With Web Standard/Premium, Design Premium AND Macromedia’s products now absorbed into CS3, choosing the right suite is EASY.

What makes PDF (Portable Document Format) unique is that it can provide an exact electronic replica of any document from any application on all major platforms, including all text, graphics and fonts. It’s an amazingly flexible format with a myriad of uses ranging from electronic manuals and e-books, through secure document exchange and archiving, to multimedia presentation and high-end commercial print.

A new focus on animation, better video support and deeper integration, but not the core authoring package it once was.

A new interface, drawing engine and programming language, but surprisingly little new power.

Adobe builds on its print strengths to take its rich design mission online. And it has made a success of it, too.

Non-destructive image processing and creative filters feature in this comprehensive upgrade to the market leader.

A period of transition as Adobe deals with its Macromedia inheritance and the changing nature of the web.

Powerful new versions of InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator, and now Acrobat 8 Professional too.

A questionable interface redesign and greater-than-ever complexity lead to a half-baked feeling.

With Flash media handling and integration with Acrobat.com the Acrobat platform embraces the Internet – at last

After the launch of the latest Acrobat a few months ago, everything went quiet on the Adobe front. It's now clear what the company was working on, with the simultaneous launch of each of its main creative design packages -- Photoshop/ImageReady, Illustrator, InDesign and GoLive. (Please see individual reviews of all of these packages on this month's cover CD.)

Adobe Photoshop is so dominant when it comes to print and Web-based bitmap-editing that, in many ways, it has come to define the whole field...

Still heavy going, but a raft of improvements means it’s the most comprehensive drawing package on the market.

Adobe significantly strengthens its print, web and production workflows – and the integration between them

The new interface plus PDF and AIR export sees Fireworks CS4 fully integrated into the Creative Suite.

Advanced long document functionality and screen-based publishing via Flash contribute to another Quark-bashing.

With advanced packages such as the latest Photoshop (to be reviewed next month) Adobe is the leading software developer when it comes to traditional graphic design...

An excellent release that reworks Photoshop’s core colour-correction capabilities, making them even more powerful

Best-of-breed photo management, editing and sharing with great usability and value.

Best-of-breed photo management, editing and sharing with great usability and value.