LIGHTFOOTADV  I'm pretty impressed overall with this program as a new page layout option. It reminds me of Pixelmator in early versions.

It is a functional program already. I could imagine someone being able to easily use it in day to day operations. There are some obvious oddities and overlooked features though, as with most newish software.

Character styles would be a very welcome addition, as well as being able to combine shapes, and custom page sizes. It also feels strange not being able to drag shapes out of the palette directly onto the page. Unless I'm missing it, you can also only save in IStudio format or PDF files. It would also be nice if there was one place to select the object and stroke colors together (instead of in separate places).

I look forward to the future development of the program.  
(Version 1.0.4)

RUBAIYAT  I am always keen to see a new challenger in the DTP stakes, particularly one using Cocoa and I give full marks to the developer for having given this a go.

However I can not see it as being anything other than a beta. It is usable as it is and will take considerably more work.

From common things such as drag and drop doesn't work, to oddities in graphics where images are oddly cropped within objects. Selecting from the type list is slow and odd. The drawing tools don't behave like any I've ever used before and I have used a lot.

Cosmetics issues hit you in the eye, such as the tool icons being clumsily large, shapes that don't distort intelligently, and are just so-so built in clipart. Why implement stars as separate objects according to how many points they have? Why are we required to nominate an image type before importing? Why are there no preferences? Why use a slider in the Inspector palette just because it is laid out poorly and nothing fits?

I AM impressed by so much functionality included at this point of its development, just not how it has been included, nor to claiming it is final release. I repeat this is a beta in all but name.

I would be much more enthusiastic if it was a fully Cocoa app with all its standard UI, icons and simplified conventions. Beat Pages at its own game, which is not hard as there is a lot missing and not right still in Pages.

I am sitting back and seeing if this becomes another Pixelmator, which has had a great deal more aesthetic thought put into it. As it stands it is a diamond in the rough.  
(Version 1.0.4)

MACYOUZER  Yikes! I thought this might be like Pages but with better drawing tools and features like the ability to combine and subtract overlapping shapes and so forth. I’ve always enjoyed the “magic” ability of Pages to maintain as well as offer so much control over the format and structure of information copied from other Cocoa apps like Safari. For example if I copy a Wikipedia article from Safari and paste it directly into a Pages layout document, Pages maintains tabular data by transferring the info into a Pages Table and in turn placing that in the text columns, it’s really great stuff. IStudio on the other hand doesn’t seem to offer such niceties in the realm of what many users generally know as a “Cocoa experience” (not to be confused with the actual Cocoa API which iStudio might in some ways utilize). I’m probably at fault for having the wrong set of expectations. That said, I am a bit amazed at how silly this application feels, it doesn’t exhibit much in the way of good design and usability. I hate to come off as a curmudgeon but the truth is iStudio Publisher is basically rubbish. Maybe somehow I was redirected to the wrong download or something. Is this by any chance just the alpha? Oh well, competition is always good for end users, in this case it’s definitely the competing products that shine!

P.S. Reduced Functionality demos are bad news and iStudio’s implementation of a crippled trial is no exception. The inability for users to test drive and experience the full potential of the tool within their workflow most often ends quickly with a trip to the Trash bin.

/My Mac/.Trashes/iStudio.app  
(Version 1.0.2)