Print Like a Pro With Publishing Software

Home publishing programs are among the best-selling software titles in the market today.

These versatile programs let you make greeting cards, edit photos, publish your own Web pages, print newsletters, create animated e-mail and much more. And thanks to easy-to-use wizards and templates, many of these projects will take only minutes to complete.

FamilyPC magazine asked 148 families to test-drive six of the top home-publishing titles. Their only major complaint: too many CD-ROMs. Because these programs are brimming with cool clip art and other publishing tools, using them is a multi-disc affair. Often you have to switch CDs just to get an idea of what a specific clip art image will look like. Only Microsoft’s Publisher 2000 ships on a single CD, but the trade-off is less clip.

Here’s how our testers ranked the top publishing programs, from best to worst.

Microsoft Publisher 2000

Although this program is designed for small businesses, our testers found that its flexible and professional-caliber design wizards and familiar Microsoft Office interface make it the easiest to use. It’s the best choice if you’re looking to design your own publications.

Unlike the other programs reviewed, Microsoft Publisher contains features usually found only in professional programs, such as the ability to format your files for commercial printing. With a single click, the program’s wizards can alter the entire look of your publication--the color scheme, graphics and text box positions, and fonts--without affecting your placement of text and graphics. Wizards also let you convert a print project to a Web page, and vice versa. Unlike the other publishing titles, Microsoft Publisher ships on one CD, but not without the enormous quantity of clip art.

Our testers had no trouble creating complicated Web pages and other projects with the assistance of the program’s wizards, but some had difficulty creating simpler projects without them. Still, testers who need to use business forms, or who like to work from scratch, agreed that Microsoft Publisher is the publishing program to own.

PrintMaster Platinum 8.0

You can’t beat PrintMaster Platinum for the volume and quality of its clip art, its kid-friendly projects or its price.

PrintMaster contains more than 160,000 images, including 100 photos from National Geographic magazine, original paintings, cartoon strips and much more. No disc swapping is required to search for and view thumbnails of images. It’s 8,500 ready-made projects include standards such as greeting cards and calendars, as well as projects not found elsewhere, including light-switch covers, bottle labels, educational games and mobiles.

There are more than 1 million additional images and some new projects online, many of which you must pay for. New to this version are 3D animated e-mail greetings, complete with voices and music.

Although PrintMaster’s online help system is thorough, including narrated tips and a simple design tutorial, many testers were disappointed that the package lacks a good printed manual.

Microsoft Home Publishing Suite 2000

Although Microsoft is a mainstay of the business-oriented publishing software space, its family-friendly Home Publishing Suite is a relative newcomer. However, Microsoft has already put a strong contender in the category. A clean, easy-to-navigate interface; impressive design and editing tools; and thousands of ready-made projects make it a top publishing package for families.

Home Publishing Suite contains 10,000 pre-made design templates including cards, newsletters, crafts, e-mail postcards, animated greetings and Web pages. A superior search tool makes it easy to sort through the many projects, photos and clip art images--without excessive CD swapping. Our testers liked the Hallmark images, but wanted more clip art variety. Home Publishing also has photo-editing capabilities, address book, event reminder and mail-merge feature.

Overall, our testers were delighted with Home Publishing Suite 2000, but many found room for improvement. The lack of a print preview led to wasted paper, and testers wished there were more kid-friendly projects and features.

Print Shop Deluxe Version 10

Now in its 10th version, Print Shop ranks at the top of this category in terms of clip art selections (160,000 images) and included software bundle. The package is well stocked with excellent graphic options and wonderful projects.

However, this program, once aimed at families, is trying to market itself to small businesses. And our testers were left wanting more project templates designed for parents and children.

Print Shop Deluxe and PrintMaster are both published by Broderbund. They use the same photo editor, multimedia organizer, drawing program, address book, event reminder and 3D animated greetings. The programs take you to the same Web page, and they feature the same amount of clip art. Print Shop Deluxe features almost as many ready-made layout designs as PrintMaster (8,000 versus 8,500), but contains more layouts for business users and fewer projects for kids.

Print Shop Deluxe’s interface is better looking and less cluttered than PrintMaster’s. Both programs are good, but PrintMaster is better suited for families, especially at its lower price.

Print Artist Grande Suite

The great graphics and variety of clip art in Print Artist Grande Suite made our testers’ mouths water. But for all the sizzle these supplementary programs had to offer, the meat of the program wasn’t quite up to snuff. Testers noted that the key publishing component isn’t as easy to use as those in PrintMaster and Microsoft Home Publishing Suite 2000.

It’s difficult to find the right graphic in Print Artist because you must scroll through a list of broad categories or search using a limited list of keywords. Typing in “birds,” for example, displays thumbnails of more than 3,600 images, but “puffin” is not on the keyword list, so you must scroll through the images to find it. Searching through Print Artist’s 10,000 sentiments is similarly frustrating.

On the plus side, Print Artist contains a good assortment of kid-friendly craft projects, including clock faces, paper airplanes, pinwheels, ornaments and even a paper town. You can also apply special effects to any text, including shadows, colors and shapes, or any of its 200,000 clip art images.

Corel Print House 2000

Compared with the other programs we tested, Corel Print House falls short on most counts. Its clip art is dated, sparse and difficult to use; and its easy-made look is plain compared with the professional looking, color-coordinated designs found in programs such as Microsoft Publisher 200.

However, because competition is minimal in the Mac field, our Apple-equipped testers were thrilled.

Corel Print House comes in a snazzy laptop-size plastic case and contains two full-time feature programs: Corel Print House 5 and Corel Photo House 5. Photo House’s photo-editing and retouching tools make it the better half of the bundle. An easy-to-use toolbar means that creating a project in either program is simple.

Print House contains more than 4,000 pre-made designs and more than 80,000 graphics, but our testers expressed dissatisfaction with the lackluster images. And because Print House doesn’t display thumbnail pictures as you browse images, you never know what you get until you insert the proper CD and put the image into your layout.

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Home Publishing Software

Here’s a look at six popular home publishing software programs.

PrintMaster Platinum 8.0

Cost: $59.95

Platform: Windows 95/98, CD or DVD

Contact:

(800) 395-0277

Web site:

https://www.expressit.com

The Upshot

“I own more than 10 creativity programs, and PrintMaster is the best.”Corel Print House 200 for Macintosh

Cost: $79.95

Platform:

Mac

Contact:

(800) 772-6735

Web site: https://www.corel.com

The Upshot:

“A breath of fresh air for Mac users.”Microsoft Publisher 2000

Cost: $99.95

Platform:

Windows 95/98

Contact:

(800) 426-9400

Web site:

https://www.microsoft.com/insider

The Upshot:

“If you’re not a creative person, you can still end up with an attractive and creative project.”Print Shop Deluxe Version 10

Cost: $49.95

Platform:

Windows 95/98, CD and DVD

Contact:

(800) 395-0277

Web site:

https://www.expressit.com

The Upshot:

“You can customize just about anything, but it will take awhile to get the hang of it.”Microsoft Home Publishing

Suite 2000

Cost: $54.95

Platform:

Windows 95/98

Contact:

(800) 426-9400

Web site:

https://www.home-publishing.com

The Upshot:

“A nicely put-together package that’s easy to use, yet extremely robust and versatile.”Print Artist Grande Suite

Cost: $69.95

Platform:

Windows 95/98

Contact:

(800) 757-7707

Web site:

https://www.sierrahome.com

The Upshot:

“Overwhelming options definitely make this a grande suite.”