Over the years, I have worked with powerpoint which has benefits but became tediously slow and boring in it's standard page transitions. Although it did the job, I found powerpoint lacked the punch I needed for presenting my company in a modern manor.

I spent a lot of time looking around the internet for a software which would allow me to create a presentation for my company which could be distributed by CD. I came across CD Presenter which seemed like it might do the trick. Initially, the price put me off as it seemed very cheap for something which claimed to do much, but I was impressed with the software for the following reasons.

I ordered this software from W.E.B.S Ltd and www.cdrom-businesscard.co.uk and having placed my order at 2pm on Tuesday afternoon, the software arrived promptly the next morning! This was a good start to my purchase.

I placed the disc into my computer and the installation process was very simple, requiring no technical input from me. Once installed, an icon appears on the desktop which allows me to start the program.

The main program opens and a floating control window also appears. This is offset to the main view window and initially seemed a little strange to me, but it actually works very well. All the tools you need are in one place and are easily viewable.

Before buying the software I did speak with W.E.B.S who told me the software was so easy to use, I could create a presentation within 10 minutes. I wondered how true this would be, but having used it now, I must admit it is possible to do this, although personally, the longer you spend, the better the final output will be.

What I like about this program, is that within a few mouse clicks I can choose what the presentation looks like and how the pages are formed. Much like a website is compiled, with buttons which allow the user to navigate the information within the site, CD Presenter allows you to create buttons for pages which you can populate with text, images, music and even video clips.

One of the things I really like about this program, is how it allows me to create a 'splash' intro'. I can specify images or text which animate in a dazzling way. Once the final presentation is burnt onto a CD, this intro runs automatically when a user puts the CD into their computer. Although it looks good as it is, it's possible to take it a step further by including your own .swf files which are created in macromedia flash or even swish.

There are a selection of audio tracks included with the program and it's easy to include your own tracks using mp3 or wav format.

My only criticism of this program is the limited control of text within the pre-defined areas of the program. It's so structured, I personally would like more control over the look and layout of text, plus how it aligns with images. I also find the structured look and feel templates limiting, however this is after using the program for some time and having spokenw with W.E.B.S new templates are on the horizon and new versions coming at some point will allow more control over styling which will be a welcome addition to this program.

Overall, you really can't go wrong. For £29.99 it's possible to create numerous presentations, each different and each prepared with all the relevant files to burn to a CD. I have rated this 4 out of 5. I did consider 5 out of 5 but in my opinion, it could do with a few additional features being added.