www.adobe.com Retail Price: $800 (Master Collection for Students and Teachers). Student and teacher editions of individual applications in the Master Collection range from $119 for Acrobat X Pro to $249 for Photoshop CS6 Extended.
Users already familiar with Adobe’s popular CS applications will find some welcome improvements in CS6 Master Collection, including faster launch times for many of the applications and added support for 64-bit processors.
Quality and Effectiveness: CS6 Master Collection, the latest iteration of Adobe’s arsenal of industry-standard digital tools, artfully provides a collection of tightly integrated applications used daily by design, photography, Web, and production professionals around the world. These are the “expert” tools that students should use to craft their many projects. Adobe CS6 Master Collection provides full access to nearly two dozen applications. All but Adobe Flash Builder and Acrobat Pro X have been updated. As with previous iterations of the suite, applications can be tailored to individual user needs.
Ease of Use: Students and educators who have never experienced a CS Master Collection suite likely will feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of available applications, but each Adobe application has extensive Help files accessed from the Help menu.
Creative Use of Technology: In CS6 Master Collection, Adobe recognizes that users are probably creating content for multiple resolutions, aspect ratios, and digital devices. For example, when you create a flyer in InDesign, you can finesse the content at startup by indicating that you’re designing for Web, print, or digital publishing (i.e. iPhone, iPad, Kindle Fire/ Nook, or Android 10).
Suitability for Use in a School Environment: Adobe CS6 Master Collection tools are not just for students. Teachers, administrators and staff can use the tightly integrated applications to produce flyers, newsletters, video clips, and photo collections. If teachers or office personnel manage a Web site, they can certainly use Dreamweaver to prepare pages for Web display.
Overall Rating: Whether you’re editing a gallery of photos for a year book, producing a video for a school Web site, or “publishing” a research project for display on multiple devices, several Adobe CS6 tools get high marks for helping you do your best work.
TOP FEATURES
• Integrates industry-standard realworld tools for creative design, video production and Web development.
• Increased support for HTML 5, CSS transitions, and multiple presentation formats.
• Improved support for 64-bit computing and GPU acceleration.
