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PROS: Comes with scanner and media clips, works well with WordPerfect CONS: Sluggish, difficult to learn and use, lacks extensive interactive hyperlinking Many users put presentations together on their word […]

PROS: Low price, fine multimedia interactivity and presentation file management CONS: No outliner, sluggish If you contended with Asymetrix's previous entry in the presentation arena--Multimedia Make Your Point--you'll be relieved […]

PROS: Competitive price, easy to learn and use, excellent multimedia interactivity CONS: Outliner needs better word processor support Harvard Graphics is designed with both the power user and the part-time […]

PROS: Easy to use and learn, excellent integration with other Lotus products CONS: Lacks strong interactive features Lotus touts its latest revision of Freelance as 'easy to learn, easy to […]

Rating: * * * 1/2 Adobe Illustrator Version Reviewed: 5.0 List Price: $595 Average Street Price: $370 Publisher: Adobe Systems, (415) 961-4400, (800) 833-6687 MAC Adobe Illustrator has long been […]

Serif's $59.95 PagePlus 2.0 is the leading economy desktop publishing (DTP) software package on the market. It includes features such as spot color separation and full incremental text rotation that are normally found only in high-end DTP applications.

Let's imagine you've prepared a brochure to get new business for your consulting service. You plan to reel in clients by citing the brilliant successes you've had with other companies. […]

The LaserJet 4 is the best LaserJet produced and the best value ever offered by Hewlett-Packard. Although the $1,759 LaserJet 4 costs $200 less than the LaserJet III, the LaserJet 4 provides four times the resolution, 37 more fonts, twice the speed and vastly better print quality.

Micrografx's Graphics Works, based on the Windows Draw vector draw program, includes applications such as PhotoMagic, SlideShow, WinChart and Windows OrgChart. The features are appropriate for small businesses and home-based businesses. The cost is $295.

IntelliDraw 1.0 is a powerful program, and users may have to take some time to become familiar with all of the features of the program. A well-designed training video describes most of the key features. The cost is $299.

The main types of font formats include bitmapped fonts, Type 1 PostScript fonts, Type 3 PostScript fonts, Intellifont fonts, Nimbus Q and TrueType fonts.

Both Ares' FontMonger and Atech Software's AllType are able to convert fonts from one format to another format. Both products are easy to use and produce good results.

The options in converting graphics from one format to another format include using Windows Clipboard, using Windows' Object Linking and Embedding and using a paint or draw program.

Pixie is appropriate for computer users who make occasional presentations. The program is easy to use and fairly inexpensive. Users can create several types of charts, but the method of importing graphics could be better. The suggested price is $295.

WEB CREATION TOOLS Hands-On Web Site Spinners Quicksite Developer's Edition 2.0 RATING: ** WIN WebEdit Pro 2.0 RATING: ** 1/2 WIN 95 Today's Web authoring programs are targeted at beginners […]

Near-automatic page conversion from within QuarkXPress Very Good / Acceptable (3.5 of 5 mice) If you switch page-layout programs from Adobe PageMaker to QuarkXPress, you have to worry about more […]

Merge letterhead, bar codes, and watermarks into documents Reviews / Printing Utilities Acceptable/Very Good (3.5 of 5 mice) Despite technology's advances, printing letters on your business stationery is still a […]

Electronic-document underdog takes aim at Adobe Acrobat Reviews / Electronic Publishing Acceptable/Very Good (3.5 of 5 mice) YOU CAN BUY SEVERAL flavors of portable-electronic-document software, but only Adobe Acrobat has […]

OmniForm 2.0 Rating: *** 1/2 WIN 95/ WIN Forms impose all types of time-consuming headaches on small businesses. If we're not constantly filling them out, we're creating them for one […]

8 Business Vectra 515MCx Small Business Center Rating: * * * 1/2 Aspire 2655 Rating: **** We've finally gotten respect. Mainstream computer companies now realize the gold mine that the […]

Effortless special effects CREATING BEVELS, SHADOWS, cutouts, and other special effects in Photoshop can be a time-consuming, trial-and-error process--unless you use Alien Skin's The Black Box. Users of version 1.0 […]

Reviews Rating Key 5.0 mice Outstanding 4.0 mice Very Good 3.0 mice Acceptable 2.0 mice Poor 1.0 mice Seriously Flawed Bomb! Dangerous KPT Vector Effects 1.0 mmmmh /Price: $199 (list). […]

