PagePlus

Serif PagePlus

Versions: PPX3 • PPX2 • PP11 • PP9 • SE1.0 • Feature Comparison

New Features: Logo Studio • Image Cutout Studio • Serif Metafiles
Improved EPS Import • Table Improvements • Interface Improvements
Customised Menus • Keyboard Shortcuts • Conclusions • Autocorrect Entries

PagePlus X3

The latest release of this flagship product from Serif™ offers some powerful new features and the long awaited ability to customise the keyboard. One of the biggest changes is invisible to the average user — the file format now uses an XML container format similar that used by OpenOffice. This means that future editions of PagePlus will be able to save files that can be opened with PPX3. In the unlikely event that files become corrupted it will also be easier to salvage the content. You can make use of this fact to edit index entries (currently not possible within PagePlus) using find and replace in a text editor.

Logo Studio

The popular, but outdated LogoPlus has been replaced by Logo Studio. Users can edit any group of objects as a Logo within PagePlus, using an alternate interface focused on logo creation. The Logo Studio has its own customisable toolbars, studio tabs, guidelines, and a HowTo tab to help new users learn how to create logos. A wide range of predesigned logos provide the artistically challenged with some design ideas to get them started.

Image Cutout Studio

Any photograph can be edited within PagePlus to remove its background. The intelligent masking brushes in the Cutout Studio are faster and easier to use than other magic wand tools I have used. Even the most intricate backgrounds can be removed quite easily by adjusting the tolerance and size of the brushes. Many image backgrounds take just a few strokes of the brush to remove. Zooming and Panning with a scroll-wheel mouse is just as easy as in the main PagePlus window.

Serif Metafiles

This new graphic format created by Serif will allow much easier transfer of images and designs between future Serif applications. Serif Metafiles with an *.smf extension can contain text, vector, and bitmap data. High quality is retained while the file size is much smaller than a comparable Windows Metafile.

Improved EPS Import

PagePlus can now rasterize EPS files so that they can now be previewed in the document and output to any printer. They can also be exported as Serif Metafiles.

Table Improvements

Resize Tables by Dragging A clever innovation is resizing tables by dragging. Instead of using menus and dialogues to add table rows and columns, one can now drag a tab at the top right or bottom left corners of the table to add and remove columns or rows. New columns and rows are the same size as the adjacent ones, and the text cursor is automatically repositioned in the first new cell. When removing rows and columns in this way only empty rows and columns are removed, so you cannot inadvertently lose any data. This new feature is a huge time saver for working with tables.

Each Row/Column header label has a context menu button and the header labels move automatically to remain in view if part of a table is currently out of view. Usability is never lost, even when working with full page tables.

Tables now support absolute cell references with the same $ notation used by other spreadsheets.

Table cells accept thousands separators as input, but they become a field that can only be edited in the spreadsheet toolbar. To edit it directly in the cell the only way is to retype the whole figure.

Double tables lines can now be made to intersect correctly by setting the line cap ending to extended. Thick/thin and thin/thick line styles do not work correctly yet, and fills extend to the centre of the line style, so there is still room for improvement in the next version of PagePlus.

Interface Improvements

The pasteboard colour can be changed for Web or Print views, and the guideline colour can be set for each layer in a document.

The number of files listed as Recent Documents on the File menu can be increased from the default of four up to a maximum of sixteen. The list can be cleared by reducing the option to zero.

Perhaps the most significant improvement for many users will be the enhanced interface customisation. This is similar to WebPlus X2. On a 1280 x 1024 display it is possible to fit all of the most useful toolbar icons and menus into just two rows. The context-sensitive toolbar will change in length depending on the object selected, so arrange the layout with a text frame selected as illustrated below. Moving all of the toolbars to the top makes access to the studios at the sides much faster. You can also turn off the hintline to gain fast access to the media bar at the bottom.

Customised Toolbar Left

I have added a workspace toolbar with undo/redo and align functions to keep at the top right corner of the interface. This is the most frequently accessed area of the work space for me. My Windows taskbar is on autohide at the top of the desktop, so my system tray icons are also in that corner. Keeping the most frequently used controls closely clustered reduces mouse movement and speeds up work flow.

