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When a thousand words simply won't do, it's time to add a picture. If you rely on the Web, newspaper advertisements, fliers, or business reports to spread the word about […]

We Test Six DTP Packages That Will Have You Designing Painlessly and Inexpensively With all the clamor about the World Wide Web these days, it's easy to forget the real […]

Adobe PageMaker and QuarkXPress are great for print publishing, but can you use those pages on the Web? Conversion tools help your layouts make the leap DESKTOPmedia THE WEB IS […]

These Speedy 166MHz Systems Will Get You Where You Want To Go In a Flash IF THAT OLD CLUNKER ON YOUR DESK IS BECOMING AN increasing source of frustration, there's […]

8 A New Breed of Tape Backup Drives Works Faster and Holds More Data JUST ABOUT EVERYBODY HAS A HORROR STORY OR TWO about losing important data. Perhaps you suddenly […]

We Created Th Ultimate Windows 95 Pentium. Here's How The Top Eight Manufacturers Measure Up Hard Disk--The more the merrier. You'll want at least 1GB and plan on 2SB if […]

So you want to publish some documents for your business, perhaps a monthly newsletter, a manual, or a few brochures. The problem is that you've got too many other chores […]

Imagine that a phone call comes in your computer identifies the caller's phone number, checks that number against your personal information manager, displays a dialog box informing you of the […]

Problem: You need to to combine a couple of images for an ad you're creating. Or you want to spruce up a presentation with a photograph, only to find out […]

THE RIGHT DIAGRAM WILL MAKE A POINT QUICKLY AND clearly. The wrong one, however, will leave your audience confused. Typically, businesspeople need to create flowcharts, floor plans, schematics, computer network […]

For churning out letters, charts, and spreadsheets, today's ink jets are a smarter choice than lasers--if you choose the right one. We review 10 models priced from $199 to $369. […]

The $2,499 MidWest Micro Elite Dual-Scan Color SoundBook stands out from other notebook computers due to its expansion options, display capabilities and built-in sound card. Toshiba American Information Systems' $2,009 Toshiba Satellite T1910CS is a good, inexpensive travel notebook.

Color printers can cost less than some monochrome laser printers. Although they are usually slower and more expensive to run than monochrome printers, color printers can greatly enhance documents that include graphics. Eight color printers are evaluated.

YOU WANT TO PROMOTE YOUR COMPANY'S SERVICES with a newsletter, but you don't want the project to become a full-time job.... You've just had an inspiration for a Fourth of […]

The $3,299 MidWest Micro System is the best bargain among the seven pentium-based microcomputer systems evaluated, although the $4,127 Gateway 2000 offers better speed and graphics. Each computer is evaluated on features and performance.

Lotus Ami Pro 3.01, Microsoft Word 6.0 for Windows and WordPerfect 6.0 for Windows each cost about $495. Features of each are evaluated including disk space requirements, ease-of-learning, interface quality, and editing and formatting features.

Ten draw programs for Microsoft Windows are evaluated. Full-featured applications, economy packages and specialized illustration packages are evaluated. Features such as layering, typesetting options and automatic drawing features are compared. Prices range from $129 to $695.

Ten 300-dpi laser printers are evaluated. Each printer sells for less than $1,000. Each printer's performance on Microsoft Word for Windows, Aldus PageMaker, CorelDRAW! and Adobe Photoshop was tested. Features of each printer are specified.

A computer needs a display adapter and a monitor to display text or graphics. Advice to help consumers select an adapter and a monitor that are appropriate for their needs is provided. Terms such as resolution, refresh rate and dot pitch are explained.

To most people, desktop publishing (DTP) means Macintoshes running QuarkXPress or PageMaker. Desktop publishing is so entrenched on the Macintosh platform, in fact, that we desktop publishers who have hung […]

Computer users can help Windows run more quickly by installing additional RAM, a RAM drive, a graphics accelerator, a data-compression utility or a macro utility.

