The Print Shop Deluxe Reviewer's Comments

Our #2 pick and "TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award Winner" is The Print Shop Deluxe, a top-quality greeting card and craft program. The Print Shop Deluxe is Broderbund's flagship product for their home graphics Print Shop series. When it comes to home-graphics projects, there is not much that Print Shop Deluxe cannot do.

Even though the navigation and design of The Print Shop Deluxe is similar to #1-ranked PrintMaster Platinum, this program was slightly more difficult to use and came with a bigger price tag.

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The Print Shop Deluxe Screenshots. Click for more
       


Ease of Use:  

We felt that The Print Shop Deluxe design was attractive, but not as easy to use as we'd hoped. For example, we had to access the help section to learn how to add sound to greeting cards. The help files were informative and led us to the right tools, but we didn't bump into this inconvenience when using The PrintMaster program.

One extra convenience we appreciated, however, was the Click & View tool. One click converts your greeting card into a format viewable by any computer, making it easy to share creations.

Feature Set:  

The Print Shop Deluxe and The PrintMaster Platinum both contain a plethora of editing tools, text options, clip art images and a variety of creative project templates. If this isn't enough to keep you busy, then you can import additional clip art files or your own photo images to create that perfect greeting card or ecard.

Print Shop Deluxe lets you share finished greeting cards in all the formats that PrintMaster offers, except this greeting card software also lets you send an ecard as an instant message. Print Shop Deluxe is the only greeting card software we reviewed that offered ecard delivery through chat services.

You can also create slideshows, calendars and posters and more with The Print Shop Deluxe—this program includes more than 16,000 project templates.

Ease of Installation:  

We didn't have any problems installing Print Shop Deluxe. The Print Shop Deluxe has a huge library of clip art choices and greeting card templates, so you will be required to insert a different disc now and then when the software is in use unless you opt to use the "Complete Install' when originally installing the program.

Help/Support:  

There is ample help available within The Print Shop Deluxe program in the form of tutorials and a getting started section, along with on screen tips and instructions. There is a comprehensive index search function that will instruct you as to all the ins and outs of the program. There is also tech support available from Broderbund.

Summary:  

Broderbund's Print Shop Deluxe is another fantastic home graphics program, capable of far more than most home graphic design packages.

The novice computer user may find this program slightly more challenging to use than The PrintMaster series. On the other hand, this program has a few extra perks that The PrintMaster doesn't offer-more template options, a few more effects, and the ability to send an ecard through chat.

Note: There are two other versions of The Print Shop program: The Print Shop for $29.99 and The Print Shop Essentials for $19.99. These programs have the same look and feel as The Print Shop Deluxe but offer fewer clip art images, project templates and font styles.