iScrapbook - Chronos Net

For Chronos, better known for its home office products such as Soho Organizer and Soho Notes, iScrapbook is a step in a new direction. The application is designed to appeal to the scrapbooking enthusiasts who increasingly find that the material they want to use as scraps is digital rather than paper... read more at MacUserUK

InDesign CS3 - Adobe

Adobe InDesign CS3 is chock-full of enhancements and new features, but very few of them will create a stir among designers the way version 2.0’s transparency feature did. Nor does the new version extend the program into new areas, as InDesign CS2 did with its bevy of additional text-management functions. But don’t let that first impression fool you. InDesign CS3 will grow on you as its improved utility becomes more obvious in day-to-day work... read more at Macworld

InCopy CS3 - Adobe

InDesign is a great tool for creating and modifying layouts, but it’s overkill for many people in the production process who focus only on copyediting, headline writing, and fitting text to a final layout. That’s why Adobe created InCopy, a program that lets wordsmiths work on a layout’s text without having the full version of InDesign—and they can even work on the text while the designer is fashioning the layout... read more at Macworld

Journler 2.5 - Journler

Since the last major release, Journler has been given a makeover. As well as a shiny Web 2.0 website, it now sports a more professional-looking icon and a snazzy disk image design. Of course, the application itself has seen some changes, too... read more at MacUserUK

Stone Create 13 - Stone

Never try to be all things to all people. That's an axiom that Stone Design's Create has profitably ignored for the better part of two decades. After all, this is a vector illustration application with ambitions in page layout and a hankering for a future in web design. And, perhaps surprisingly, Create makes a decent job of all three tasks - version 13 is a better alternative than ever to mainstream design applications.... read more at MacUserUK

Swift Publisher 2 - Belight Software

Going head-to-head against one of Apple's own applications is rarely good for a rival's long-term health. But BeLight Software's budget page-layout program, Swift Publisher, defies convention. It appears to be thriving in direct competition with Apple's near-ubiquitous Pages... read more at MacUserUK

Ulysses 1.5 - Blue Tec

Ulysses 1.5 is the latest version of the text editor from the Blue Technologies Group. Ulysses is an application aimed squarely at those who work with text; if the complexity of modern word processors is too much for you, or you find the features of applications such as Microsoft Word get in the way of your creative process, then Ulysses may well be worth your attention ... read more at MacUserUK

Keith Blount's Scrivener - Keith Blount

It's not often a self-taught, part-time programmer produces something that makes a whole community of Mac users sit up and pay attention, but Keith Blount is just such a man and he has done precisely that... read more at MacUserUK

Acrobat 8 Professional - Adobe

With Acrobat 8 Professional, Adobe offers a redesigned, Universal version of its flagship application for creating and distributing PDF (Portable Document Format) content. The new release focuses on and underscores the growing importance of collaboration and digital document management... read more at Macworld

QuarkXPress QX-Tools Pro 7 - Quark

Back in the 1990s, QX-Tools was a vital set of DTP add-ons to the then-dominant QuarkXPress. The return of this suite of XPress XTensions after a lengthy absence and a change of ownership is welcome, if not triumphant... read more at MacUserUK

MarkzTools 7 - Markzware

Markzware's MarkzTools 7 should be a vital add-on to QuarkXPress 7, filling in as it does many of the gaps that Quark should have plugged ages ago. It should stave off all manner of disasters and help with a wide range of other problems, such as backwards compatibility... read more at MacUserUK

Ulysses 1.2.2 - The Blue Technologies Group

Ulysses is a text pad for creative writers or slightly scatterbrained folks who want to record their thoughts on-the-fly. Think Microsoft Word without the formatting clutter, and with more work areas displayed at any given time... read more at MacLife

Journler - Journler

Phil Dow's Journler application does a great job of keeping a journal and lots more besides. So much, in fact, that cynics might accuse it of resembling 'bloatware', the kind of software that is so over-stuffed with features that it becomes unwieldy... read more at MacUserUK

Business CardComposer 4 - Belight Software

Among the range of projects you can do with your Mac, personalized greeting cards, calendars, scrapbooks, and the like may not measure up to that brilliant DVD masterpiece you made with iLife. In fact, you might even say that such projects seem quaint. But they’re certainly popular—can you remember the last time you got a store-bought greeting card... read more at MacUserUK

Print Explosion Deluxe 3.0 - Nova Development

Among the range of projects you can do with your Mac, personalized greeting cards, calendars, scrapbooks, and the like may not measure up to that brilliant DVD masterpiece you made with iLife. In fact, you might even say that such projects seem quaint. But they’re certainly popular—can you remember the last time you got a store-bought greeting card... read more at MacAddict

