CDMenu

Creating a proper first impression can give you a head start in any domain of activity. When it comes to multimedia, CDs and DVDs can be equipped with menus to make navigation throughout content easier, fun, and also provide a summary. With tools like CDMenu anyone can have a shot at creating custom menus for any type of CD and DVD.

Sporting a simple design, the application is supposed to quickly get you up and running. The interactive preview section is large enough, while the upper toolbar is equipped with most common functions and a side panel that provides quick access to your project folder.

The amount of objects you can populate the workspace with is rather shallow, but combining the right elements results in a decent variety of options. The application puts simple text lines, buttons and scrolling text fields at your disposal.

Regardless of your choice in objects, a few customization options become available to specify positioning, color, content or function, depending on your choice. As mentioned above, your workspace is fully interactive and you can arrange all elements as you see fit.

You can bring up a fully-functional preview of your work. For an enhanced overall effect, the application also gives you the possibility to cover the background with a custom image and even add a welcome screen, but it can only be plain text on a colored background, with no option to add an image.

However, you can add a background image to the main menu. What's more, an implemented feature lets you configure an external image editing application, but since you need to specify an EXE, choices only depend on what you need the most.

As a result, the application generates an INI file you need to simply burn to the target device so it becomes functional. Moreover, amongst other functions a button can be equipped with is another menu page, so it's possible to create detailed maps of content.

Taking everything into consideration, we can say that CDMenu is only a mediocre choice when it comes to applications for creating menus. It can take a little getting used to, while the feature set leaves a little something to be desired overall. However, for simple projects of personal use, it gets the job properly done.