Topic: Who were the main creators of PagePlus?

I don't know if the PagePlus creator history has already been posted here somewhere.  A simple search didn't find it.  The program is so head and shoulders (still) above others I have used that I'm interested if there is any known history of how such a great program came about.  All these years later (I use X15) I'm still astonished in finding new things it can do easily.  In the very early days, a program for the Atari ST came out, First Word Plus, that had a similar feel of great combination of programming and what people need to do easily.  Are there any principal people who should be credited with creating PagePlus?  Did they do anything else?  Thanks.

2 (edited by GB 2026-03-30 03:50:19)

Re: Who were the main creators of PagePlus?

(I use X15)

The last version of PagePlus is X9. There is no X15. Version 15 was X5

If I remember correctly, Patrick Connor, who is still active on the Affinity forums (I believe) was largely responsible for PagePlus 8PDF and I'm sure had a lot of input on the subsequent versions.

Dale Cook was a guy who worked on earlier versions. He subsequently emigrated to Australia.

Way back, I had a program called Window Works, by Spinnaker. It included a word processor and a basic publishing program. I think that there was some connection with Serif, because out of the blue I got an offer from Serif to get PagePlus 3 as an step up. There was also some connection with Harvard Graphics, which Serif marketed at that time. My memory is a bit vague on the details. I had started producing a monthly magazine, and after the first issue I did, using Window Works, I changed to PagePlus, and have used it ever since, although I no longer dothe magazine.

I remember PagePlus 4 had a few problems and crashed a lot, so I reverted to version 3 until 5 came out.

Credendi non mutant facta

3 (edited by Ali 2026-03-30 09:18:09)

Re: Who were the main creators of PagePlus?

There was a guy called Jon Something (beginning with P) who was one of the main programmers (can't remember whether he was on PP or WP). When I was approached to beta test the Plus range, I think it was Dale Cook. I met Patrick at my ex's pub when he and his family came for Sunday lunch once - we had a long chat then. He's a really sound guy and yes, he's still very much involved, as far as I am aware.

Re: Who were the main creators of PagePlus?

Ali wrote:

There was a guy called Jon Something (beginning with P) who was one of the main programmers (can't remember whether he was on PP or WP).

When Toby Sharp (the brains behind MoviePlus) left to join Microsoft Research, Jon White took over as the MoviePlus project lead, but he would have worked on other projects when — or perhaps even before — development of MoviePlus was discontinued.

There is or was a Jon P (Parsons?) on the QA team.

Ali wrote:

When I was approached to beta test the Plus range, I think it was Dale Cook.

It was Patrick Connor who invited me to beta test PP9.04, the version where the short-lived SerifPrintStore was added on, but I remember Dale Cook being involved, too.

GB wrote:

If I remember correctly, Patrick Connor, who is still active on the Affinity forums (I believe) was largely responsible for PagePlus 8PDF and I'm sure had a lot of input on the subsequent versions.

I seem to remember that Patrick joined Serif to work on PagePlus 7. He may well have been the lead programmer for PP7 or PP8. (‘PagePlus 8 PDF Edition’ has always struck me as something of a misnomer, since PP8 can’t open files saved from PP8PDF, but I’m guessing that that was a marketing decision.)

GB wrote:

Dale Cook was a guy who worked on earlier versions. He subsequently emigrated to Australia.

Dale was the principal documentation guy. Although he was heavily involved in testing, I don’t think he was a programmer.

GB wrote:

I remember PagePlus 4 had a few problems and crashed a lot, so I reverted to version 3 until 5 came out.

I was still skipping alternate versions at the time, so I didn’t use any even-numbered versions before PP7. However, I remember reading that there were major problems with PP4.

“Welcome to the present moment. Here. Now. The only moment there ever is.”
― Eckhart Tolle

Re: Who were the main creators of PagePlus?

An interesting topic! Some names that were familiar to Serif customers over the years.
Patrick Connor, Dale Cook are definitely remembered. And wasn't Gary Bates a senior member of the team?

And of course, if we are talking about Serif "employees", we should not forget "Natasha". wink

Re: Who were the main creators of PagePlus?

AdmiralP wrote:

An interesting topic! Some names that were familiar to Serif customers over the years.
Patrick Connor, Dale Cook are definitely remembered. And wasn't Gary Bates a senior member of the team?

I recall Gary Bates’ name appearing in Serif’s mailshots. I think he was the company’s Managing Director (or MD, equivalent to CEO) for several years. It seems that both he and Jim Bryce were co-founders who retained a significant stake in the company until it was acquired by Canva a couple of years ago.

And of course, if we are talking about Serif "employees", we should not forget "Natasha". wink

LOL.

“Welcome to the present moment. Here. Now. The only moment there ever is.”
― Eckhart Tolle

Re: Who were the main creators of PagePlus?

I recall comment once that Natasha didn't actually exist.  An early form of AI?

Re: Who were the main creators of PagePlus?

Of all the old Serif staff the one I most remember is Sarah W.  I often wonder where she is and how she is getting on nowadays.

9 (edited by GB 2026-03-31 05:50:33)

Re: Who were the main creators of PagePlus?

Yes, Sarah was much involved with the Community Plus project, which replaced the old forums. It was not universally liked, but inspired a part of my avatar!

Credendi non mutant facta