When desktop publishing went digital 15 years ago, we saw an enormous rise in amateur publishing. Most of it was dreadful - people played with 10 or 20 fonts on the same page, mixed hideous colours and generally made fools of themselves.
These days, technology is bringing multimedia publishing into the home.
Flamboyant German designer Kai Krause has been a force in design for years, and his company, MetaCreations, has a near monopoly on design tools. One reason for this is that he has tapped into the soul of the designer and has produced much of what a designer wants.
The latest offering from MetaCreations is Kai's Power Show, an application that runs on PCs and Macs. Nearly all MetaCreations software comes on a CD-Rom that supports both platforms. For this they should be praised.
Show competes with Microsoft's PowerPoint, but blows it away in terms of design.
Mr Krause is well known for his intriguing interface design and Show is no exception. Anyone who has used other MetaCreations products such as Bryce or Kai's Power Tool will recognise the interface. Smart and slick though it is, it may irritate the novice. Some things are not obvious unless you move your mouse round the screen.
Designers like this kind of interface, but many people who are just trying to get some work done find it irksome. I was never able to open the text dialogue box. I followed the instructions in the book but never got the screen they displayed.
