WHILE INDESIGN, QUARK XPress and Microsoft Publisher divvy up much of the desktop publishing market, Serif's PagePlus adopts the role of underrated gem. The veteran layout tool can produce both print and web publications, but most of Serif PagePlus X3's new features are sensibly aimed at satisfying the program's core constituency: print designers. Perhaps the best of these improvements is Serif PagePlus X3's tool to extract backgrounds from images in the new Image Cutout Studio.

You can select any document image and remove unwanted areas using a paintbrush to distinguish between the parts of the image to retain and those to remove. Serif PagePlus X3 now offers a built-in logo creation tool, Logo Studio. You can select artwork or use a template and bring it into a customised illustration environment where you can add effects such as text on a path and predefined shapes.


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Of more everyday benefit to the working designer is a 'package' feature that gathers all fonts and linked images used in a document before sending it to a printer. It's a feature usually found only in expensive desktop publishing programs and cements Serif Page Plus X3's deserved status as a professional-level tool.

PagePlus's PDF-editing abilities are exceptional. Print-standard export set¬tings come as standard, and importing existing PDFs proved flawless. Better, cheaper and as easy to use as its predecessor, Serif PagePlus X3 is an ideal choice for a desktop pub¬lishing on a budget.