and customise them with different 'looks' using just a couple of mouse-clicks. Its rival Microsoft Publisher offers similar features,

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but PagePlus goes further, with more elaborate graphical and layout tools.

PagePlus also has a Web publishing mode that you can use for designing Web pages. The previous version of PagePlus enabled you to upload finished Web pages to your ISP's Web server. Version 9 includes a 'maintenance' mode that enables you to check these uploaded files, renaming and deleting them as necessary.

Its print output options have been revised, too. In the past, getting pages from budget DTP programs printed by a professional printing press has been a problem. Printing on this scale is a very technical process, and print bureaus prefer to stick to tried-and-tested programs, such as QuarkXPress and InDesign. Recently, though, it has become more common to print from Adobe's PDF format.

PagePlus 9 can now export PDF files with all the high-resolution colour and print information needed. And if you still can't find a print bureau, you can use the new SerifPrintShop service - you can submit files online, order printed output, track the progress of your order and have the work delivered to your door.

We've discussed the most significant new features in version 9 above - but the list doesn't end there. It's now much easier to create tables, thanks to a new Table toolbar, and there are extensive controls for creating and styling 3D shapes, including lighting, pattern, texture and perspective controls (see the walkthrough below).

The upshot is that the best budget page layout program on the market has just been made even better. If we have to make any criticism, it would be that its main screen can give you a bit of an eyeful. The sheer number of effects on offer can make things confusing at times - but then, they also make PagePlus 9 exciting to use. Professionals may prefer the more sober approach of programs such as QuarkXPress or InDesign, but for amateurs on a budget, nothing else comes close to PagePlus 9.