IBM Lotus SmartSuite 9.8: Freelance Graphics review

SmartSuite isn't as old as it sounds: that's 9.8, not 1998, and this version was released in 2003.

Even so, it's looking dated and some feel it's been neglected by IBM. But SmartSuite has its fans, and it's cheaper than the other mainstream office suites.

Freelance Graphics is available as part of the suite. Its tabbed user interface is straightforward and the program runs briskly. There are yellow tips and 'Guide Me' contextual help, but it can still seem opaque, thanks partly to a surfeit of meaningless icons.

SmartMasters let you team a content template with a 'look', so you can set up a full presentation ready to fill in, rather than starting from scratch with a theme. That's the intention, but the range of templates is small and a bit random. The looks don't feel very modern, and individual slide layouts aren't impressive; the ready-made diagrams in particular look awful.

There are plenty of chart styles to present your data, and you can produce simple, legible graphs. There's a sizable collection of bog-standard clip art, with out-of-date maps. The InfoBox is a useful one-stop shop for altering properties of any given item, but it doesn't always work intuitively. It's easy to set up transitions and bullet builds. Save your finished presentation in Freelance format (viewable with Lotus' free reader) or as a PowerPoint file, or export a basic HTML version. PowerPoint files can be imported.

You can do what you want with Freelance Graphics, once you know how. If you're thinking of making SmartSuite your office package then Freelance won't put you off, but it's no PowerPoint killer.

Author: Adam Banks