The screen you want to see

I just put the Adobe Creative Suite 4 applications on my laptop, upgrading from the CS2 Design applications. I got lucky; not a single failure or demand for multiple license authorizations. One set of license numbers off the back of the CD case — and about 45 minutes of loading off a new Sony 840U DVD burner-player — and I was editing my CS2 document. It’s worth the upgrade, so far, since the interface is vastly improved. The palette-happy apps of two years ago have been reined in. I don’t even feel cramped on a MacBook Pro 15-inch screen.

Of course, not all is simple as it has been. Help is a genuine boondoggle now, a melange of Adobe pages, support documents, Community-written advice and more. There’s a good reason there’s no more printed manuals these days, but the definitive (if sometimes cryptic) vendor-written help files are only one player in the documentation sideshow.

Cost: $492 from Amazon, but watch out for the signature-needed requirement if it’s arriving via UPS. And if you’re debating a point-upgrade like ID4 only, rather than the full suite, remember that the new CS4 suite now includes the full Adobe Acrobat. That PDF engine is important than ever for us print-to-Web publishers. Read the rest of this entry »