I need books like this. I use Corel for hours every day at my real job and, although I feel like I know the program well, I need all the help I can get. Corel is huge, complex program that "does it all" with lots of obscure commands and esoteric features. Looking Good With CorelDRAW! helps you uncover features you never knew were there and that can come in handy and make drawing easier.
January 8, 1997
I have to admit I'm a manual reader. I've discovered great things in software manuals and people that snobbishly claim they don't are just that: snobs. OK, lots of manuals aren't worth reading. Poorly written software manuals may even be the norm but let's not throw the baby out with the bath water-if you miss great features in your software because you won't read the manual you're shortchanging the software, yourself, and your boss. But I digress.
Programs that I like, and Corel is one I love, flaws and all, I want to know everything about and a book like this landing on my desk can change my mood from surly "is it Friday yet?" down to "it's my job and I love it!" I spent hours curled up with this book. Well, I tried to curl up but actually I kept jumping up, running to my computer and trying out some of the neat stuff I discovered in its pages. I discovered a lot of neat commands and techniques I didn't know about before but, even better, I found out how to do some of those neat effects I have seen in magazines and wondered how they were done.
Corel can do a lot but you have to know how to get there from here. Some of the neat things you can create with Corel are easy only if you know the route. Looking Good With CorelDRAW! shows you the route. How do they make letters shiny like that? It's in here. How do they make type transparent so hidden images show through the lettering? It's in here.
"Technique is merely a means, not an end in itself." - M.C. Escher. I'll buy that philosophy but you've got to know the techniques and I love learning them. I suggest reading Looking Good With CorelDRAW! with a highlighter and a pad of sticky notes handy so when you come across techniques you want to try out you can find them again easily. Warning! You need some serious time to try this stuff out if you're going to really benefit from this book. But if you love CorelDRAW! you'll love Looking Good With CorewlDRAW! and you'll make the time. I guarantee it.
