All three products have a fairly intuitive user interface that is accompanied by a built-in guide or learning center designed to walk new users through the process of basic photo editing. If you’re a more experienced user, you shouldn’t have much trouble switching from one application to another since the basic layout of all three programs is the same once you take away the bells and whistles that are unique to each one.
In terms of an integrated help system, I think Photoshop Elements 7 has done the best job – especially when considering newcomers to the photo editing world. Not only can you obtain advice for your editing situation while still having full view of your photo in the main window of the application, but you can activate the necessary tools for basic editing tasks right within the “learning” panel of the screen. That is, you have full access to the brushes and features you need without having to leave the guided walkthrough of how to use them.
Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate is a close second here. The software’s Learning Center can easily be toggled on and off, is easy to navigate, and allows you to view instructions for basic editing functions while you’re actually performing the modifications. The only difference is that tool usage is not integrated into the guided system so you do have to access them separately.
PhotoPlus X2 also has an integrated help system that is useful for several features, but it’s not nearly as easy to navigate as the similar tools found in the other two applications. Still, it’s sure to be quite beneficial to new users and has the advantage that it can be undocked from the main user interface and function as a standalone window. This can free up a lot of room in the work area portion of the application – a great feature for those with smaller display units and for those who do a lot of detail work on large images.
Ranking for the Ease of Use Category:
- Photoshop Elements 7
- Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate
- PhotoPlus X2
Comparing the available features of these three photo editors is a little tricky since all are extremely similar in terms of capabilities and functions – there are just different tools and methodologies for getting the same task done depending on which application you’re using.
All three applications offer full layer support, advanced filters and special effects, and included creative content on top of basic photo editing tools. However, when it comes to creative tools, PhotoPlus is extremely underrated. I was surprised by the number of vector-related tools contained in the application – that’s something you don’t usually see in a photo editor in this price range.
Overall though, Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate seems to offer the broadest range of general features both on the technical and creative side. Moreover, these elements are easy to access and in intuitive locations. On the flip side of the coin, locating some of the more advanced tools in Photoshop Elements 7 can take a bit of work sometimes. There have been many instances where I thought Elements didn’t have a certain feature only to discover it later in an almost hidden submenu.
Ranking for the Features Category:
- Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate
- PhotoPlus X2
- Photoshop Elements 7
Next, we'll take a look at how well each of these photo editing applications performs. We'll also consider the compatibility of each product with the wide array of plugins available on the market today.