Publish-It! Easy - Timeworks Inc.'s Publish-It! Easy 2.12 - Software Review - Desktop-Publishing Software Reviews - evaluation

Home Office Computing, Nov, 1991

v2.12 ($250). Timeworks, (708) 559-1300. System requirements: IBM Macintosh; one drive (hard-disk drive recommended); System 6.0 or higher

Rating: * * * *

Another winner in Macintosh midrange DTP. The tools for typesetting control are absolutely first-rate, and the graphics tools let you add spice to your layouts by combining textures, shades, and even color (if you have a color output device) in sophisticated yet easy-to-grasp ways. The addition of a surprisingly slick database manager, well integrated with the rest of the software, is a significant bonus in the latest release of this carefully thought-out, inviting program.

Pros: Floating tool palettes and command libraries simplify jumping from task to task, especially helpful on small screen Macs. Fast, precise object placement and sizing using guidelines, grids, and specification through dialog boxes. Good text wrap-around. Excellent drawing tools and fill patterns. Good spelling checker; excellent thesaurus. Rotates text or graphics to any angle. Extensive undo. Multiple documents open simultaneously (limited by memory). Good manuals, on-line help. Generous selection of text-file formats for import. Text export. Sample art and templates. Sophisticated File-It! database module built in; enter, sort, and select data and incorporate it in Publish-It Easy! documents (including mail-merge printing for personalized individual output).

Cons: Lacks style sheets. Can't turn master pages off for selected individual pages.