Founded in 1985, Corel Corporation has long been known primarily for its graphics software and digital imaging products. Corel produces products frequently considered strong alternatives to Adobe and Microsoft. Once a top choice for page layout, Corel Ventura -- version 10 was released in 2002 -- is not currently a frontrunner in the Corel product line. However, CorelDRAW, much like Adobe Illustrator, is often used for graphics-intensive page layout tasks.
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite:
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite is Corel's answer to Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. The suite includes CorelDRAW for vector drawing, Photo-Paint for photo editing, PowerTRACE, and CAPTURE along with over 10,000 pieces of clip art and other images, 1000 fonts, 100 templates, Bitstream Font Navigator for managing all your fonts.
CorelDRAW Tutorials
Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo:
Formerly Jasc Paint Shop Pro, an extremely popular low-cost alternative to Photoshop, Corel has added a lot of digital photography features in Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI. In addition to photo editing and enhancing, it also includes artistic text, photo organization tools, and it has the Works with Windows Vista designation.
Other Corel Digital Imaging and Graphics Software:
Corel offers Snapfire, Photo Album, and other extras in its Digital Imaging line. Corel Painter is natural-media painting and illustration software designed to mimic traditional artists tools. Corel Designer comes in Professional and Technical Suite versions and handles technical illustration tasks including diagrams and schematics.
Reviews of Corel Graphics Software:
- Summary/Review: CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3 About.com Graphics Software Guide Sue Chastain calls it "a value leader, providing capable, professional tools for just about any graphics task."
- Review: CorelDRAW X3 Graphics Suite Susan Glinert Stevens, writing for creativepro.com, has been using CorelDRAW for 20 years. She outlines the "unique, innovative solutions" offered in the latest version.
- Review: Corel Paint Shop Pro XI Although PC Mag found some of the new features underwhelming it still gets high marks and is recommended for newcomers as "an outstanding image editor at an affordable price."
WordPerfect Office:
The longtime rival to Microsoft Word, WordPerfect Office comes in standard, professional, student & teacher, home, and small business editions each with its own mix of word processing and other office applications and extras.
WordPerfect Tutorials
Corel Ventura:
Once a top choice for page layout when it was Ventura Publisher, Corel Ventura is not currently a frontrunner in the Corel product line -- it's buried under the "Other Products" section of their Web site. Corel Ventura 10 is found primarily in business publishing and excels at long document publishing. XML Import, Publish to PDF, Table Tags, Prepress/Preflight options, and Bitmap effects were some of the enhancements to the software. Released in 2002, version 10 also works better with both Adobe and Corel Graphics programs than earlier versions.
Corel Ventura Tutorials
Corel Corporation:
1600 Carling Avenue; Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1Z 8R7
Get customer support worldwide.
Get customer support worldwide.
Where to Buy Corel Software:
Corel has an online store if you want to buy direct.
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3
- Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI
- Corel WordPerfect Office X3: Standard, Professional, Home, Student & Teacher
- Corel Ventura 10
How to Get Corel Software for Free:
Get a fully functional 15-day trial edition of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite. Many other Corel products including Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo, Corel WordPerfect Office, and Corel DESIGNER Technical Suite are also offered in 15 or 30 day trial editions.
