Strangely enough, you can't do some basic things, such as put two images side by side on a single slide or print slides-the latter of which is a key drawback when it comes to creating handouts. If you don't like the effect you just created, you're in luck: ProShow Gold allows for unlimited undos and redos, so you can go back and forth while deciding whether you like the effect. You can even mesh two effects for a custom look.

ProShow Gold provides hundreds of transitions and effects, and you can control their speed at a very granular level.

While we like the autocorrect function for fixing low-quality digital snapshots, you can't crop images. For instance, double-click an image to adjust its color, brightness, and balance, and even rotate it-all from within the ProShow environment. You can customize just about every aspect of your presentation. Next, add transitions and music, and you're done. You can add text by typing it in, but your options are very limited, especially compared to those in programs such as PowerPoint. Just click items in the File list and drag and drop them into the thumbnail of the correct slide on the Slide list below. The program works with just about every file format you could need (it supports about 100 formats). The focus of the program is the File list, which shows you the resources you have on hand, such as audio, video, and image files. Rather than starting with canned templates full of clichéd backgrounds, you can start with any image as a background. Many presentation veterans will feel like ProShow Gold makes them do everything backward, but the results are spectacular. Photodex ProShow Gold places the priority squarely on audio, images, and video text is almost an afterthought. Overall, the main interface feels cramped, particularly if you're pulling components of your presentation from several open windows. Keeping in line with ProShow Gold's focus on pictures and video, the main interface has a prominent time line at the bottom and a preview screen on the right, much like a video-editing program. If you do need help, Photodex includes a massive 362-page manual. It occupies a mere 11MB of RAM, installs in less than a minute, and is easy to jump right into. From the start, Photodex ProShow Gold is like no other presentation program.

Photodex proshow gold