                       Announcements for Windows
                        Reviewed By Deborah Reed

	Announcements for Windows allows you to create unique posters,
cards, and postcards as well as envelopes, letterheads, gift
certificates and business cards.  Before I began using this program,
I had a number of expectations to be met before I would be
satisfied.  First, this program had to be easy to use.  Second, the
program had to allow me to be as creative as possible.  Lastly, it
had to be fun.  Well, I was not disappointed.  This program is very
easy to use.  The Windows format allows you to jump right in.  I can
be creative as I want by designing my own "art" in other programs
such as Designer and exporting them to Announcements.  I can also
use other clipart images besides the 200 that are supplied with the
program.  With this much flexibility, anyone will enjoy using this
program.
 	Inserting and manipulating text, pictures and borders is quick
and easy.  Each element is inserted in the project within its own
frame.  Once inserted, elements can be moved by pointing within the
frame and dragging.  Elements can also be locked into place so they
are not accidentally moved.  This is especially convenient when
working on large projects.  To align elements of your announcement
precisely, the program provides a snap to grid feature.  This sets
up an invisible grid that guides you in lining up elements in your
announcement.  There are also options allowing you to left, center
or right justify elements within a frame.  Elements may also easily
be centered in relation to the announcement as a whole.  Resizing an
element is easily done by grabbing one of the frame's handles and
dragging inward to reduce size or outward to enlarge.  Dimension has
also been given consideration in this program.  You can stack
elements and change their position within the stack with ease.
	The appearance of your product can be modified in several ways.
Twenty-six fonts, as well as several font styles, are available.
You can also choose the shape in which your text is displayed.  For
instance, you can display text in the shape of a pennant, eye or
ribbon.  This flexibility allows you to convey any feeling and do so
in a slick and professional manner.  This feature also works with
pictures allowing you to change their general shape.  The general
shape of pictures can also be changed by determining how a picture
will fill its frame.  You can choose stretch proportional which will
maintain the picture's original proportions or stretch fill which
may change the picture's proportions in order to fill the frame.  By
changing picture's shapes and proportions, you can create some very
interesting pictures yourself.  Of course, they can also be quite
distorted but that's part of playing with the settings for each
element.  This is one reason the program allows you to save your
announcement and recall it at a later time to reposition and modify
elements until you are satisfied.  This is essential for complex
projects.
 	For those of you with color printers, some of the graphic images
can be printed in color.
 	Additionally, text and background can also be printed in color.
You can easily create some very sharp looking announcements using
this program.
 	I really enjoyed using this program.  It's easy to use and is
expandable in the number of available graphics images whether you
create them yourself or get them from other sources.  You can create
some very professional and unique announcements or cards without
being a professional graphic artist.  All you need is a little
imagination.  This program provides all necessary tools.
 
                         Parsons Technology
                         One Parsons Drive
                             PO Box 100
                     Hiawatha, Iowa 52233-0100
                          (800)- 223-6925

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