Customised Toolbar Right

Customised Menus

Custom Menu for Graphics In earlier versions of PagePlus one could create custom toolbars and add icons, but PPX3 adds the ability to customise the main menus, and one can add toolbar icons to the menu bar. With a little effort, users can create a very compact interface with just the tools that they need most often. Illustrated is a custom graphics menu, with a custom button for the Acquire function. Images can be imported to use as button icons and larger images are automatically resized to 16 x 16 pixels. A button editor is included too for those who like everything to look like it belongs. Adding this menu makes space on the other menus that are becoming too long as PagePlus adds more features with every version.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Custom shortcuts can be assigned in different contexts: menus and toolbars, text editing, Logo Studio, Write Plus, Image Cutout Studio, BookPlus, Print Preview, and Send Mail. A side-effect has been the removal of some of the Ctrl Alt combinations from earlier versions for inserting special characters. There is no option yet to assign individual Unicode characters to shortcuts so I have created a Windows PagePlus keyboard to circumvent this problem because I need lots of accented characters and some special symbols. Please refer to the linked thread on the Serif forum for the latest version, to comment, or make requests for enhancements of this keyboard. Note that this is a Windows keyboard, not a customised PagePlus keyboard setup, so it can be used in any Windows application. It is called the Pageplus keyboard because it was designed primarily for use in PagePlus.

Conclusions

The improvements in usability alone make the upgrade well worthwhile. Long awaited keyboard shortcuts, though not yet as flexible as in WordPerfect, are a great time saver. Keyboard setups are stored in the application data folder as plain text files, and so can easily be shared between computers or users. Graphics handling has improved, and the new table features are particularly slick. Text handling hasn’t improved as much — although Autofit will prove popular with some users, authors of longer publications will search in vain for cross-references and footnote or story continuation leaders.

PagePlus X2

PagePlus X2 doesn’t run on older versions of Windows. You will need to upgrade to Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Windows Vista to install this upgrade. As usual, old documents can be opened in the new version, but new documents created in PPX2 cannot be opened in older versions of PagePlus.

Serif™ offer fantastic ease of use and power for those on a limited budget. Its graphics handling and creative design tools are superb. Text handling continues to improve, though you may find it best to use a word-processor before importing text for the layout and design stage. The lack of keyboard customisation or any macro language make PPX2 less than ideal for editing long books, but Spell-checking and Proof-reading tools are included, and find and replace is powerful, yet easy to use. Tables have improved, with sorting of rows, better control of resizing, faster calculations, and quick fill of text in all supported languages. A few new spreadsheet functions have been added, but unlike word-processors, tables are limited to a single page.

PagePlus 11

This version added two major new features: PDF forms and PDF import. The latter is a feature found in very few programs. Publishers of magazines and newspapers will find it invaluable as they can ask customers to supply Advertisements in PDF format, and place them without any reformatting.

Another big change is to the user interface. Docked or floating studio tabs are well implemented making it easy to arrange the interface as one likes. These tabs replace the Change Bar from earlier versions. The paragraph style palette, however, is not included, and the spell-checker could have been made to dock in the studio tab too.

The table feature is still far from perfect, and has one serious bug — formulae ignore figures containing commas. If you type £1,234 and add it to £100, you get £100. To use thousand separators, remember to set the option in number format. This bug is fixed in later versions.

The tutorials are now PDF files with a slick but superfluous Flash interface. The HTML tutorials provided with PP10 were quicker to load and easier to use.

Along with the Open Saved Work browser, shown on the right, this trend towards beauty of form and away from practicality of function detracts from the value of PagePlus. Too many hours of programming effort has been wasted on cosmetics rather than fixing the underlying code controlling text formatting and the user interface. The UI should be simplified if possible, reducing the number of keystrokes or mouse-clicks that one needs to use.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

Since PP10 and PP11 both failed to deliver for my multi-lingual needs. I now use Open Office for my books or any other work that needs Unicode. However, most users will not be disappointed. These later versions offer a plethora of powerful features combined with relative ease of use. Don’t expect to master PagePlus without some help though. Unless you’re an avid reader of help files, manuals, and tutorials, you will need to visit the Serif Forum to get the best out of these powerful programs.

