Testimonials From a long-time PageFocus Pro User

Thank you for your quick response on the V8.0 upgrade. The new interface looks nice, groups functions better, and saves space. Love the alpha blending and border features.

As you noticed I have been using PF and EXPO for a long while (1998 I think) and it remains a mainstay in my software arsenal. I began using it when I was self employed to produce intelligent business forms. The ability to use a fully customizable form and make it data aware was not available anywhere at that time to my knowledge. As the collection of runtime features expanded it even functioned as a sort of single entry accounting package.

As of 2005 I have been employed by a small manufacturing firm which builds residential boilers. PageFocus continues to fill several surprisingly gaping holes in the "big boys" functionality ..... Much of the current software offerings focus on the paperless office or cloud based computing; but here in the real world things like shop drawings, assembly instructions, and quality control/ shipping checklists will remain important. .. a professional form which accurately conveys the intent of which data to gather is the hallmark of PFPro.

A typical use for us:

A customer calls with questions on how to integrate our new boiler with his existing hot water baseboard system. He has Emailed us digital pictures of his basement and wants to install it himself. Using PFPro the pictures are placed at the desired size/resolution and locked so they function as a background to arrows, text callouts, and references. Then a diagram showing where the pipes and wires connect is prepared with colors for temperatures and labels for clarity. Several paragraphs of explanatory text may used to produce a step by step installation guide tailored to this particular customer. All of this is then rolled into a PDF document and returned via Email. This is typically done in less than 1 hour by a single tech rep. The form and customer information is then saved in a custom database for retrieval if needed. A generic PDF version is placed on our website for download.

There truly is no other single program which has the range of capabilities PFPro presents. ...

Another thing worthy of mention in regard to PFPro is the small footprint it occupies. In this day of huge software (MS Office weighs in at 3 gigs before installation ) the perception is that if a program is only 13 Mbytes it can't do much. The reality is that the programmers at PageFocus seem intent on producing tiny efficient code which uses native windows functions whenever possible. Notably lacking are the animated ribbon bars, endless user configuration dialogs, and alternate screen layouts which bloat much software. The UI of PFPro may seem sparten to some but it harkens to the time when computers had severe memory and space limitations. Those early constraints produced good programmers however who were keenly aware that the software should be able to perform well with the least resources as possible.
This may seem to be trivial as computing power has increased exponentially, but using system resources just because they are there is an immature approach. Consider: If two automobiles do the same work, are similarly equipped, and perform the same but one uses 3 times the fuel; which vehicle represents better engineering. Would the facts change if gas were cheap?
The software engineers at PageFocus appear to agree, and that 13 Mbyte download is a testament to their skill.

Frank Corcoran
Engineer, Embedded systems design
Richfield, NY