If you're one of the millions of people who purchased Microsoft Windows 95., you no doubt figured out something was missing. And for just a few dollars more
(around $40) you could buy what was missing, the PLUS! disks. They included several enhancements that many people (including myself) believe should have been included with the main package. Now, here comes Broderbund
with PressWriter..In case you've read my review on The Print Shop Deluxe Ensemble III. and think I'm bailing out on Broderbund, that's not so. PressWriter is a nice companion to PSDE III, but it doesn't have quite
enough extras to warrant making people buy it as a separate package.
With PSDE III you can make calendars, signs, banners, certificates, business cards and stationary, post cards and labels. And with version III they
added things like a spell checker and thesaurus. PressWriter adds newsletters, brochures, reports, letters, resumes, booklets, fax cover sheets and flyers.
One of the new features is the addition of text boxes that
are similar to those in MS Publisher. that allow you to connect several together so one "article" can span more than one page without typing a separate document for each box. The newsletter feature as well as
the reports, etc. are really nice. If you're not familiar with laying out newsletter or other project, there are several templates called Quick Start Layouts to help you. They also include sample text and graphics so
you can see what your document might look like to help you pick the right one. On the template side I would, however, find it hard to send a resume' using the layout that is suggested and I can't find any difference
between a flyer and a sign, but everything is in the standard "very easy and intuitive to use" Broderbund style. That means reading the printed manual is something you can do only if you really want to.
And as always, a generous set of the nice Print Shop graphics (with it's irritating proprietary format) are included along with a nice set photos and fonts You might recognize some of the graphics since Broderbund
recently purchased T/Maker. which sells the Clickart. line of clipart.
With all that said, let me return to my opening paragraph on the PLUS! package. The interface has been slightly improved and you can change
background colors for text boxes and there are a few other enhancements, but there really isn't enough here to warrant an entirely separate package. This is more like an extra template pack or update to PSDE III.
I would certainly recommend buying it because it is, as I said, a nice compliment to PSDE III, but I think they could have adjusted the price and included all of these things into to one package.
Currently only
available for Windows 95 and requires a 486-66 mhz with at least 8 meg of RAM and 35 meg of hard drive space (due to not allowing for the option to leave the graphics on the CD ROM like with PSDE III), 2X CD ROM and an
SVGA monitor 640X480, 256 colors.
A Pentium 60 with 24 meg of RAM and 4X CD ROM was used for this review.
Additional reviews by Doug Hess Jr. are available at his
