PhotoParade is refreshingly easy to use. Choose which photos to add, insert titles and captions, select a theme for the display, and the program creates an entertaining digital slide show. Photos can be easily added or removed from the gallery. The order of the photos can be changed by dragging and dropping. After adding photos, simply type in a title and sub-title for each. The program walks you through the addition of other information such as a title for the entire slide show. It also allows you to add credits at the end of the slide show that give your finished creation a very personal touch. The program includes simple tools for rotating, trimming, and adjusting brightness, contrast, and sharpness. A simple change of view will allow two galleries (sets of photos) to be seen at once so photos can be moved or copied between galleries.

For my first creation, I chose six photos and was able to complete a fully functional slide show in an astonishingly short five minutes.

The outstanding feature of this software is the use of professionally designed themes that can be chosen to show off digital photos. The $39.99 program includes forty-one themes. (Additional themes can be purchased from Callisto’s Web site.) As I tried out the program, I found theme after theme to be simply delightful. The variety of themes is also exceptional. There is something for everyone, including themes like Baseball, Fall, Gardening, Space Journey, Newborn, and Puppy Playtime. There are also general themes like Just Photos, Photo Albums, and Collage, as well as, holiday-related themes like Happy Father’s Day, Halloween, Wedding Album, Valentine, Santa’s Little Helper, and others. One of my favorites was the Silent Movie theme that displayed the photos like a flickering old-time movie as the curtain opened to the visible honky-tonk piano player in front of the stage. Each theme has music included, so in the Silent Movie parade, you will hear the old-time piano play as the photos are displayed. You can also use your own music in MP3 or MIDI format, if you prefer. The program also lets you record and include your own narration.

PhotoParade has a lot of nice little extras. When you finish your presentation, enjoy the option of e-mailing it to a friend. (He must install a free viewer to see your presentation.) You also have the option of making the PhotoParade your screen saver.

This program isn’t perfect. In fact, there are numerous ways that it could be improved. First of all, the icon that you click to adjust the photos and add title information is a small magnifying glass that is totally unrepresentative of the task. Although there is a choice in the speed of the finished slide show, the screen with this choice doesn’t appear until after the completed show has been played. It would also be nice if you could print the photos from within PhotoParade which is not possible with the current version. Also, there is no way to save your work until the slide show is completed.

All in all, however, the program itself is so easy to use and so much fun, that these small aggravations will be quickly forgotten.

NOTE: Since this review Callisto has come out with a new version caller Photoparade Essentials. The Standard version, and the Super Edition which has 35 themes. Perhaps improvements and additions have been made.