If you write newsletters or just like making attractive stationery, you'll need a desktop publishing (DTP) package to get the best results.

Power Publisher 2 is a suite of products aimed at making your documents look as sharp as possible without spending hundreds of pounds.

The main part of Power Publisher 2 is the DTP element, which is based on Greenstreet's Publisher 4. Publisher 4 isn't a particularly sophisticated program but it allows users to create smart page layouts very quickly.

When you launch Publisher, it presents you with a number of options. Newcomers can run through a series of tutorials or you can get started straight away by selecting one of the program's built-in templates.

There is a wide variety of templates which cover newsletters, business cards and forms, greeting cards and web pages. When you select a template the program activates a wizard that guides you through design steps.

We did encounter one annoying bug here, as the list of predefined text styles in the wizard sometimes appeared blank. This meant we had to edit the actual document to change the text styles by hand.

More experienced users can jump straight in and design a new document from scratch. New features in this version include a spreadsheet tool and a mail-merge option.

Along with Publisher 4, the Power Publisher suite includes a number of simple graphics tools. There's a drawing program, a photo editor, and a program called PowerText that allows you to create 3D text effects.

All are adequate but far short of the best products on the market.

Power Publisher isn't a bad choice of software for complete beginners but users with a bit of PC experience might well prefer more sophisticated rivals such as Microsoft Publisher.

Contact: GSP 01480 497050
www.gsp.cc

Also consider:
Serif PagePlus 4
Fully featured desktop publishing software available as a free download.