As with each entry in the Classroom in a Book series, this one is used as part of Adobe's official training and certification program. Adobe PageMaker 7.0 Classroom in a Book (With CD-ROM) offers practical, step-by-step, timed lessons covering all of Pagemaker's features and tools and ensures that readers master the application. In addition, it offers clear explanations on how and why things work the way they do with elegantly professional artwork on which to practice.

Each lesson is well organised, from the opening rundown of what will be covered to the final chapter review, complete with quiz questions (and answers). Projects are the sort of practical challenges that most desktop publishers face today: flyer, letterhead, project proposal, CD jewel-case booklet, brochure, print and Web-based newsletters, colour catalogue and more. You learn how to work with master pages, styles and inline graphics, and how to format a sidebar and use the story editor.

Each project also addresses real-world practicalities such as spot colours, trapping, registration, bleeds and other pre-press issues. Understanding how each of these affects your print piece will be invaluable when it's time to talk with your printer. In addition, readers learn how to format and generate an index and a table of contents and how to use the version 7.0-enhanced Export PDF command.

One of the more compact books in this series, Adobe PageMaker 7.0 Classroom in a Book won't leave readers buried under excessively detailed projects. There's no wasted space and the trim, to-the-point text makes it enjoyable to work through the exercises while learning the software. Whether you use Pagemaker casually or as a daily part of your workload, you'll definitely want to pick this one up. --Angelynn Grant