PagePlus X5

The latest budget desktop-publishing software from Serif …
Creating good-looking documents is a tricky job unless you have access to the same powerful tools as professional designers. PagePlus X5 is the latest page-design software from Serif to bring some of these expert tools to our home computers at an affordable price, whether you're creating pages for print or PDFs for the web.

The first thing you'll notice about PagePlus is its wealth of templates, which you access from the welcome screen. From business cards to newsletters, there's a huge range of professional-looking designs. In previous versions of the software, these bordered on the cheesy but, with PagePlus X5, you're going to be hard pressed to come up with better designs yourself. There are hundreds on offer and you can choose each design in a broad selection of color palettes, giving you thousands of variations to choose from.

Once they're loaded, you can arrange elements on the page as you wish. Pictures and text can be easily edited, resized, colored and moved around in the drag-and-drop interface. You can also start from scratch with a blank page, creating and editing a wide range of elements without leaving the program. The software loads these elements as you need them, including an image editor, quick cut-out tool, logo designer and story editor. You won't get the same power as from standalone tools, but PagePlus X5's versions are surprisingly adept at tweaking elements as you go.

A lot to learn
The biggest problem is that the software is daunting. Those familiar with previous versions or similar programs will find this less of an issue. But with image and text tools effectively crammed into a single interface, Serif has tipped the balance toward power, sacrificing usability. The icons and menus are cluttered around the screen, the panels have tabs you have to learn to navigate around and there's a lot to take in. If you're planning on doing a lot of page-design work, it's worth taking the time to work through the tutorials so you learn what's going on. This really isn't a program for the casual user.

In previous versions of the software, these bordered on the cheesy but, with PagePlus X5, you're going to be hard pressed to come up with better designs yourself. Once they're loaded, you can arrange elements on the page as you wish. Pictures and text can be easily edited, resized, colored and moved around in the drag-and-drop interface. You can also start from scratch with a blank page, creating and editing a wide range of elements without leaving the program. The software loads these elements as you need them, including an image editor, quick cut-out tool, logo designer and story editor.

PagePlus X5 is a very powerful package for designing documents, whether you use it to create a newsletter or a PDF. For a tool capable of such professional-looking results it's attractively priced. But what you gain in power, you lose in ease of use. Beginners can stick to the templates but time spent learning the software will reward with improved results.

By: Francis David

About the Author

Francis helps people understand the DISH TV Network and knows all of the Broadband Internet for new customers. He has an in-depth knowledge of DISH Network HDservices.