Catalog software products can be grouped into two categories; Page Layout and Database-driven.
Page Layout software gives the user full control over every element on the page. Individual graphics, text, borders, fonts and colors can all be placed and adjusted independently. Page Layout software is the better choice when the emphasis is on creating artistic or stylistic pages.
Database-driven products are the better choice when the emphasis is on ease-of-use or when there are a large number of products to be displayed or frequent changes are required to the product line. At the simplest end of this range, a database-driven software should be able to import a spreadsheet and print a catalog in only a few minutes.
Each software has its own advantages and disadvantages. The most obvious advantage of a Database-driven software is its ability to quickly insert a new product into the middle of a catalog. The user should be able to simply enter the data and re-print. To do the same using the Page Layout approach might require re-sizing other elements on the page to accommodate the new product or even moving products from one page to the next. In extreme cases, this could require cascading changes through the entire catalog.
The biggest advantage of Page Layout software is its flexibility. At the upper-end of this range, you should be able to create, on paper, almost anything you can imagine. This is also its biggest disadvantage. Creating a large catalog can take many hours, days or even months.
In contrast, Database-driven softwares are typically very rigid. The printed output is very uniform in appearance and, at the lower-end of this range, there are very few presentation options to choose from: Every user’s catalog looks just like every other user’s catalog. However, using a Database-driven software, a user might be able to create a catalog in only a few minutes.
CleverCat is a hybrid of Page Layout and Database-driven softwares. With CleverCat you create, just once, a printing template for your products. Using templates, CleverCat has the ability to create an artistic layout, within a modest range of options, as well as the ability to quickly produce a large catalog of hundreds or thousands of items.
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