To test this program I used my 486, 8 meg machine. It worked very well on it.

The basic manual is well put together and includes pictures of most of the clipart, photos, and fonts. The only problem I found with the book is that the pagination in the index was not always correct. On the CD are mini movies with sound that demonstrate various aspects of CorelXARA. These are well put together and very informative. These demonstrations are in addition to other help tools.

CorelXARA allows for bitmaps to be handled as if they were vector based. Some of the features are the program's ability to work in real time; easily create text that follows curves as well as fully edit it; create color and opaque blends easily, etc. The program revolves around the concept of drop and drag. Blends can be created by dragging in the appropriate colors.

The accompanying illustration was first done in CorelXARA and then exported as a TIFF file. The way it was done is as follows:

1-A photo off of the CD was imported into the Bitmap Gallery (found under UTILITIES).

2-The bitmap to be used as fill was selected from the Bitmap Gallery and and the word FILL in the ribbon above the palette clicked.

3-An Oval was drawn with the Ellipse Tool containing the bitmap fill.

4-Three lines of text were then entered separately above the oval and freehand curved lines drawn under the first and last line.

5-The first line of text and the first freehand line were selected jointly (holding down the shift key will do this and then "fit curve to text" was highlighted under the ARRANGE menu.

6-The freehand lines were then removed by selecting each, holding the shift key and hitting the symbol for none in the color line at the bottom of the page.

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