From the beginning, Word’s mission as word-processor extraordinaire has been to put text elegantly on the page—with a modicum of page-layout ability. Word 2008 inaugurates a new era. Apparently having mastered text, Word is moving on to master the page.

Word’s new persona debuts as the Publishing Layout view—a way of approaching pages as an assembly of objects instead of a flow of text. Word isn’t trying to take over the job of professional page-design software like Quark XPress or Adobe InDesign. Instead, it aims to fill the gap between those programs and Word’s regular word processing abilities. Reach for Publishing Layout view anytime you need to put together a stylish newsletter, classy brochure, or quick poster.

By starting with one of dozens of professionally designed templates, you can plug in your own text and pictures and have a polished document in a short time. You can change as much or as little about the templates as you choose to—or start with a completely blank page. You can also incorporate sounds and videos if your document is destined to be viewed on a computer instead of the printed page.