Rating: * * * * FreeHand 5.0 List/Average Street Price: $595/$395 Publisher: Macromedia, 415-252-2000, 800-989-3762 MAC It's always nice to see good products get even better. Such is the case […]

Astound 2.0 Adds Tools for Creating Multimedia Presentations Astound 2.0 for Windows Multimedia presentation package with powerful integrated utilities. Gold Disk, Inc., 800/835-5889, List price: $299 How do you take […]

Presentation Partner 1.05 Predesigned presentations for use with other programs. Midisoft, 800/776-6434, 206/881-7176 Price: $149.95 ($99.95 if you own a supported presentation package) Harvard Spotlight 1.0 Lets you run a […]

PROS: Good print quality, sturdy construction CONS: Slowest unit reviewed A. stripped-down version of the CJ-300, the ProWriter SpeedJet CJ-300Lite costs about $75 less and provides about 75 percent of […]

PROS: Fast, ties for best output, great manual, compact design CONS: Sparse controls Every bit of praise we lavished on the BJ-100 applies to the BJ-200e, and then some. Canon's […]

PROS: Impeccable paper handling, best output, three-year warranty. CONS: Slow, pricey, no toll-free support For many years, Hewlett-Packard's DeskJet printers have been among the most popular ink jets around, and […]

PROS: Fast, high-capacity input tray, color upgrade available CONS: Poor output quality, most expensive unit reviewed, poor envelope handling This is the fastest printer in the roundup, rolling out pages […]

PROS: Ties for best output, great manual, lowest price, compact design CONS: Sparse controls, no output tray The $199 Canon BJ-100 is a scaled-down version of the BJ-200e (reviewed next), […]

PROS: Sleek design CONS: Poor output and paper handling, no toll-free support Looks aren't everything. The $249 Projet II boasts a visually striking design, but given a choice, we'd prefer […]

Presentations 3.0 Improved tools for novices; OLE 2.0 support. WordPerfect/Novell Applications Group; 800/451-5151, 801/225-5000; List price: $395, upgrade $99, competitive upgrade $129 With the release of WordPerfect's Presentations 3.0, WordPerfect […]

CorelFlow 2.0 Corel Corp. 800/772-6735 List price: $99 ABC SnapGraphics 2.0 Micrografx 800/676-3110 List price: $49 through March, then $99 Ever tried to create a flowchart or diagram with a […]

Persuasion 3.0 Vastly improved, but still daunting for beginners. Adobe Systems 800/685-3617 List price: $495, upgrade $150 There's no question that Persuasion was in dire need of an upgrade. Compared […]

Ambra Computer's 486DX2-50 is a reasonably priced, high-speed, color notebook computer with very good expansion capabilities. It includes a 200MB hard drive and a 256-color dual-scan passive-matrix monitor. The trackball and power button are poorly positioned. Other design flaws are noted.

For the novice, the most exciting aspect is AutoCreate. Similar to Microsoft Publisher's Wizards, AutoCreate builds a layout (newsletter, brochure, flier, and so forth) according to your specifications, prompting you […]

Rating: * * * * WIN Microsoft Publisher provides more help to the wet-behind-the-ears DTPer than any other product. Its Cue Cards, Wizards, QuickDemos, templates, Helpful Pointers, and Reminders all […]

Rating: * * PFS:Publisher v1.10 Rating: * * 1/2 WIN Part of the SoftKey (formerly Spinnaker) Easy Working series, Easy Working Desktop Publisher is the least expensive program in this […]

Rating: **** Aldus PhotoStyler Version Reviewed: 2.0 List Price: $795; upgrade from version 1.0, $150 Average Street Price: $450 Publisher: Aldus (206) 622-5500, (800) 333-2538 WIN PhotoStyler was one of […]

Super Show & Tell 1.1 Easy-to-use tools for creating multimedia presentations fast; combines graphics, sound, animation, and video. Ask Me Multimedia Inc. 800/275-6311, 612/531-0603. List price: $149.95 Ask Me Multimedia's […]

PROS: Powerful color and graphics features, well integrated with Word and Excel CONS: A little difficult to learn and use Two years ago the big name in presentation graphics was […]

Printers capable of 600 dots per inch (dpi) are superior in many ways to 300-pdi printers. For example, their resolution is four times higher than that of 300-dpi printers, and 600 dpi-printers print faster than 300-dpi printers.