Enhanced atmospheric modelling, terrain sculpting and material handling raise the bar

Enhanced online integration, photo texturing and – not before time – 3D export. A great upgrade

Easy-to-use tagging capabilities, including effective face recognition, take Picasa 3.5 to the next level

Still the most powerful low-cost photo-editing package – but attempts to make it easier to use have backfired.

Existing export capabilities and new support for dynamic components make this a must for professional users

Cleverly extends Photoshop Elements’ appeal to both digital photo novices and the more experienced

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

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

A shift of focus to advanced CSS and JavaScript handling, but Dreamweaver is beginning to look old-fashioned

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

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

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

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

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

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

New image editing tools and a more powerful library mode makes Lightroom 2 compelling. It's also compatible with Vista 64-bit.

A new interface, smart albums, guided editing and photo merging keep Photoshop Elements ahead of the pack

Improved handling of templates, tracing, text and layers along with new table support, but ultimately X4 disappoints

A new interface, smart albums, guided editing and photo merging keep Photoshop Elements ahead of the pack