Software Review of:
Microsoft Home Publishing Suite
2000 

The Welcome or opening page is the first introduction to Home Publishing. It has an index on the left-hand side of the window consisting of Creative Ideas, Paper Projects, E-mail and Web Projects, Occasions and Activities, and Blank Projects. There are also ‘buttons’ for Find a Design, My projects and the Web site. Possible Projects include cards for all possible needs, invitations, stationery, labels and awards, newsletters, flyers, posters, banners, calendars and other items that can be created as well as a wide variety of E-mail and Web Projects. The section on occasions and activities lists projects for all kinds of life events, celebrations, holidays, photo projects, workplace and special activities for families, kids and school.

One ‘button’ on the opening page that I found to be extremely useful was the “find design” button. I had gone through a variety of cards, invitations and other samples before I decided on the design I wanted to use. Then I could not remember in what category the design was located. Finally I went to “find a design”, typed in the holiday that the design was for and clicked OK. The design was found immediately.

My primary interest is in the area of greetings. I have been on a longtime quest for the perfect greeting card software and I may have found it in MS Home Publishing. My father had his 90th birthday on May 5, 2000. We planned to have a small birthday party for him and I wanted to make it very special by sending out invitations. My first attempt was a personalized invitation, but when I printed it, I just did not like the selection. My next thought was to take his baby picture and a current picture and incorporate them into a party invitation. I liked the idea but the pictures just would not fit together in a way that I liked. I swamped that idea and got to thinking of the fact that his birthday was on Cinco de Mayo which celebrates a major event in Mexico. With that thought I found a great red, white and blue card for Independence Day. With that theme it was a simple idea to change the wording to reflect a special day for Daddy by putting his birth date, May 5, 1910, and the words ‘On this Day was born _________’. Then on the inside I could add a picture of Daddy and the necessary invitation for his party. Only family and a few close friends helped celebrate but each did something very special for Daddy so after the party, I used the same theme to create a ‘Thank You’ card for Daddy and Ann (my stepmom) to personalize and send out. I also used a template in Home Publishing to create customized ‘thank you’ cards for me to send to each of Daddy’s friends so that I could enclose copies of the pictures that I took with my digital camera so that each would have a special keepsake.

Adding a picture to a project in Home Publishing is very convenient. A dialog window opens and the picture that you choose is displayed in the dialog window so that if it is the wrong picture or needs some editing, all of that can be done before the picture becomes part of the project.

I used Picture It to create Daddy’s birthday gifts also by scanning pictures of him when he was a lot younger and then printing them on 8 ½ X 11 photo paper and putting them in suitable frames.

When I had finished all that I needed to do to celebrate, it was time to explore Home Publishing some more. Another choice within Occasions and Activities is stationery. It is possible to select paper, matching envelopes and matching seals to print out as a small gift set or for your own personal use. Also in the section on stationery you can print out a flat envelope that can be cut out and folded into a standard shape and size envelope. Once you have cut it out, a letter can be written on the inside and the envelope folded and sealed. This was a method of creating stationery for airmail use back in the days when air mail postage cost more than regular postage and was also based on weight. The envelopes that also form the letter (or craft envelopes as MS refers to them) are a bit of nostalgia for those who can remember air mail costing more, but also getting to its destination sooner.

I have not explored the Web projects because my interest lies in creating personal greetings to be sent via snail mail. I guess it doesn’t hurt in the midst of technology to be a little bit old-fashioned sometimes.

There is a lot more to be explored in Home Publishing Suite. There are many different styles of newsletters, banners, posters and a variety of ways to change any project that appeals to you. The software package contains 100,000 quality graphics, 10,000 project templates, and 10,000 professional photos. 

The web site has a variety of Add-on Packs. I went to the site and found a wide choice of add-on packs designed by Corbis, Madison St., Paper Studio and also Avery templates. Almost all of the packs were downloadable and free. Each contained only 1 or 2 designs but there are a wide variety of designs.

“Suite” in Home Publishing Suite refers to the three major components of the software. That is Home Publishing 2000, MS Greetings 2000, and Picture It 2000. With these three programs combined into one suite, you can edit photos or create fantasy shots and utilize your creations to further create cards, newsletters, brochures, banners and other kinds of graphic oriented printing that may suit your fancy. In addition, you can store and share your pictures as well as shop on line with fujifilm.net online service. The box containing Home Publishing Suite also contains $129± in discounts on Fujifilm Products and services.

System Requirements are a multimedia PC with a Pentium 166 MHZ or higher, Win 95, 98 or NT4, 32 MB Ram, 376 MB minimum hard disk space, color monitor, mouse, and color printer. E-mail greetings require Internet Explorer 4 or later and Internet access. I am running a 266 MHZ Pentium II, 160 MB of RAM and IE-5. I chose to go with minimum installation, which was very smooth. The Suite also has Picture It 2000 photo-editing software, but since I currently am running Picture It 99, I did not install 2000. The suite still has many photo-editing tools incorporated within the software, which makes it very easy to utilize a picture that you have in another source.

Microsoft Home Publishing Suite 2000 is available at almost any location that carries software. The list price is $54.95. I have found MS Home Publishing Suite 2000 at Office Depot, Sam’s, Wal-mart, Circuit City, Best Buy and CompUSA. It currently comes with a $20.00 rebate coupon in the package. The Rebate expires on September 30, 2000. If you watch the software ads, Home Publishing Suite 2000 has been on sale repeatedly for either $24.95 or $19.95. This price with the $20.00 rebate makes it very affordable software. One word of caution – it is advisable to check inside the box when you make your purchase to be sure that the rebate coupon is in the box. Perhaps I made my purchase too soon after the rebate started, but I had to return to the store to get a box that had the rebate coupon inside.