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SEVEN - as in CorelDraw 7 and Macromedia FreeHand Graphics Studio 7 - is the lucky number for print and multimedia designers working under time and creative constraints.
Both suites amass professionalquality vector drawing, imaging, and 3-D modeling applications; many parts of both collections offer redesigned user interfaces that help you work faster and more easily; and most of the individual applications are Internet-savvy. Furthermore, each suite provides an abundance of graphics utilities, fonts, clip art, and high-resolution photos.
Although these similarities make a purchase decision hard, here's guidance. Anyone working primarily on a Macintosh or those who require absolute cross-platform compatibility should first consider FreeHand. (CorelDraw 7 is not yet available for the Macintosh.)
Conversely, CorelDraw's fast speed, superior user interface, and special effects give it an edge on the Windows platform.
This isn't good news for Adobe Systems. Both Corel and Macromedia, with their aggressive bundle pricing and well-designed applications, make Adobe Illustrator 6.0 (4.1 on Windows) less attractive. (See Product Comparison, April 15, page 88.)
CorelDraw 7
In a few words, CorelDraw 7 has gotten far better than the version number indicates. Perhaps the best feature is the ingenious contextsensitive Property Bar (toolbar), which gives you immediate access to the bulk of the program's features because it changes depending on the tool or object you've selected. Moreover, Corel has grouped functions in this version to save effort; for example, I found text-formatting options in one dialog box instead of the three required when using CorelDraw 6.
In Version 7, tools work more intuitively. I dragged and dropped colors, styles, clip art, fills, and outlines from their respective palettes to objects. Further, the interactive Fill tool let me apply a standard or custom gradation by just clicking and dragging over an object.
Similarly, the interactive Transparency tool helped me produce marvelous looks by placing semitransparent texture on both vector and bit-map objects.
Text controls have more publishing features such as drop caps, vertical justification, and automatic paragraph sizing that fits text into an existing frame....