"A fully featured desktop publishing program for less than the price of an ST game." It's a great claim, but can PageStream live up to its promise after three years in the wilderness?
PageStream, or Publishing Partner as it was known in its youth, has been around for ages. It's been through various upgrades over the years, the last of which was version 2.2 (STF 41, 91%), which we reckoned represented the best value in colour desktop publishing on the ST. Then things went quiet and Soft-Logic decided not to develop the Atari version any further. Although it was still available, it didn't receive any promotion and for a long time it was overlooked as newer DTP programs basked in the limelight of software glory. Now, however, the marginalized package looks set to trip the trapdoor mechanism on its rivals and take center stage once more. You see, PageStream 2.2 SE is now available for just $39 (approx £30).
Although SE stands for Special Edition, you'll be hard pushed to notice any difference in the program itself. PageStream originally came with a $299 (approx £225) price tag, but while this has been slashed to $39 (approx £29), PageStream SE is not a cut-down version of the program.
We checked the disk contents against the previous release and found that almost everything was still there. The original printer drivers, for instance, are all present and correct — and there's even some new ones, too.
The original manual was published in two large spiral-bound books; the new one covers the same material in one paperback-like volume. It's obviously smaller and somewhat less detailed than before, but in some ways it's better than the original. For instance, the information about printer drivers is very helpful, as is advice about sending files to a professional imagesetter for high-quality output.
PageStream is certainly easy on the pocket, but is it a good buy? Well, it all depends on your setup. The program requires both an internal and external floppy drive or a hard drive. And while it will run in 2MB of RAM, we'd recommend you use it with a 4MB machine.
No DTP programs are easy when you first start using them, but as you learn the ins and outs of PageStream, you'll find it's a very satisfying piece of software, capable of highly polished results. Although it's not as fast and slick as Papyrus, it does work with colored pictures and graphics, whereas Papyrus only supports mono images.
It beats Calamus v1.09 (which is also mono-only) by virtue of the fact that it can produce professional-quality PostScript output. It also contains more features than Timeworks Publisher — although the latest version of Timeworks does support Speedo fonts, which PageStream doesn't.
PageStream also finds itself outgunned when facing the accepted leader of the DTP field, Calamus SL. Still, considering it costs around £150 less, that's only to be expected.
PageStream SE is a bargain of the highest order, which is capable of producing quality work and putting a smile on your bank manager's face. Go for it.
STF PETER CRUSH
HIGHS • Bargain price • Real DTP features • Good image and typographical control LOWS • Can't use Speedo or TrueType fonts • Won't be developed further In short: A great DTP program at an amazing price and still worthy of its Gold award.