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More on DesignMerge
I've just received feedback from Meadows regarding my previous entry on DesignMerge. They have kindly clarified specific areas on my original evaluation, which may have misrepresented the capabilities of some product features. I have edited my original entry to remove any misunderstanding. In addition they raised some additional points, which I've commented respectively.
"The CopyFit module a major feature that is much better than anyone else's in the market."
I agree, the CopyFit module in DesignMerge is highly configurable and comes with a comprehensive 32 page user guide. I chose not to comment on this feature originally, as copyfitting is really a de-facto feature (and requirement) of most VDP software. However, DesignMerge is a good solution for users who demand very tight copyfitting control.
"Another important feature to check out and mention is our Interactive Mode for the Rules module. Have you ever seen anything like this in any other VDP package?"
I admit, I overlooked the Interactive Mode, which is buried within the Merge dialogue. This mode creates a live, interactive merge session when previewing a merged document, which can be very useful for debugging business rules. The only comparable solution that I'm aware of is XMPie's Proof Set viewer, used for evaluating Proof Sets generated from uPlan. XMPie have disclosed and demonstrated that they will shortly be incorporating a similar capability into uDirect.
"The setup information is stored with each document, you can work on multiple documents utilizing completely different database setups at the same time! Not possible with other products which require export and import of a single setup at a time. And for support, the setup travels with the document, so all you need to do is send it and we can re-create your setup anywhere. Also great for archiving purposes."
Yes, this is a nice feature, if you work with multiple data sources using different schemas.
"DesignMerge ships as a boxed product with a printed manual and not just a sea of pdf files. But if you do work strictly from the download, there is a folder called "Tutorials" which is I believe is an obvious place to start... The other PDF's detail the use of some of the advanced features and provide more detail about some of the other DesignMerge modules. With a product as feature rich as this, of course there is going to be documentation."
Thank you for clarifying this. It's reassuring to know that the product is sold with a user guide.
"What some of our real life customers are saying: We have used the DesignMerge software for almost a year and we are extremely happy with its performance! We had been using an awful xxxxx product and needed to replace it with something comparable in price and capability."
I can't really comment on this as I'm not familiar with the awful xxxxx product that is comparable in price to DesignMerge.
"[another customer comment] We had been using QuarkXPress as our primary layout software for years... The product was so much simpler to learn [than alternative products] through the great sample projects that the manual takes you through. These are real life samples—not just simple straightforward jobs that anyone could create. I learned more in one weekend with the software manual from DesignMerge than I did in six months of trying to learn the 'other' software we had purchased."
I agree, with this comment. I found the tutorial files to be essential when learning how to use the product, and tutorial files make it easy for self-paced learning.
Thanks again to Meadows for promptly providing this additional information. I hope this update helps to further clarify the capabilities of this software.
Posted on Saturday, 9 February 2008 at 11:44 AM | TrackBack: http://www.veedeepee.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/86
Comments
Hello Eliot, how are you. Haven't talked since Seattle.
As a Manager of Content Management, I have had my fair share of Variable Data Projects as you can image and I have found Design Merge to be the most easiest to manage across multiple projects and applications. We have had repeated success with many different usages. Complex and Simple in nature. First time variable data users to Database Programmers. Each finding the same tool capable of meeting their requirements.
Posted by DeShawn Burton on Tuesday, 18 March 2008 at 6:28 PM
DeShawn, it's good to hear of your success with DesignMerge. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by Eliot Harper on Tuesday, 18 March 2008 at 7:23 PM
I can attest to the relative ease of use of Designmerge compared with all other products I've tried from a dozen vendors over the last 10 years. My personal favourite.. It's one you don't need to have a geek use, although geeks like me can have fun with it too. The unique typographical controls (copyfit etc) are amazing, plus the handling of barcodes and their step and repeat options are better. They also have some superb driver support, especially Xerox VIPP which I first used 10 years back in Quark/Mac being the fast database version, not the 'fat' (slower) varieties from other suppliers. Nice once you get your head around it. SO FAST when well-spec'd RIP hardware is provided. Creo DFE was always the best/fastest, but not used much now for VIPP workflows. Xerox prefer to sell their own DocuSP/FreeFlow hardware package.
Posted by Kevin Trye on Wednesday, 25 June 2008 at 4:30 PM