PagePlus 9

This was one of the best versions of PagePlus. Fast, stable, and easy to use, it has most of the features that you will need. At £10 it cannot be beaten for value.

PagePlus SE 1.0

I use Serif PagePlus for my personal correspondence, business cards, books, booklets, calendars, PDF files, brochures, CD covers, tickets, and posters. For most publications beyond simple text editing (for which I use Jarte) that don’t need Unicode, PagePlus is my first choice.

The free version, PagePlus SE 1.0, is a cut-down version of PP9, missing some key features like PDF Output and Web Publishing mode. It has fewer graphic import filters, but the most important formats are supported. The Free Serif Software Website is beautifully laid out, so for the details I can do little better than point you to Serif's own descriptions of what their software can do.

Why Use PagePlus SE?

DTP vs Word Processing

This software is totally free. You can use it as long as you like without upgrading. To download it, you must register your email address, and Serif will send you promotional emails offering discounted upgrades of PagePlus and other Serif products until you unsubscribe.

What’s the catch? Why do Serif give away such good software for free? Because once you have used it, and seen what it can do, you will realise that the price of the upgrade to the full package is fantastic value for money, whether you compare it to budget DTP software like MS Publisher, or to professional products like PageMaker, InDesign, and Quark Express.

For free software, this is about as good as it gets. Open Office is also an excellent product, but for DTP tasks, PagePlus offers greater graphics power and ease of use.

Feature Comparison

All versions of PagePlus have so many features it would be impossible to list them all. The chart is divided into sections: basic features found in all products and those found in each later versions. PagePlus 10 is not now widely available so its column has been removed to make space for PPX3, though its new features section remains. If you’re thinking of upgrading from an earlier version, then PagePlus 11 is better, and still available directly from Serif™

Features in All Versions

Price

Free

£10

£30

£50

£80

Feature

PP SE

PP9

PP11

PPX2

PPX3

Paragraph Styles

•

Master Pages

•

Spell-checking and manual hyphenation

•

Stories flow through text frames

•

Folded Publications: brochures, booklets

•

Tiled Publications: Posters and Banners

•

Free Rotation: frames, graphics, and tables

•

Artistic text

•

Tables for layout

•

Import BMP GIF JPG TIF

•

Features New in PP9

Publish as PDF

•

Web Publishing Mode

•

Artistic text on a curve

•

Automated Drop Capitals

•

Auto-hyphenation

•

Table of Contents and Indexing

•

Table formulae

•

Mail Merge

•

Import TGA PCD RAS PCT IMG DIB FPX WPG

•

Import DXF DRW DWG CGM WMF EMF HGL EPS

•

Export BMP GIF JPG PCX PNG TIF IMG TGA FPX RAS

•

Export WMF

•

Features New in PP10

Photo Merge

•

Layers

•

Unicode Support

•

Find and Replace Formatting

•

Master Documents (Book Plus)

•

Automatic Footnotes/Endnotes

•

Features New in PP11

Import/Open PDF

•

Create PDF Forms

•

Import Database and Excel Spreadsheet

•

Rotation of text in table cells

•

Edit in Photo Plus

•

Multilingual Spell-checking: Danish, Dutch, English UK/US/Canada, Finnish, French, German, German (pre-reform), Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish.