Instant PDF 3.6 - EnFocus Software

Instant PDF's name might sound like a basic tool for quickly creating PDF documents, but its aims are far grander. It promises to create output-ready PDFs for print and web, directly from authoring applications including InDesign CS, QuarkXPress (not version 7) and Adobe Acrobat. What's more, it aims to ensure that those PDFs are both error-free and adhere to your service bureau's specifications... read more at MacUserUK

Montage - Mariner Software

It's no use just having a good idea these days. No hot-shot producer is going to take a second look at your blockbusting sequel, The Day After the Day After Tomorrow, unless it's typed in single-spaced, wide-margined Courier New with characters names centred in ugly full caps. Telly bods are stuck in their ways, you see, and if a script's not been properly laid out, it'll be heading for the slush pile quicker than a Birds of a Feather revival... read more at MacUserUK

Final Draft AV 2.5 - Final Draft

When you write a script, the video descriptions appear in the left column, and the audio script is in the right column. Everything must line up scene by scene, cue by cue. Ignore this format, and Hollywood will ignore you. Not only does Final Draft AV handle script formatting automatically, but version 2.5 offers an improved interface and better stability... read more at MacAddict

QuarkCopyDesk 3.5 - Quark

You have to hand it to Quark. It's been trying hard recently to show us that it's not only listening to its users, but responding to our needs. There are definitely signs of that in QuarkXPress 7, particularly as it will run natively on Intel Macs when it ships. Now it's launched a new application aimed at users who don't need the full functions of XPress... read more at MacUserUK

ThinkFree Office 3.0 - ThinkFree

ThinkFree Office 3.0 is a Java-based application that provides much of the power of Microsoft Office at a much lower price. The program is aimed at users looking for an inexpensive, basic word processor and spreadsheet application, as well as those who have to edit documents created with Microsoft’s Office suite... read more at Macworld

iWork '06 (Pages 2) - Apple

If you saw Alien, you didn't need to watch the sequel. In the first, a slimy extraterrestrial terrorises the inhabitants of a far-off spacecraft. In the second, a slimy extraterrestrial terrorises the inhabitants of a space station. Very similar entities, with only slight improvements to the latter. Now apply that analogy to Pages and Pages 2, and you'll know where we're heading... read more at MacUserUK

QuarkXPress 7 - Quark

Changed times. It took Quark years to offer Mac OS X-native XPress 6, yet this beta of an Intel-compatible QuarkXPress 7 appeared just hours after the first Intel Macs were announced. Anyone would think the company was worried about competition... read more at MacUserUK

The Print Shop 2 - Softline

It turns out that Apple's entry-level DTP application, Pages, is a bit of a wash-out, and AppleWorks is showing its age, and is unlikely to be updated for the Intel Macs. Could The Print Shop 2 be the cheap, easy-to-use layout application we've been waiting for... read more at MacUserUK

MLayout 2.1 - Softmagic

MLayout uses templates, called DesignModels, to help you quickly lay out common types of publications. (When using the sample templates that come with the program, be sure to pick ones that begin with “E_”; otherwise all the placeholder labels on the documents will be in Korean.) You can create your own templates by choosing from options in a dialog box... read more at Macworld

Swift Publisher 1.0 - BeLight Software

Swift Publisher 1.0.3 is an inexpensive, easy-to-use desktop publishing application that allows you to easily create a wide variety of documents—from newsletters and letterheads to posters and catalogs. It is an excellent program for beginners... read more at Macworld

FlightCheck Studio 1.3 - Markzware

While Studio isn't cost-effective for those who flit between XPress and InDesign, for anyone working exclusively in either it's more practical than a standalone application... read more at MacUserUK

PrintDevizor 1.2 - Stonecube

It isn't often you find software that really is in a class of its own, but Stonecube's PrintDevizor fits this description perfectly. If you've ever needed to demonstrate a print effect concept to a client, you'll know how difficult this can be. Making proofs and adding foil blocking, embossing, spot varnish and so on can take days of expensive effort, and the results are rarely satisfactory... read more at MacUserUK

FontAgent Pro - Insider Software

Fonts can, of course, be turned on and off easily, both individually and in sets - that's the starting point for any font management tool. Of course, like other commercial font tools, FontAgent Pro goes further than this. It includes font verification, network sharing, searching and other management features for making a font-rich designer's life better... read more at MacUserUK

InCopy CS2 - Adobe

Although InDesign CS2 has several new word-processing features, it’s still more suited for page-layout tasks than for industrial-strength editorial work. That’s where InCopy CS2 comes in. While the new version of InCopy doesn’t include an abundance of new features, the improvements make an already potent app even more powerful... read more at MacAddict

