102 PCWorld OCTOBER 2019
HERE’S HOW ADOBE ALTERNATIVES
- Affinity
Designer
PRICE: $49.99 FROM
GO.PCWORLD.COM/
AFDS
Very similar to
Adobe Illustrator,
Affinity Designer’s
most distinctive
features (go.
pcworld.com/dsft)
include the Multi
Stroke and Fill,
which, among other
things, stacks strokes and fills as layers so
they can support their own blending and
gradients. Also nice: the adjustable line
weights, which are based on speed,
pressure, and width. You get lots of new
presets for symbols, shapes, and lines; more
options for custom gradients, textures, and
styles; and unlimited layers, masks, and
groups. A big plus: There are over 8,000
History steps for Undo/Redo.
ADOBE INDESIGN
ALTERNATIVES
InDesign and the programs listed below are
page layout, design, and desktop
publishing software. There are no
substitutions for this group unless you want
to use Microsoft Word or another word
processor, but those applications are not
really equipped to function as a layout and
design program. I still say PageMaker was
the all-time best desktop publishing
program, but it’s no longer supported by
Adobe or the operating systems.
- Spring Publisher,
Spring Publisher Pro
PRICE: FREE AND $23.95 FROM
GO.PCWORLD.COM/SPUB
This little program is no InDesign or Affinity
Publisher, but if you just need a simple,
free program (go.pcworld.com/sprn) with
nice templates—and without all the
complicated menus, features, and
effects—this one’s for you. Easy to learn,
easy to use, easy Help language. - Scribus
PRICE: FREE FROM GO.PCWORLD.COM/SCRB
Scribus is an intuitively designed desktop
Spring Publisher comes with some nice templates.