Five DOS paint programs and five Windows paint programs are rated on the basis of features such as special effects and image control. The prices range from $129.95 for DeluxePaint II Enhanced to $795 for Aldus PhotoStyler 1.1.

The first step that computer users should take in selecting a clip art package is to determine which graphics file formats their software supports. The clip art should have smooth lines, smooth shading and realistic colors.

Computers equipped with the proper software can serve as typesetters. Typeface refers to the style of type, while font refers to the size and weight of the typeface.

Computer users can improve the performance of their PCs through add-ons for their printers. Dot-matrix printers can benefit from type managers, ink-jet printers can benefit from bitmapped font cartridges and laser printers can benefit from scalable soft fonts.

Seven paint and draw programs are rated on the basis of such features as number of fonts and clip-art pieces, script capability and drawing tools. The prices range from $149.95 for Windows Draw! 3.0 to $795 for the CD-ROM version of CorelDRAW! 2.01.

Users of word processors can save time by creating macros, which are a group of programmed keystrokes and commands that are executed by the word processor. Ten useful macros are discussed.

IF BILLING CLIENTS IS A DREADED TASK FOR YOU, LET WordPerfect automate the process with a keyboard merge. This type of merge uses only a primary file--a secondary file isn't […]

If ever there was a case for business-interruption insurance, it was made pointedly when an explosion rocked New York's World Trade Center, sending it into darkness for weeks and forcing [...]

Graphics software can color, shade, crop and size clip art. The basic types of computer graphics formats are bitmapped and vector. Several clip-art software packages are available.

The first step in selecting a font package is to determine whether a Type 1 or TrueType font is required. Businesslike typefaces include Helvetica and Times, while more elegant typefaces include Avant Garde and Garamond.

Rating: **** PagePlus Publishing Suite Average Street Price: $199 Publisher: Serif, 603-889-8650, 800-697-3743 (WIN) We don't know how they do it. Serif continues to pack more useful features into PagePlus […]

LOOKS AREN'T EVERYTHING. IT'S AN ADAGE THAT APPLIES to design work as well as life in general. When a designer begins work on a brochure, for example, the first thing […]

PROS: Fast, easy to install and use, color upgrade available, high-capacity input tray CONS: Expensive, envelopes hard to print, poor support policies Olivetti's $349 JP 450 is the second-fastest printer […]

PROS: Fine media handling, easy to use, high-capacity input tray CONS: Poor quality output, unclear installation procedure, no toll-free support number Lexmark's $279 ExecJet II excels in many respects. It […]

PROS: Elegant software interface, built-in scalable fonts, bidirectional parallel port CONS: Paper handling problems, incomplete installation instructions This machine is truly a mixed bag. Middle-of-the-road performance and merely decent print […]

Version 3.0 of Harvard Graphics stresses quality over quantity. Instead of piling on the latest whiz-bang multimedia tools as some of its competitors have, Software Publishing focuses on adding ease-of-use […]

IN A TYPICAL YEAR, YOU PROBABLY NEED TO GENERATE a brochure or two, some presentations, maybe a series of newsletters. Doubtless, each job requires that you create or import a […]

Compaq's $2,338 Contura 4/25C is a color notebook computer that is powerful and dependable, yet relatively inexpensive. The computer does not support PCMCIA expansion and the keyboard arrangement is somewhat unusual. Its small, built-in trackball is easy to use.

Rating: * * * * MAC Previously called Personal Press, Aldus's HomePublisher is the same well-rounded program in a new box with 200 clip art images and some fonts thrown […]

Rating: * * Pressworks v1.0 Rating: * * 1/2 Publish It! v4.0 Rating: * * 1/2 WIN These three programs are so similar that it makes little sense to talk […]

Rating: * * * 1/2 PowerPoint Version Reviewed: 4.0 List Price: $495 Average Street Price: $350 Publisher: Microsoft, (206) 882-8080, (800) 426-9400 WIN Let's face it, most of us don't […]