With everyone making a dash to the web for their marketing and communications, socialising and correspondence, it's easy to forget that for many of us, paper and print remains the best way of reaching out to customers and staying in touch with friends and family by giving them something they can actually hold in their hands.

Although Microsoft Word is now so adaptable that it can be used to knock out most kinds of document, for anyone who needs something a bit more professional, something perhaps a bit lusher, there's PagePlus X4.

PagePlus has been around in various forms since 1991 and acquired a deserved reputation for low-cost, near-professional level DTP by providing the kind of tools required to produce all manner of print publications, including newsletters, stationery, calendars, certificates, flyers, business cards, brochures, posters and so on.

Of the features new in this version we particularly liked the revamped Startup Wizard, which not only lets you create new publications from scratch or using a template, but also get at approachable, well constructed video how-tos, PDF tutorials, the user guide, Serif support and user forums. There's nothing new here, of course, but collecting everything together in one place will help newcomers (though the window should be re-sizable, surely?).

The integrated PhotoLab program is useful and handles most common image editing jobs, and being able to do everything in a single program always helps with the workflow, while new import filters for Word 2007 and OpenOffice make it easier to transfer existing projects into PagePlus (even those that include trickier elements like footnotes, index marks and tables) and then tart them up; it's even possible to import DOCX files without having Word installed.

You can now anchor objects like pictures, QuickShapes and fancy text so they 'follow' any associated text if it gets moved round the publication (about time, too) and several of the graphics tools improvements are worth a nod, particularly the fancy new photo-realistic frames, though why these are hidden under the 'Format, Line/Border' menu is a mystery.

The developers aren't kidding when they talk about improved PDF handling, either; although PagePlus huffed and puffed it was able to open an 852-page PDF document with loads of graphics and make everything available for editing. No support yet for exporting PDF/X-3 or X-4 though. Elsewhere, small but significant improvements include more accurate measurements, finer control over tracking, tabbed editing like DrawPlus X3 and the ability to set the formatting of the first few words of a paragraph.

Newcomers will appreciate the 'Choose Workspace' feature which lets you tailor the interface to suit your level of interest or expertise; 'How To' includes a hint pane, 'Classic DTP' displays text styles, pages and swatches, while 'Graphic Artist' majors on line, colour, swatches and fonts. There's even a 'PagePlus 11' option for fans of the older version. Finally, be sure to install the accompanying Resource DVD which contains hundreds more templates for plenty of consumer and business printing projects.

Verdict
Having arguably created the sub-£100 DTP market at a time when most others were charging an arm and a leg, PagePlus has a deserved pedigree thanks to a range of powerful tools built up over the last 18 years. This latest version adds even more wallop and provides anyone looking to create a wide range of paper and print publications almost all the tools - and all the templates - they'll ever need.

Company: Serif

Contact: 0800 376 7070

Tags: microsoftword serif openoffice.org pageplus office open xml portable document format openoffice word processor