Customer Rating: Summary: Powerful, user-friendly software for beginners and up Comment: I found this very straightforward and intuitive to use. The visual nature of the software means that you're never left without a prompt or a clear idea of what you need to do next. You're not blinded with science, but there's nothing patronising about the level of instruction it provides - if you're a bit perplexed by all things technical, it acts as a comforting helping hand guiding you from one point to the next.
The results you get are remarkably professional looking, and polishing/editing is a breeze. I was looking for something that would help me craft a clean looking personal website, and I was spoilt for choice with the potential options here. Excellent value for money, it does exactly what it promises to do. And more! Highly recommended. Customer Rating: Summary: Lack of Instructions Comment: I purchased X5 Evolution a few weeks ago and have, since, built 2 different websites from it.
Before selecting this particular software for purchase I read the reviews of this and other similar products, X5, by far, came out on top, the one repeated complaint regarding it was the small window however having used X5 that is nothing to be concerned with, and I purchased it.
I have absolutely no previous experience of doing this sort of thing and I was surprisingly impressed how easy it was to use, building the first website was a learning process, trial and error, but I managed to build a website that I, and others, am very impressed with.
My one complaint however is the lack of instructions. On the X5 website one can download a 56 page instruction guide, there is an online visual tutorial and, failing these, there is a chat forum for questions and answers and questions normally become answered by members that are obviously there to represent X5 so they know what they are talking about.
But, and despite the 56 page manual and tutorial, there is so much information that isn't readily available. X5 advertise 'Create your web site in just 5 simple steps', well Steps 1, 2, 3 & 5 might be relatively simple but Step 4 is where all the problems begin!
In Step 4 (advanced Settings) there are 9 different sub categories, all in all the instruction manual only provides some 50% of the required information and the online tutorial, well that only explain category 1 of Step 4.
Particular problems were experienced when building my 2nd site which is a multi language site, X5 has the capacity for 4 diffent languages of one's choice but there is zero information in the manual or tutorial as to how to create a multi language site.
My questions after questions eventually became answered on the forum but one shouldn't have to ask on a forum for basic operating procedures, they should be provided without having to ask. When working on a project one just wants to get on with it, not continually stopping and startings, perhaps waiting for hours at a time, for question after question to be answered on a forum.
So, all in all, the product is excellent, 9 out 10, but the instructions provided, well, 3 out of 10.
Customer Rating: Summary: A excellent website creator that is very easy to use and great for Beginners. Comment: Now this software is a very easy to use website creator which offers many functions without all the complicated technical jargon that often appears especially when you are using more complicated software like Microsoft front page.
Pros: Great for beginners
Wide range of tools availible (including flash, audio and animated logos)
Cost effective web layouts
Most Mainstream web browsers supported
Cons: Quite limited in the layouts availible
Can be difficult to import own designs
More advanced users look elsewhere Customer Rating: Summary: Fantastic software for the price Comment: am writing this review as a Senior Analyst Developer (I spend my day developing ASP.Net websites using Visual Studio), but I also write this review with on open mind and from the point of view of the people I think would buy this software; novices and people who do not want to get involved in the inner workings of HTML and server-side languages.
The software is masively easy to use. Anybody could knock up a site in a few minutes, even people who have no prior experience of web site design. The site wizard is really intuitive, and I was really surprised by the inclusion of shopping basket technology which will allow the user to add products to their website and set up integration with PayPal.
Gallery of a '1000 templates' (as on the sales material) is a bit of a push though. A lot of the templates are variations of the same thing (e.g. different colours and one or two different banner graphics), but for me this is only a small detraction.
For serious and professional developers, this software provides nowhere near the control that you get from Visual Studio and Microsoft Expression, etc, but I don't think this software is targeted at those type of people. It's targeted at those people who want to dip their toe into Internet authoring without the complexity. And for those who are taking the first steps, I think this software allows the author to quickly create a site and then take a look at the code and see how it's done.
I really can't knock a package like this when it costs only [...]. If it costed £400 then my reaction would be different, but it doesn't so I recommend it highly for novice and casual authors.
Superb value [...]. Customer Rating: Summary: Why did we rely on Frontpage for so long? Comment: Im no techy but I have been interested in creating websites from time to time. I am looking at creating a website for a radio station I am putting together but do not have the nounce to write code so for me this sort of software is invaluable.
When Microsoft killed off Frontpage it created a void.... and in stepped Website X5 evolution.
Boasting of being able to create a site in five steps (Step 1 - Apply general settings, Step 2 - Create the site map etc.), the app is perfect for me. The five-step claim is a generalisation however, in that each step comprises several tasks, but the overall aim of making matters as simple as possible is one that's largely met.
The default approach is wizard-based, so initial screens involve naming your website, choosing keywords, adding icons, and a banner too (to provide yourself). These steps are intuitive enough, but creating the site map and configuring each page's elements is more complex.
Even using the help file, I found the trial and error approach crucial. Should you be HTML-savvy, a manual setting is present allowing you to rampage through the source code.
As for the templates, there are 1000. These aren't so different in structure, more in terms of their colour themes and wallpapers. I feel they're perfectly useable for personal sites.
Therefore, for "lazy web designers" like me, who know nowt about HTML, to get a website up and running, is well perfect
