CeledyDraw

People who need a drawing program have some excellent products to choose from: CorelDraw and Adobe Illustrator are two of the best. There is one problem — both almost require taking second mortgages to pay for them.

But there is one program that has tremendous versatility and allows you to keep that bungalow free and clear. CeledyDraw 1.0 from Celedy Software is one of the more versatile drawing programs around, and the price is a quite reasonable $54.99.

Beyond that, CeledyDraw is also a publishing program, making it a perfect combination for producing internet graphics or a multitude of other desktop publishing items.

For Drawing

Its interface is clean and offers most functions at the click of a button. Drawing tools (shown at left) include rectangle, circles, freeform, bezier curve, polygon tools.

Users needing other shapes but not wishing to take the time to draw them can also get them from another toolbar that, in its default position, docks along the bottom of the screen. Simply click on a button, go to where you wish to insert the shape, and click and drag.

Once shapes are created, they can be altered along with other shapes by combining, intersecting, welding, trimming, cropping, using an envelope tool, or applying perspective. Beyond that, special effects such as extrusions, contours, shadows, blends and clips can be applied.

One very nice graphic tool provides the ability to duplicate objects in any direction or around a circle.

Color can be applied as a flat color, one of five gradient styles, and there are an assortment of preset patterns and hatches that can be used. Fills can also be made of pictures and textures.

Users can import photos and other graphics in all the popular formats, including those primarily for the internet, .jpg and .gif., and items in a drawing can be grouped, aligned and distributed as desired at the touch of a button or by using the menu.

For Publishing

As a publishing tool, CeledyDraw allows users to create multi-page documents and take advantage of its built-in drawing abilities to type or import text into or to wrap text around any shaped objects.

The program also does a nice job of placing text on a drawn path. Artistic text can be added with any of several special effects available.

Users can apply a number of alterations to paragraphed text, including alignment, indentation, spacing, line spacing, tabs, and numbered and bulleted lists.

Creating a table is as easy as clicking on a button, inputting the number of lines and columns desired, and then typing data directly into the table. Each cell can be formatted separately.

Conclusion CeledyDraw is an efficient program for drawing or publishing, and its versatility turns a bargain into a steal. That is not to say it is going to replace Illustrator or CorelDraw, but for those who wish to have a drawing program well above common capabilities — at a price well below what they might otherwise have to pay — it is a great choice.

What is it called again? CeledyDraw 1.0

Where can I get it? http://www.celedy.com

How much does it cost?$54.99 Download; $59.99 Box

How big is the download? 7.2 MB

Do I recommend it? Yes. It has a lot of versatility and a good price.