Serif PagePlus 8

Serif's PagePlus is an impressive desktop publishing program that packs a lot of useful features into a very affordable package.

This latest version adds even more new features but the way they are organised can be a bit messy at times.

This upgrade includes a new feature called Artistic Text, which allows you to create text that can be manipulated in different ways from standard text. Artistic text can be resized simply by clicking on the corners of the text box and dragging the corners.

You can rotate Artistic Text, modify properties such as its colour and even add complex coloured fills and background effects. It works really well and lets you produce very attractive effects.

However, the Artistic Text tool sits alongside LogoPlus, a module that was already built into previous versions of PagePlus and designed for creating logos and headline text effects.

Then there's the built-in word processor module called WritePlus, supplied in addition to all the text formatting and editing tools associated with the standard Text tool. Splitting all these text-related tools into so many different components is a bit confusing and left us wondering which set of tools to use in order to perform a particular task.

It's a similar situation with the new Table tool. This allows you to quickly place tables straight onto a page, complete with a pre-defined layout, text formatting and background colours.

Again, it works well but overlaps with the existing TablePlus module and the Calendar tool that treats calendars as a kind of specialised table.

The manual doesn't help much either. It's good on providing general advice on designing documents for print and the web, but rather vague when it comes to discussing specific features.

Fortunately, many of the other new features in this upgrade are easy to use with or without the assistance of the manual.

There are a number of improved graphics tools, such as the ability to add drop shadows, bevels and glow effects to both text and graphics. All of these options are available in a single dialogue box that provides an instant preview so you can see how the effect will look before applying it to your work.

A new viewing mode allows users to view multiple pages at once, to add and delete pages with a click of the mouse and to drag elements from one page to another.

One particularly clever improvement is the ability to crop graphics into irregular shapes - even Adobe's expensive Photoshop can't do that - and there's a variation of this feature that allows you to fine-tune text layout so that it wraps around irregularly shaped graphics with great precision.

This upgrade isn't perfect by any means, but it's a good choice for any home or small business user who wants to get started with desktop publishing.