Its hard to find fault with such an outstanding application. Indeed Karelia Software have done a fine job of developing "Sandvox" a website design application for the consumer. Lets take a look at this application.
Whose it for ?
This application is designed for people on the move, perhaps someone who is in a profession and has very little time for designing and coding. or someone who wants to create a blog or a site about their family or hobbies.
What can you do with Sandvox ?
Probably its more the question of what can't you do? however the features are plentiful, let take a look at some of them.
Themes - With over fifty versatile themes you will be able to present your information in an appealing way. Here are 2 examples.
Whose it for ?
This application is designed for people on the move, perhaps someone who is in a profession and has very little time for designing and coding. or someone who wants to create a blog or a site about their family or hobbies.
What can you do with Sandvox ?
Probably its more the question of what can't you do? however the features are plentiful, let take a look at some of them.
Themes - With over fifty versatile themes you will be able to present your information in an appealing way. Here are 2 examples.
Suburst Theme
Cathedral Theme
The themes available aren't just the ones included in the program, Karelia also provide more to purchase as well as a few third party developers have contributed as well.
Concentrating on the main features of this application are the following:
Media Insertion - There is no doubt abut it, media content is big part of web design today, Karelia have provided the feature of being able to insert Movies, Images, Text and images all as simple as drag and drop.
Preview while editing - In most applications you have to perform your site building tasks and editing and then preview in a separate screen or in some cases wait till you have uploaded your content. Not in the case of Sandvox, you actually preview while you edit, your dragging and dropping and text insertion is done in the preview page so never have to leave the workspace to see what it looks like.
Code Insertion (Pro Version) - Inserting html/ javascript or PHP code is available in the pro version for those of us require a little bit more, especially if you have affiliate accounts with other commercial enterprises, or in some cases have to insert flash content, plus many more uses.
Sidebar Enhancement - Another feature that Karelia have provided is that of "Pagelets" these are widgets, or other extras to insert into the side of pages inside your website projects, it could be that you may like to include ; Contact Forms, Amazon Lists, Flickr & YouTube videos.
Search Engine Optimisation (Pro) - Its important if you want visitors to your site, to get google to notice it, the provision to insert google analytics code and register for a Google Webmasters Account allows the pro user to validate his ownership and take advantage of Google features to enhance search engine optimisation within the inspector panel of Sandvox.
Blogging - Keeping people up to date with your information can be a time consuming process, especially if you have very little time anyway. Sandvox provides you with the means to input your information and the rest is looked after within the application.
Site Publishing - Sandvox also enables you to publish your content in a number of ways, for instance if you have a MobileMe account then you can simple publish your site, or like most of us we use FTP which stands for File Transfer Protocol, there are independent apps however this is already built in to the program saving you added time. Also available is WebDav & SFTP.
Sandvox Screenshot
Really to sum up Karelia Sandvox is a stylish feature packed application designed for the busy consumer or professional, it provides all the needed features in two versions the standard and the pro version, I feel its worth the extra to have the pro features as very likely you will reach that stage in no time.
This has to be for me the easiest web design application I have ever worked with, a lot of it to do with the user interface, preview while you edit has been a top notch benefit as a case in point. Buttons and features are clearly marked leaving the user in no doubt as to his next move in the project. Also there are some nice themes in the collection, however there are some that I would never use, more stylish themes are a recommendation from me, but that is a minor point as there are many ways to customise a design.
Support is excellent in this product with a website that provides all you ever need, email support is particularly outstanding in this.
Finally all I can say is " I sincerely recommend that if you want a website that is attractive to the eye, and provides you with the most sought after features, but you have limited time to spend creating a website, then Karelia Sandvox is the Mac application to use. I think that in time it is going to grow into an even more sought after tool...... to me it is already."
Reviewed By Chris Watts