Questions about CS4 standard

Uhtred

Uhtred

Uhtred

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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Location
Bedfordshire
OK my dad wants to buy the above software for his business. He's got an old version of coral draw (which is very buggy and not up to the job) and wants a replacement programme to design covers and clean up scans for his books plus generate pdfs.

I should explain that my dad is COMPLETELY inept at computers. I've worked in support for hundreds of people but it never ceases to amaze me how terrible he is at grasping simple computer concepts.

What i'm desperate to avoid is him coming to me for help, i really don't have the time/will to explain things to him anymore, he just forgets it all the next day...therefore he needs a book to reference from.

I have 3 questions -

Is this the right suite for the job?
is £1000 a good price?
what books can people recommend for the complete novice? (i've found the links in the sticky which looks great for web guides)

THanks
 
CS4 is the industry standard and is very full-featured. I'm thinking it might be overkill for your dad, both in term of functionality and cost. The only thing that might work in its favour is the dearth of books and online resources. Might be flogging a dead horse if he struggles as much as you say though...

(Paint.net? free...)
 
photoshop is very overkill for what he needs, it's mainly the cover design that's the problem. From what i gather he would be using indesign for that? If there is an alternative i'm more than willing to give it a try...

This whole thing was recommend to him by his publisher and i suspect they want him using it to make their lives easier
 
Hard to say, a lot of it is memory work, remembering what does what and he sounds like this is not his best attribute and PS CS4 can take a while to get the hang of. But there are some good video tutorials on the youtube that really cut down on the learning time.

But then most editors are tricky at first, you would have to say to him that it is going to be painfull for a month or two learning the ropes but after that it should come together.
 
CS4 Design Standard includes, InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat 9 Pro along with a few other utilities. Although he probably would only use InDesign and Acrobat, getting Design Standard instead of buying those two programs separately is only £29.25 more so it makes sense to get Design Standard, as that way he would have the option to use Photoshop and or Illustrator in the future should he want to without extra cost.

As for the ease of use, yes they are complex and powerful programs but they are also fairly intuitive. Personally I wouldn't buy a book. Working through some online tutorials, and watching online tutorial videos is probably the best way to get to grips with the programs, but it depends on his learning style, if he learns better from reading a book then get a book.
 
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