Corel Ventura doesn't so much install on your PC as colonise it. Installation takes in the order of 15-30 minutes and a total of 259MB of programs is copied to your hard disk (much more if you choose to install the free copy of WordPerfect).

This is because the main Ventura DTP program is merely the centre of the storm. Around it are many ancillary programs such as Corel Photo-Paint, an excellent image editor which is also sold separately, and Bitstream Font Navigator, which makes working with fonts on your system a lot easier. There's also Corel Database Publisher, designed to take in dBase or other major database formats at one end and automatically produce print or HTML catalogues at the other.

The multifaceted nature of the bundle makes for a potentially overwhelming state of affairs, particularly if you're new to DTP, and once activated, the main Ventura program doesn't help matters. The best way to describe it is as a cross between a word processor and a vector graphics program. Once you open a new document (several templates are available although these are merely pre-designed documents which you manually modify), a blinking cursor appears at the top of the page. This is unusual because most DTP software expects you to start by drawing text boxes or other types of frames.

The panic doesn't last long because a quick glance at the simple toolbar on the left of the screen shows that there is in fact both a text box and frame tool, which operate in a similar way to all other DTP programs (including having the ability to draw esoterically shaped frames, although you can't draw freehand, as in Quark Xpress).

However, further investigation of the menus reveal yet more word processor-like tools - you can create tables in the document, for example, and check both grammar and spelling. The program also talks in terms of footnotes and endnotes, again word processor concepts. It seems Ventura has an identity crisis.

Perhaps the most radical way in which Ventura owes more to word processing than DTP is the lack of decent palettes. Xpress and In Design, for example, offer palettes with complete control over text, such as kerning and leading adjustment. In Ventura the text palette merely lets you change the font and type size. If you want to alter the kerning then you have to navigate through a right click menu and an eventual dialog box - hardly intuitive.

But all of this isn't to say that Ventura isn't powerful. Get a grip on its features (several enormously thick manuals are supplied), and it's as capable as Quark XPress. It even includes a 'preflight' ability to prepare for colour film separations at a repro house. Two CDs full of clipart and photographs are also supplied.

If you're new to DTP and want a complete solution, including all the image editing and text preparation tools you need, then Ventura is worth investigating. There is a pervasive 'office suite' feel to it, however, and more creative types might want to plump for XPress or In Design instead.