Serif June Newsletter

Visit our Facebook page! It's official – we're on Facebook! If you're a fan of Serif, you can 'like' our brand new Facebook page and get 10% off your next order at Serif.com. Head to the Serif Facebook page now to explore the history of the company and our products, and check out how we work behind the scenes. Plus, you can access all the latest information, offers and more!

WebPlus Competition

Product News

PhotoPlus Competition

Will your entry be a site to behold?  There are still a couple of weeks left for you to get your websites entered into the WebPlus Website of the Year Competition. Send us a link to sites you've created in WebPlus for the chance to win prizes including the Serif Design Suite, twelve months' platinum hosting, and a link to your site from Serif.com. We've already received some fantastic sites, so act fast and submit as many entries as you like before 12pm GMT Monday 9th July 2012.

WebPlus X6 goes down a storm!  Since its launch just a few weeks ago, it's fair to say that our brand new web designer has had a fantastic reception! WebPlus X6 has broken record after record, but it hasn't just hit the right notes with customers: "WebPlus X6 is... excellent. It has managed to introduce many changes whilst remaining easy to use. "If you are starting web design, this is the place to start. If you have a previous version, then the ability to create mobile pages is good enough reason to upgrade."iPlus 360

Over £2,000 worth of kit still up for grabs!  Last month, we announced the opening of our SerifPhotoPlus Competition. Since then, we've been taken aback by the quality of some of the photography on show, but there's still plenty of time to enter. There's over £2,000 worth of kit to be won, including a Nikon 3200 DSLR with an 18-55mm lens, a Nikon J1 Twin Lens Kit, the Serif Design Suite and much more! Plus, you get a £10 voucher to spend at Serif.com when you submit your entry before the closing date of 5pm GMT Tuesday 31st July 2012.

How To...

...Sharpen photos in PhotoPlus X5 Sharpening photos is tricky in photo editing because it's all too easy to overdo it and produce visible noise in your images. Here's one method using PhotoPlus that gives you more flexibility and produces smarter results... With your image open, copy the Background layer by right-clicking it,selecting Duplicate, naming it, andclicking OK. This copied layer is the one we'll be working on throughout the tutorial. Now convert the layer to black and white. You can do this with either theHue/Saturation/Lightness or Black and White Film adjustments. The former is much quicker, but the latter gives you much more control over colour levels. Go to Image>Adjust to use either.  Once you've converted it to black and white, apply PhotoPlus' High Pass filter by going to Effects>Other>High Pass. You can change the depth of this grey line drawing by altering the Radius slider (around 15 should be suitable). Click OK, then change the layer's blend mode to Soft Light in the Layers tab. This reveals your sharpened image.  The final touch is to alter the opacity of the copied layer. Any changes are very subtle, so as to sharpen your image, but not leave any visible noise. In our example, there is an increased definition on the palm tree's leaves (see a larger before-and-after here). You can access more support, resources, and Serif forums on the Serif website.

Gallery Winner

Tips and Tricks

Jack Appleton June's competition winner is Jack Appleton and his graphic/web design website. Created in WebPlus X5, the site has a contemporary, clean, and stylish look, and also gives visitors the chance to purchase some interesting print works. To look at the website in more detail, simply click the image. Email us designs you have created using any Serif program and you could win the Serif software title of your choice! Please send your designs in their original Serif file format (you may also need to embed your fonts and images).

PagePlus X6 Editing tracking (line spacing) for individual words or lines of text is easy in PagePlus. Simply highlight the relevant text andpress Ctrl+M on your keyboard to go straight to the Text Style window. Go to Paragraph>Alignment and Spacingand change the line spacing to suit. CraftArtist  Cutting out intricate parts of a photo can be difficult when scrapbooking, but not when you use CraftArtist. Simply select the item to cut into, thenclick the Scissors tool on the main toolbar.Click and drag around the area you want to cut, then click on it to remove it.

Review to Win

Place a review for the chance to win £100!  That's right! You can post your views on any of our leading software titles by visiting Serif.com. Simply log in to your account and head to the relevant product page to tell us what you think. And what's more, every month one reviewer will win a massive£100 of Serif vouchers! This month's winner is Mr Alan Dowling from Lancing, UK with his review of WebPlus X5. More Serif reviews "MoviePlus X6 continues to improve... I use the product to edit videos for our business and it does amazing things. It's kept me from having to invest the time, money, and effort in one of the $1,000+ packages and I get great results." Mr K. Ring "A wonderful product that transitions well with other Serif programs like WebPlus and PagePlus, {DrawPlus X5} is easy to use with eye-catching results. I am always astonished at how the software grows and develops {to} compete with the 'big guns'." Dr L. Mackie