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| Art Explosion Publisher Pro 2.0 | 
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| From: Nova Development US
Category: Software
This item is no longer available
Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 2733
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows Xp
Media: CD-ROM
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 9.7 x 7.9 x 2.7
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: pgw
Model: PGW
UPC: 727298403534
EAN: 0727298403527
ASIN: B000FOYNIG
Release Date: June 1, 2006
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 11-12 of 12 | | « PREV | | |
 Astounding features in this program! August 29, 2007
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
For many years, I used Adobe Pagemaker to lay out a national newsletter and advertising fliers. It costs several times what Publisher Pro 2.0 does, and this software is every bit as powerful as Pagemaker.
You can do the basics, or even 4-color work with color separations with this program. There's a strong photo editor included too. I haven't tried it yet, but one feature lets you convert your Publisher Pro 2.0 document into a pdf. No separate converter software needed.
My only complaint is that in the clip art photo gallery, there are very few photos of people. No doubt those kinds of photos are more expensive (model fees, etc.), but I'd like to see more people shots in future versions.
I'm very impressed with this program and believe it will meet all of my desktop publishing needs. You definitely get a lot for your money with Publisher Pro 2.0.
Great Value! A publishing solution for Volunteers, Non-Pofits and Small Business September 5, 2006
62 out of 63 found this review helpful
Publisher Pro 2.0 is a great product and a good follow-on to the first version. Not only can you easily produce small publications (I create 16 page "tabloid sized" newsletters, with tons of photos) and export them as pdf files, but you can now open and edit pdf files, a feature I haven't seen in any affordable publisher. Its interpretation is precise, though when it meets a change in formatting (such as a single word in bold type within a paragraph), it interprets that as the end of a text block and starts a new section. I only use that feature when I want to fill out forms I've received from others or add a little text or images to them. I wouldn't try to heavily edit a large file. Pdf creation now includes form fields, which allows for more interactive features such as radial and other buttons and fill-out-able forms in addition to the standard pdf bookmarks, index and table of content which link to content within the pdf, hyperlinks to external sites, and more.
As in the previous version, it still has lots of pre-made templates, but the blank templates are still the best. I love being able to make a tri-fold brochure and actually selecting each page I want to work on separately: the right panel, left panel back panel and interior spread. The program then prints it in the correct sequence on the page. And in each of the 24 categories (including Banners, business forms, greeting cards, webpages...) there are many blank styles from which to chose.
As a volunteer newsletter editor (with no formal training in design and only some spare time), I find myself in the position of producing newsletters, flyers, tri-fold brochures and ad books not only for the large regional and local group of one organization, but also for my friends' school groups and churches and the local library. I often have to send the files to professional printers who require high-quality pdf files. It's a little more complex than either it's predecessor (Pub. pro version 1) or the older version of MS Publisher I had used before (a program I was happy with, but it had no pdf support), but most questions are easily resolved by refering to the in-program help files. On the other hand, it's a more powerful program with color separation, palette (incliding Pantone) support, transparencies and effects - features you'd expect in higher end programs. It also has a more flexible studio bar with tear off tabs for line style, formatting, colors, object styles, etc.., that you can view, hide or drag to arrange.
Included with the program is the free Publisher Pro Photo Editor, which allows you to draw and paint using layers and transparencies, and then export your pictures in a variety of formats (including some transparent versions), such as jpg, png, gif, etc. It doesn't have a lot of filters and fancy stuff, but it's a good little program for simple photo editing or creating a small graphic.
But most important, the telephone customer support was good. When I first got the program, I had difficulty opening some, but not all, of my older Publisher Pro files - the program crashed! I called customer support after a few days trying to figure out myself what the difference in the files was. I was told it had to do with the Nova clip art in the files and to remove the images and the file would work. Luckily, I had the previous version installed on another machine. I noticed in the Tools: Resource Manager that those clipart files were "linked," so selected "unlink" (which embeds the image) and then the files opened fine. (The Resource Manager is a nice feature that shows you what images and fonts are in your document, what their size and status are, and allows you to jump right to them). Nova Developement is currently working on a fix for the problem.
Pros: great price (especially if you have a rebate), good customer support, some high-end features, free photo editor and the ability to export to pdf.
Cons: a little harder to learn (reading the tutorials helps!), legacy files crash unless the clipart is embedded.
Overall: If you want a more powerful publishing program that produces quality pdf files, but is still within your budget, this is the one!
p.s. If you do get this program, you should check out the entertaining place-holder text, with it's odd pop-culture references that form random stories. More interesting than Lorem ipsum.
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