By Cyndie Shaffstall

Describing any extensions module as a one-trick pony borders on a misnomer, but for the purpose of this article, it fits. In the next few pages I'll shed some light on Photoshop, QuarkXPress, InDesign, and Acrobat extensible technology, and a book that is a must have for everyone. Each of these products provides a singular purpose — for less than $50.

Complete Typeface Catalog, A-Z for everyone
$39.99 (plus shipping)

While this book is not the first choice for armchair perusal, I could sit for hours and leisurely thumb through the pages. I'd come away with dozens of ideas for projects as the typefaces inspired me. This lovely, heavy, and beautifully bound tome is a wonderful addition to any casual or serious designer's collection. To top it off, it's useful. From Linotype, The Complete Typeface Catalog, A-Z provides large lettered and full alphabets of Linotype's offerings. The typeface families are shown grouped together in categories that include: sans serif, serif, script and brush, decorative and display, uncial and blackletter, pi and symbol, Central European, and non-Latin. If you're truly into type, you won't want to skip the frontmatter and appendix that explain Linotype’s various font formats and character sets in detail. The text book caters to the English, French, and German reader and is 608 pages.

ClassicFrames for Photoshop Plug-ins-compatible applications, $39.99 (per volume), Mac/Win (no demo available)

ClassicFrames is not a unique product. There are a number of companies that product frame collections. What I like about ClassicFrames is the detail. In each ClassicFrames volume, there are 70 graphic reproductions of the types of frames you might find framing expensive paintings.

Where many frame collections leave off, ClassicFrames is just getting started. These frames are RGB with 16-bit support, and flexible. You may combine existing frames for infinite variations using the multiple layers of edges or frames.

Promoted for Photoshop use, they are native Mac OS X or Windows and can be used with any application that supports Photoshop Plug-ins, including Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Corel PHOTO-PAINT, and PaintShop. Not all collections are round frames, as shown above, but with each frame set, you can compare four frames side by side.

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