EazyDraw is not for those with short attention spans.

EazyDraw marches to its own beat, and the drummer is playing modern jazz. Practically everything about it seems created anew: palettes, available tools, help text, ways of selecting and combining objects. On one hand, this inventiveness gives EazyDraw some unexpectedly useful capabilities, such as a large set of tools that automatically show measurements between points. On the other, its interface is so unfamiliar that it's likely to leave all but the most dedicated users scratching their heads in bewilderment, especially at first. The company told us that it's "not designed for the professional graphic artist," but rather to "have some fun, or get a job done, without a big hassle." That may be the case after some training, but EazyDraw's learning curve is nothing to sneeze at.

EazyDraw seems built with the philosophy that more is more, its tool palettes easily filling the screen. And each palette carries dozens of tools - the Charting palette is champion with 54. That's no reason to knock EazyDraw, of course. Illustrator has 25 palettes accessible under the Window menu alone, not even counting the dozens of Libraries. But much of EazyDraw's completeness struck us as obsessive overkill. Why, for example, does the manual (which costs an extra $29.05 printed or $10 digital) require two of its 378 pages to explain how to enter the registration key? Do we really need three tools on the main tool palette to draw a rectangle? Why would anyone ever want to zoom in to a 48,000 percent view?

The upshot of EazyDraw's excess is that it provides a mind-spinningly high level of access to many settings, along with unique tools that may greatly simplify the lives of some users. EazyDraw would be well exploited by engineers, as it includes tools for flowcharting and for technical and architectural drawing. But it also takes an engineer's mind to muster the persistence needed to access much of the app's power, while simpler tasks are harder than they need to be.

The bottom line. It may require a bit of work to master, but EazyDraw's potent powers make the investment worth it.

COMPANY: Dekorra Optics
CONTACT: www.eazydraw.com
PRICE: $95 download, $115 boxed, $20 nine-month license, various other purchase options available
REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 10.4.3 or later
Huge collection of unique tools. Extreme detail possible. Includes tutorial documents. Universal binary.
Unconventional interface. Long-winded documentation. User manual costs extra.