The application that launched the desktop publishing and Mac revolution has at long last received an update. Adobe has announced a new version of the venerable PageMaker layout program, bringing PageMaker to version 7.0. The new version includes improved support for making PDF files, the ability to import Microsoft Word documents, improved integration with Adobeis other illustration and graphics apps, and other improved features (Adobe is providing a new feature list on its Web site). According to Adobe:
Adobe Systems Incorporated, the leader in network publishing, today introduced Adobe PageMaker® 7.0 software, a new upgrade to its award-winning page layout program. PageMaker 7.0 is an integrated business publishing solution with easy-to-use tools for producing professional quality results. This new release provides tighter integration with popular business applications for enhanced productivity and supports Adobeis vision of network publishing, allowing users to create a document once and view it on any device, anytime, anywhere.
Educators, business professionals and small office/home office (SOHO) users are challenged to produce professional quality collateral from brochures, newsletters, and business reports to classroom materials with limited time, budget and design expertise.
With its enhanced workflow, PageMaker now provides users with a breadth of features to unleash the power of other Adobe applications while maintaining the superior printing quality and reliability they have come to expect. PageMaker softwareis new simplified workflow with other Adobe products including Adobe® Photoshop®, Photoshop Elements, and Adobe Illustrator®, enhances the user experience with increased productivity when designing materials. For example, users now have the ability to easily import native Photoshop and Illustrator files to save time and eliminate managing multiple versions of files.
Additionally, with version 7.0, PageMaker provides built-in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) creation tools, enabling users to create tagged Adobe PDF files for displaying documents properly on a variety of devices, including laptop computers, PDAs and other wireless devices. With tagged Adobe PDF, text is automatically reflowed to allow business users to share documents with mobile audiences. PageMaker further empowers business publishers with significant timesaving capabilities by allowing reuse of existing content with its updated support for importing Microsoft Word files and with updated file conversion support for Microsoft Publisher (Microsoft®Windows® only) and QuarkXPress® files. In addition, users can create personalized collateral with new data merge capabilities that leverage text and images exported from databases and aid in direct mail creation by providing both automation and professional quality layout.
Adobe PageMaker supports MAC OS 8.6 (with Apple Software Font Manager Update version 1.0), 9.1, OS X (Classic), as well as Microsoft Windows 98, Windows NT® 4.0 with Service Pack 5 or 6, Windows 2000 or Windows ME. PageMaker 7.0 will be included in future versions of the Adobe Publishing Collection. The Publishing Collection is available for an estimated street price of US$999, with special pricing for educators. For more informatiom visit .
Adobe is pricing PageMaker 7 at US$499, but is offering upgrades from what appears to be all previous versions for only US$79. The education price is US$289, with upgrades also priced at US$79. The Publishing Collection will be priced at US$999. You can find more information on PageMaker 7 at Adobeis Web site.