Product Reviews

Serif's PagePlus X2 aims to attract users by offering a wider breadth of tools than its competitors, all for an attractively low price. This version also introduces Vista support, but it's the new tools that are more exciting.

First are the options to create a PDF slideshow. This uses each page from a multi-page document as a slide. The advantage of using PDF files is that anyone on any platform with the free Adobe Reader can view the slideshows. You can add transition effects and even music and video clips. PowerPoint still has the lead when it comes to the range of effects and slide transitions, but for the occasional user PagePlus will easily do the job.

Print is increasingly being replaced by email and websites, so PagePlus X2 can now save your documents in HTML format. It's a quick and easy way to send out newsletters and other complex documents by email. It outputs HTML pages using CSS rather than tables for layout, and the sample pages we tested were correctly validated as HTML 4.01 Transitional. HTML's limitations mean that designs produced this way aren't quite as attractive as the paper versions, but they're close enough. It's not

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entirely reliable, though, and the software crashed when we tried to convert the sample calendars to HTML.

For creating flowcharts, Serif has updated the drawing tools to include connector tools that link graphics within a chart, so that moving one object automatically adjusts the position of connected objects. PagePlus doesn't have the same level of tools as Visio, but for simple charts it's more than capable.

Serif has also included a large range of templates, so it's easy to get started with projects such as calendars, CD labels and business cards, as well as more conventional newsletters and business documents.

Thankfully, Serif hasn't lost sight of more basic DTP functions. The redesigned Text Styles palette shows a preview of each text style in a similar way to Office 2007, and makes it easier to change the style of multiple pieces of text. The interface has gained some useful improvements as well, such as the new Media Bar, which acts as a picture browser and allows you to manage and insert images into your documents more easily.

Our main complaint is that the program's documentation doesn't explain its features very well. The printed manual tends merely to list features without explaining how they work. It also has an annoying habit of referring you to the program's online help, which often left us flicking back and forth between the manual and the web to find out how to perform a task.

Still, PagePlus works well as a general-purpose page-layout tool. Business users might prefer a more business-focused alternative, such as Microsoft's Publisher. However, PagePlus X2 is a good choice for home and small business users who need to turn their hand to a wide range of printing and publishing tasks.