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Serif WebPlus X2
The Software Centre
Purchase Box From Amazon US! |
As I look at a package for Web site design like Serif WebPlus X2, I have to step back and look at them with the eyes of those of you reading the review. What do you want in a package? After trying all sorts of packages over the years, I know my preference is for code-based editors and I've never found a WYSIWYG flavor of editor that felt even slightly comfortable.
Since I've been teaching users of graphics software for over 15 years, I've gotten a pretty good idea of their skill sets and their needs when it comes to Web design. Most of them prefer WYSIWYG Web editors and so I'll give an overview of Serif WebPlus X2 using the eyes of those users.
Inside of the box I found a 300 plus page printed manual and four CD-ROMs contain the software and resources to help in the creation of quality sites. Much of the resources include graphics and templates to give you a head start on your project. Before I looked at what was included, I decided that my sample project would be to create a small Web site for a local horse ranch offering horse rides and boarding services.
When I first started the software, a panel was docked on the left side of the screen labeled "How To". Rather than spend time reading the manual, I decided to use this information to help me work through my sample project. I found the instructions provided to be very concise and easy to follow. Much of it is written for someone with little to no experience in Web design. That means almost any user of graphics software should be able to use the How To instructions to successfully build a site. One of the first things I wanted to understand was how to build a site from the included templates and the instructions provided were very straightforward.
After scrolling through the numerous supplied templates, I chose one called Safari Tours (as shown at right) as it seemed to be the template most similar to the my sample ranch. Remember, the idea of a template is a starting point. Rarely will you use the template out of the box without modifications. As you look at the Create New Site From Template dialog box, notice that you can easily change the color scheme of the template and decide what pages to include in the site. I found both of these to be nice touches.
Once I got selected my template, I went to the Master Page of the site. Here I could edit the content that was common to all pages, specifically the header and footer. I found it pleasantly surprising that many of the graphic elements in the header were vector graphics. What was especially cool was that I could create the vector graphics in CorelDRAW and use Paste Special to bring them in to WebPlus X2 as an enhanced metafile. As the Web pages are exported, the graphics will automatically be converted into the bitmap format of your choice using the quality you select.
Double-clicking the navigation bar below the main graphic allowed me to make a wide variety of changes including the creation of pop-up menus. Links at the bottom of the template were text based links and they could also be modified as needed. Any changes I made on the master page were automatically transferred to all other pages of the site.
When you get finished with the master page, the next step would be to edit the elements on each individual page. Serif WebPlus X2 has two types of text and they will be very familiar to CorelDRAW users. Artistic text represents text that will be displayed as a graphic and HTML frames contain what CorelDRAW users would call paragraph text. Regardless of the text type, you can specify fonts, sizes and much more on a toolbar almost identical to the Property Bar in CorelDRAW. Graphics can be modified as needed using already created bitmaps ready for the Web or the graphic can be sized and exported when you generate the Web pages.
For users that want to add multimedia to their pages, there are tools for adding sound, video, Flash, YouTube, Java and more. Forms can be created with the Form Wizard or individual elements can be added and modified as needed. New users will definitely appreciate the ease of creating forms with the wizard. Similar tools are supplied for adding e-commerce elements and site search.
Serif WebPlus X2 is a good low-cost solution for someone just diving into Web site creation. Users who have a lot of experience may find some of the limitations to be very frustrating. For example, I couldn't imagine creating a site that didn't use an external (CSS) style sheet. Yet that isn't directly supported by WebPlus X2. The fact that it includes a wide range of templates to help new users get a site going is a big plus. My rating doesn't allow me to give two scores, but I would give WebPlus X2 four stars for newbies and two stars for seasoned Web veterans.
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CorelDRAW X6 Font List · CorelDRAW X5 Font List · CorelDRAW X4 Font List · The Terms of Adobe Photoshop and Corel PHOTO-PAINT · CorelDRAW X3 Font List · Cropping and Rotating Files in Corel PHOTO-PAINT · The Magic of Color Styles · CorelDRAW's Find and Replace Wizard · Shorten Your Design Time with Templates · CorelDRAW's Multi-Faceted Eyedropper Tool · CorelDRAW and Special Characters · The Easy Way to Create Calendars in CorelDRAW · The Wide World of Labels in CorelDRAW · Including Variable Data with Print Merge · Resaving, Resizing & Resampling Files in Corel PHOTO-PAINT · Creating Your Own Fonts in CorelDRAW · The Evils of Using JPEG Files · Speeding Up CorelDRAW 11 and Windows XP · Symbols and Imposition · The Easiest Way to Recreate Logos · A Few Guidelines to Follow · Square Corners Can Be Sticky -- Rounding Corners in CorelDRAW · Creating Complex Shapes Easily with CorelDRAW · Identifying the Mystery Font · Two Ways to Create a Split Front Design · Last Word in Font Management · Calibrating Your Printed Colors with a Color Chart · Graphics Computing in 2001 · Hottest R.A.V.E. In Town · Get the Red Out of Eyes · Secrets of Color Management · Dressing Up Your PDF Files · How Adobe Acrobat Can Make Life Simpler · Why You Want PDF in Your Workflow · Converting a Scanned Logo to Vector in CorelDRAW · Designing 360 Degrees · Customizing Your Interface in CorelDRAW 8.0 · Fitting Text to a Path · Creating Cool Graphs Without a Spreadsheet · From CorelDRAW to Macromedia Flash, A Simple Example · Getting Rid of That Darned White Box · Converting a Bitmap Logo to Vector in CorelDRAW · Finding Clipart with ROMCAT
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1st Page 2000
Adobe Illustrator 9
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