Entered CNET Catalog: 03/23/2005
SKU: CNETADOBECREATIVESUITE2.0
Manufacturer: Adobe Systems
CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 04/03/2005
Upside: New to Photoshop CS2 are Vanishing Point, a visual adjustment tool; Smart Objects, a feature that allows for nondestructive 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 Web standards support, including XHTML and SVG-t for mobile-enabled pages. And Acrobat 7.0 Professional enables comments within PDF files for team collaboration.
Downside: Unfortunately, Adobe still hasn't fully integrated ImageReady CS2 within Photoshop CS2, an obstacle for some. As in Photoshop, you can set customized 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 pallets 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.
Outlook: 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 apps other than the one that created them is still worth the price. Check back shortly to read our full review of each app within this suite.
| Premium edition | Standard edition | The scoop | |
 Photoshop CS2 |
Yes | Yes | Digital photo-editing app supports Camera Raw 3.0 and non-destructive editing |
 Illustrator CS2 |
Yes | Yes | Vector illustration app now converts scanned or bitmap images to vector-based drawings |
 InDesign CS2 |
Yes | Yes | Layout and design app offers better rich black and CYMK control |
 GoLive CS2 |
Yes | No | Web and mobile page-authoring app |
 Acrobat 7.0 Professional |
Yes | No | Document-publishing app |
| Adobe Bridge | Yes | Yes | Visual file manager for Creative Suite |
| Adobe Version Cue CS2 | Yes | Yes | File version management system for Creative Suite |
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2
User Rating: 
9/10
Most complete single-package publishing tool in the world (including Microsoft Office).
Pros: Unparalleled user interface, best of breed in every category but web
Cons: GoLive for web design is still weak link in Suite, and by the way, serious designers couldn't care less about WYSIWYG font menus
The Premium Suite is overkill for hobbyist users (and far too hard to learn). It is geared for professional designers and the feature set matches that audience's needs.
For example, the last reviewer (who probably has not actually used CS2 yet...) rates the Suite at a mere 7 because it doesn't list pulldown font menus in the actual typefaces for easier selection (WYSIWYG).
Every serious graphic designer will tell you that WYSIWYG font menus are a pain in the rear because they take far too long to preview. Indeed, I disabled them in Illustrator as soon as I realized it was a user preference that could be turned off.
Besides, if you are searching for that many typefaces to use in a single design piece, I will put money down that you are a hobbyist! Serious type designers stick to a handful of "workhorse" typefaces for everything they create, using no more than 2-3 distinct type families for most pieces.
If you're looking to play with "fun fonts", stick with Microsoft Publisher. If your needs match the professional design / publishing industry's needs, you probably already know that you have no choice but to upgrade to this suite. Otherwise, you will not be able to send and receive editable photo, illustration, and layout originals from vendors and other firms you collaborate with.
The weak link in the suite is undoubtedly GoLive. It seems that the industry in recent years has stacked up like this:
Adobe = print, photo, illustration, and now layout (with InDesign seriously hurting Quark XPress' stranglehold there).
Macromedia = web, web programming, animation.
There really is no challenger to Photoshop. Macromedia has basically given up on Freehand challenging Illustrator for market share in order to focus on web technologies (and it's worked). And likewise, Adobe has not smoothed the kinks out of GoLive like it's other products because they're fighting a losing battle with Dreamweaver. GoLive is in danger of going the way of LiveMotion (Adobe's short-lived competitor to Flash) in coming years if they can't manage to stabilize the product, clean up ongoing interface issues, and attract as much 3rd-party plug-in development as Dreamweaver.
- A professional graphic designer in Ohio
User Rating: 
7/10
Still missing a necessary feature
Pros: Very powerful software
Cons: Still missing some key features
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