Draw Magic has also been designed to be used on a variety of computers with the minimum configuration being a Windows based computer with only 32meg of RAM, needlessly to say out test machine (Pentium 1.7Ghz, 512MB RAM and 40GB Hard drive) was more than ample enough to run this powerful program. The installation of Draw Magic was a breeze and automatically installed on our test machine once the CD was inserted into the drive. The installation itself took a little under a minute and the developers ensure that even the most novice of computer users can install this powerful program.
Once the installation was completed, I was greeted to an extremely user-friendly interface with the basic menus up the top and the program split into two panes with the left pane used for your tools and statistics with the right pane used for your workspace. Under the menus at the top, the program is neatly divided into fonts and attributes with various drawing tools below it.
Draw Magic is also 100% Microsoft Windows compatible which means you can incorporate your charts or drawings into just about any Microsoft Office product such as word or excel which is achieved through Draw Magic's innate OLE abilities. Apart from its connectivity, Draw Magic also allows you to import files from a variety of file formats that include BMP, DIB, GIF, JPEG, PCX, PNG, RLE, TIF and TGA.
Apart from creating flowcharts and drawings, Draw Magic also allows the user to create the following objects that include;
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Organisation Charts
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Business forms, timelines and connection charts
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Flowcharts
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Marketing Diagrams
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Mind Maps
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Relationship trees
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Networks
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Calendars, flyers and signs
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Geography maps
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Software designs
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Season greetings, birthdays and party invitations
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Statistical illustrations and science projects
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and a variety of other ideas
It should be noted that Draw Magic also includes a very in-depth clip art gallery that guarantees that your charts or drawings will have that professional look and feel to them. Draw Magic also offers the user a variety of ready made templates for the novice user or the more seasoned user can create their own drawings from scratch. The libraries area of Draw Magic has access to a plethora of templates that range from business to personal templates.
In conclusion, Draw Magic is a great program that virtually takes up very little space on my hard drive and I was also pleasantly surprised to know how easy this program was to use. Although I have not used any flowchart programs for years (since I was at university), all I had to do was click on the relevant area and in under a few minutes, I had my very own flowchart that was ready to be either saved, printed out or imported into another Microsoft program. I would recommend this program to anyone looking for a cheaper alternative on the market but who is also looking for many of the high-end features of the more expensive programs. Check it out!
Andrew B