InDesign CS2 - Adobe

Many of the new features provide capabilities long available in Microsoft Word (though not in most publishing programs), such as anchored text frames, automatic text correction, and bulleted lists. With InDesign CS2, layout artists and copy editors alike have the tools they need, reducing the back-and-forth between Word and InDesign... read more at Macworld

Master Juggler 3.0.3 - Alsoft

Time has passed Alsoft’s MasterJuggler by, and it’s in serious need of an upgrade. It can’t, for example, go out and search your system for available fonts. You have to point it to where all your fonts are stored before it adds them to its library. From there you can gather them into the familiar sets that allow you to activate and deactivate fonts in batches... read more at Macworld

FontAgent Pro 3.0 - Insider Software

FontAgent Pro scans your Mac and any connected devices, disks, or volumes, and gathers your fonts—either by copying or moving them—into a new library organized by font family; the exceptions are the few system fonts OS X needs to do its business. You can then organize the fonts into sets for batch activation and deactivation... read more at Macworld

FontDoctor 7.0 - Extensis

Fonts break, and when they break, systems crash. Missing screen or printer fonts and identically named fonts in different formats confuse applications and printers, causing program crashes and surprise printing results. The solution? Call the FontDoctor... read more at Macworld

Nisus Writer Express 2.1/2.5- Nisus Software

So maybe iWork's Pages (May/04, p36) isn't the alternative to saggy, baggy Microsoft Word that we were hoping for, but the latest version of Nisus Writer Express comes close. Version 2.1.1 has a lot of new features, but it also has its fair share of limitations... read more at MacAddict

PDFpen 2.0.1 - SmileOnMyMac

Portable Document Format (PDF) files are a simple and elegant approach to distributing forms, instructions, and other information. But manipulating PDF files and filling out or creating new forms can be difficult, unless you’re using a straightforward utility like PDFpen 2.0.1... read more at Macworld

Acrobat 7 Professional - Adobe

Despite a remarkable number of new features such as the Print Production Toolbar, the Organizer, and new preflight tools, Adobe’s Acrobat 7 Professional looks surprisingly familiar to anyone accustomed to version 6. The menus have been rearranged, but they are well structured and noticeably easier to navigate... read more at Macworld

Word Counter 1.7 - SuperMagnus Software

As a writer, I often face limitations on the maximum length of what I pen. Sometimes I use a word processor or text editor with a built-in word-count feature (BBEdit or Microsoft Word, for example), but often I don’t ... read more at Macworld

PDF2Office 2.1 Professional - Recosoft

Not being able to extract data easily from a PDF file is frustrating. And not being able to easily convert that data into the word processing program of your choice is inconvenient. Although Adobe Acrobat Reader lets you select and copy text from a PDF file, it does not let you extract images or retain document formatting ... read more at Macworld

textSoap 4.0.7 - unmarked software

True to its name, textSoap cleans your text—much faster than you can with your mouse, arrow keys, and delete key. Simply paste your text into the textSoap text window and then select your favorite cleaner—a set of rules that tell textSoap exactly what you want done with your text—and your text is ready for pasting. The available cleaners range from the simple to the comprehensive. For example, Spaces replaces multiple contiguous spaces with a single space .... read more at Macworld

Mellel 1.8 - RedleX

Looking for a word processor that has power where you need it but doesn’t come with a lot of noisy bells and whistles you never use? Two recently released OS X word processors, Nisus Writer Express 2.1.1 and RedleX’s Mellel 1.8.2 ... read more at Macworld

iWork '05 - Apple

Writers, coders, and geeks may salivate over good text editors, but others might wonder why one would need anything more than TextEdit, which comes with Mac OS X. Let’s put it this way: If TextEdit were a dinner knife, Bare Bones Software’s TextWrangler 2.0 would be a set of chef’s knives, complete with a Benihana chef to do your bidding ... read more at MacAddict

TextWrangler 2.0 - Bare Bones Software

Writers, coders, and geeks may salivate over good text editors, but others might wonder why one would need anything more than TextEdit, which comes with Mac OS X. Let’s put it this way: If TextEdit were a dinner knife, Bare Bones Software’s TextWrangler 2.0 would be a set of chef’s knives, complete with a Benihana chef to do your bidding ... read more at Macworld

Deep Notes 1.2.1 - Amar Sagoo

This is the simplest of the five tools reviewed here, but that's not necessarily a criticism. If all you need is a quick and easy way to draw up a few outlines, you're likely to find that Deep Notes will do most of what you require, all without spending a penny ... read more at MacUserUK

iLiner 2 - Mercury Software

As the second most expensive application in the group, we had high hopes of iLiner. It's a polished tool designed to give you flexibility in creating basic outlines, and had it not faced such stiff competition from Process and OmniOutliner, iLiner would have scored very highly .... read more at MacUserUK