Adobe Creative Suite 2.0: a first look

With Creative Suite 2.0 (CS2), Adobe integrates its photo and design environment components into one neat package so that graphic designers can share files more easily among applications. Included are updated versions of Photoshop (photo editor), Illustrator (graphic illustrator), GoLive (Web designer), InDesign (layout designer) and Acrobat 7.0 Professional (Web publisher) -- all of which are available separately.

The main advantage of this suite, however, is its ability to share images produced in one program with another program. Version Cue 2.0, a file management utility, maintains version control, while Adobe Bridge, a new application, allows designers to synchronise colour settings throughout the suite and preview images from within any Creative Suite program, whether or not they were created by that program. The suite also includes access to Adobe's library of stock images.

New to Photoshop CS2 are Vanishing Point, a visual adjustment tool; Smart Objects, a feature that allows for non-destructive editing of images; and Camera Raw 3.0, a plug-in that provides access to a variety of native digital camera standards. Illustrator CS2 ships with Live Trace, a tool that coverts scanned line art or bitmap images into vector-based drawings for editing. InDesign CS2 features better control of rich black and CYMK (cyan, yellow, magenta, black) values. GoLive CS2 offers more support for Web standards, including XHTML and SVG-t for mobile-enabled pages. And Acrobat 7.0 Professional enables comments within PDF files for team collaboration.

Unfortunately, Adobe still hasn't fully integrated ImageReady CS2 within Photoshop CS2, an obstacle for some. As in Photoshop, you can set customised work spaces within Illustrator CS2, but unlike Photoshop CS2, no preset work spaces are provided within Illustrator CS2, so you'll have to create them all from scratch. We noticed a slight file incompatibility between InDesign CS files and InDesign CS2 files. We feel there are too many palettes floating around the GoLive interface. And, overall, the Creative Suite 2.0 package is not for old hardware; you'll need a pretty powerful PC to run everything.

Despite its overall size and few misses here and there, by providing better integration of all the suite's applications, Adobe gives current users and newcomers a reason to purchase Creative Suite 2.0: more efficient work flow. Even if you're not part of a network or a collaborative team, the ease of accessing files within applications other than the one that created them is still worth the price. The Premium Edition of Creative Suite 2 costs £895 (ex. VAT; £1,051.62 inc. VAT), while the Standard Edition -- which omits GoLive and Acrobat Professional -- costs £705 (ex. VAT; 828.37 inc. VAT). Prices for the individual applications are shown in the table below. Check back shortly to read a full review of each program within this suite.

Adobe Creative Suite 2 (Windows): summary
Application	Premium Edition	Standard Edition	Highlights	Price
Photoshop CS2	yes	yes	digital photo-editing; supports Camera Raw 3.0 and non-destructive editing	£445 (ex. VAT) £522.87 (inc. VAT)
Illustrator CS2	yes	yes	vector illustration; now converts scanned or bitmap images to vector-based drawings	£435 (ex. VAT) £511.12 (inc. VAT)
InDesign CS2	yes	yes	layout and design; offers better rich black and CYMK control	£609 (ex. VAT) £715.57 (inc. VAT)
GoLive CS2	yes	no	Web and mobile page-authoring	£335 (ex. VAT) £393.62 (inc. VAT)
Acrobat 7.0 Professional	yes	no	document publishing	£395 (ex. VAT) £464.12 (inc. VAT)
Adobe Bridge	yes	yes	visual file manager for Creative Suite	n/a
Adobe Version Cue CS2	yes	yes	file version management system for Creative Suite	n/a