Review: Serif WebPlus 10 web editing package

A solid webpage design tool with a strong publishing background

Despite the increasing popularity of dynamic websites with online-editing facilities, software such as Serif WebPlus 10 can give greater control over site design.

WebPlus 10 does not ignore aspects of dynamic websites and includes features such as the RSS feed creation tool, but it should be remembered that a site designed with software like this can only really be edited from one computer.

For sites with more than one contributor, this can place an extra burden on whoever uploads the pages.

The setup routine threw up no real surprises and around 120 fonts are also installed at the same time. However, the large number supplied seems at odds with the best practice of sticking to web-friendly fonts.

To ensure they are displayed properly, the text must be converted into graphics. This actually means more work if the site is to be properly accessible, as all the text must be added anyway as well as converted into a graphic.

Upon starting WebPlus you are presented with the initial menu. This houses the usual assortment of options for opening new, blank or previously saved websites. There are several templates available in a variety of styles that should cater for most situations.

WebPlus continues the Serif tradition of having at least one master page, whose design is applied to the other pages in the website.

This helps save time when applying a consistent appearance to websites and makes sure not too much content is added to any one page. More than one master page can be created, so this process is not limiting in any way.

Websites can be imported into WebPlus but the results were not that encouraging. It would be far better to start from scratch and simply copy and paste text across.

There is one big concern with the templates, namely size. Even with b roadband gaining ground, there are still many users on dial-up connections. The average time needed to download the home page of the Serif templates is more than two minutes by the calculation of WebPlus' own download calculator. Even on broadband this still means around 15 seconds.

This is mainly due to some large Flash animations on these templates. They certainly look impressive but are just too big. The pages are acceptable when viewed in text only or in the accessibility mode in Opera.

However, Internet Explorer 7 warned about ActiveX and scripts before displaying the whole page.

Previewing sites is easy, as WebPlus is able to add extra browsers to the preview menu. The auto detection found Firefox but missed Flock and Opera. Adding browsers is simple enough so this is no real problem.

Accessibility is an ever more important issue, not just because of legal obligations but because an accessible site is far more visible to search engines. Adding a tool tip to a hyperlink is simple but it is harder for pictures.

Serif WebPlus 10 works best with sites with only one contributor. The RSS tool is good but not as convenient as dynamic websites that can create feed entries automatically when new content is created.

RSS feeds can be taken from other websites and inserted into the website so running a blog alongside a WebPlus site may well be the answer. Some dynamic elements can be added by using Serif SmartObjects by registering with Serif, these include a visitor counter and newsletter registration along with online shopping tools.

One final advantage of programs such as this is the requirements of the host are much lower and there's no need to check for PHP or mySQL support. More advanced features can be added without these or advanced programming knowledge.

Also consider:
Webeasy 6 Professional
An easy-to-use web editor for a wide range of websites

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