•

Features New in PPX2

Feature

PP SE

PP9

PP11

PPX2

PPX3

Publish as PDF Slideshow

•

Publish as HTML Email

•

Connector Lines for Charts

•

Detect and Install Missing Fonts

•

Trimmed Preview Mode

•

Unicode Text Output

•

Unicode Text Spell-check

•

Multiple Text Selections

•

Leading as Percentage of Point Size

•

Multilevel Bullets and Numbering

•

Text Selection Highlighting

•

Autohide Studio Tabs

•

Dock Studio and Toolbars on Any Side

•

Improved Instant 3D

•

Improved Line Endings and Arrowheads

•

Sticky Guides

•

Live Calendars for Any Year

•

Sort Table Rows/Columns, and Text

•

Improved Table Resizing

•

Additional Spreadsheet Functions

•

Search Documents in Windows Vista

•

Features New in PPX3

Feature

PP SE

PP9

PP11

PPX2

PPX3

Customise Keyboard Shortcuts

•

Customise Toolbar Buttons

•

Customise Menus

•

Custom pasteboard colours

•

Custom guideline colours/layer

•

Customisable nudge distance

•

Logo Studio

•

Image Cutout Studio

•

Import and Interpret EPS Images

•

Import High Definition Images

•

Import/Export Serif Metafiles

•

Place multiple images at once

•

Rotate objects with pointer tool

•

Drag to Add/Remove Table Rows/Columns

•

Absolute Table Cell References

•

Improved double-line borders

•

Package files including content

•

Manual Duplex Wizard

•

Reflection filter effects

•

Resize snapped objects from centre

•

Object Handles (easier to select objects)

•

Autofit stories to frames

•

Gradient fills for frame text

•

Ticket Numbering (leading zeros)

•

Favourite fonts filter

•

Performance

Task

PP SE

PP9

PP11

PPX2

PPX3

Program Start from Cold (seconds)

Program Restart

Load Ten Files (about 4 Mbytes)

n/a

Times are only approximate. Your results may vary.

Wish-list for PPX4

PPX3 adds many improvements, especially in the area of customisability. Graphics handling continues to improve so that PagePlus is adequate for many drawing and photo-editing tasks. Improved text handling for long documents is what I most want to see in the next version. OpenOffice is still a wiser choice for long documents.

OpenType Support

Top of my wish-list is support for OpenType features such as Small Capitals, Old Style Figures, Discretionary Ligatures, Stacking Fractions, etc. I develop my own fonts, but there is little incentive for adding OpenType support since I have no applications that support them. It is possible using my custom fonts only by inserting the extra glyphs in Private Use Area from the Insert Symbol dialogue, which is far from an ideal solution.

Adaptive Letter-spacing

PagePlus needs a few improvements to its handling of text justification. The absence of automatic adjustment of spacing between individual letters as well as between words means that narrow columns of text have unsightly wide gaps leading to “rivers” of white space that run down columns.

Autocorrect Entries

Due to the limited number of Autocorrect entries in PagePlus X3 I imported a word list from OpenOffice. You can copy AutoCorrect.zip over the version in the %AppData% folder at \Application Data\Serif\PagePlus\13.0\Data\

Remember Workspace, Files, and Folders

The workspace (studio tabs) can be saved and recalled, and the recent documents list is now customisable between 0 and 16 files. However, the cursor position is not stored in the document. Rather than the nearly useless Open Saved Work file browser, which is just a bloated file open dialogue, what PagePlus needs is the ability to save the current work space with open documents including the cursor position, and the size and position of any tiled or cascaded windows. The Startup Wizard should include an option to resume from last time. It should also be possible to pin favourite files to the recent files list.

Mixed page numbering

This feature is available using Book Plus, which is the master document feature used by PagePlus. It would be better if one could mix roman and Arabic page numbering in the same document. Similarly, mixed page orientation is a basic requirement of many publications. It is not difficult to work around these little problems, but it would be better not to need work-arounds.

Flow Tables Across Pages

Though I would not regard this as essential in a Page Layout program, allowing tables to extend beyond a single page would be useful.

References

PagePlus has no cross-reference feature, editing of indexes is difficult, footnotes and newsletter stories that break across pages need continuation leaders, and it would be useful to import footnotes and endnotes from word-processors.

Skewing Objects

Skew Handles Currently one can skew objects only by using a cunning work-around (rotate it, group it with another object and resize the group horizontally or vertically with the transform tab). In CorelDraw it is very easy to skew objects by dragging selection handles. In PagePlus one can drag a corner handle with the Alter key held down or use the Rotate tool, but skewing is not an option. DrawPlus X2 already had this.

Resizing Objects

New in PPX3 is the ability to resize objects from the centre, but this currently only works for objects that have their centres snapped to guidelines. It would be much easier to use this feature if the guidelines were not needed.