Serif WebPlus X2 Website Maker Review
Serif
really leads the way when it comes to all singing
all dancing software at a budget price. It may not
have everything that a professional web designer
needs but then I’m certain that WebPlus X2 doesn’t
aim itself in that direction. What it does do is
make the amateur web designer look and feel more
like a professional. X2 will easily uphold Serifs
standing amongst the software community for
delivering high quality programs that are easy to
use and extremely resourceful. Some really
colourful clean cut templates are included plus a
host of step by step tutorials that will need some
one on one concentration for a while but providing
you persevere you’ll be more than pleased with the
end result.
Of course it can be a bit scary when Serif declare complete ease of use then includes a manual of over 300 pages but in all honesty setting up a basic website with Serif Plus X2 isn’t overly complicated and you’ll find that with a little bit of practise and deliberation you will soon be exploring the manual for bigger and better things to do.
On opening X2 you are greeted with a wizard offering you some fairly normal choices, a) create a new site, b) create a site using a design template, c) open a saved site, d) import existing site, e) view sample websites, f) browse tutorials.
Obviously if you are completely new to building websites I would advise that after viewing the sample websites via Serifs website I would then check out the tutorials...
Everything you need to know about building your website is documented from the basics of getting started to introducing HTML fragments. But don’t let the word HTML scare the pants off you, X2 will show you the way without the need for any hand coding HTML but, just in case you’ve mastered everything and just want to go that extra mile, well, it’s all there.
The tutorials on the program CD will get you started whilst on the resource CD you will learn everything from creating personal websites, commercial websites, adding dynamics, flash objects, forums and an image catalogue. You are also shown how to optimise your site with carefully chosen keywords.
Understanding the importance of key words on your page is a really essential factor and the tutorials included will take you through the procedure of researching and choosing the keywords that will help get your website positioned healthily within the search engine.
Serif WebPlus X2 is also not short of some new, cool technology which embraces the YouTube trend and podcasts. Embed your favourite YouTube videos into your X2 site as well as downloadable audio and video podcasts, remember, all this without the need to understand HTML.
If you are keen to build a website, need a bit of hand-holding and don’t mind not knowing rudiments of how you got there then this is definitely for you.
Certainly the Web Templates, once embellished with your own images and text will deliver a web presence that should make you glow with pride at what you have accomplished but remember, despite not needing to understand HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), Javascript (programming language for building websites) you will need to seriously focus on the tutorials because a one click journey to building your website this isn’t. Still, with a little bit of time, some handholding together with the ability to focus on the task the results will speak for themselves. Serif have done a brilliant job of helping you build a website to be proud of but you must put a little effort in yourself as well.
Of course it can be a bit scary when Serif declare complete ease of use then includes a manual of over 300 pages but in all honesty setting up a basic website with Serif Plus X2 isn’t overly complicated and you’ll find that with a little bit of practise and deliberation you will soon be exploring the manual for bigger and better things to do.
On opening X2 you are greeted with a wizard offering you some fairly normal choices, a) create a new site, b) create a site using a design template, c) open a saved site, d) import existing site, e) view sample websites, f) browse tutorials.
Obviously if you are completely new to building websites I would advise that after viewing the sample websites via Serifs website I would then check out the tutorials...
Everything you need to know about building your website is documented from the basics of getting started to introducing HTML fragments. But don’t let the word HTML scare the pants off you, X2 will show you the way without the need for any hand coding HTML but, just in case you’ve mastered everything and just want to go that extra mile, well, it’s all there.
The tutorials on the program CD will get you started whilst on the resource CD you will learn everything from creating personal websites, commercial websites, adding dynamics, flash objects, forums and an image catalogue. You are also shown how to optimise your site with carefully chosen keywords.
Understanding the importance of key words on your page is a really essential factor and the tutorials included will take you through the procedure of researching and choosing the keywords that will help get your website positioned healthily within the search engine.
Serif WebPlus X2 is also not short of some new, cool technology which embraces the YouTube trend and podcasts. Embed your favourite YouTube videos into your X2 site as well as downloadable audio and video podcasts, remember, all this without the need to understand HTML.
If you are keen to build a website, need a bit of hand-holding and don’t mind not knowing rudiments of how you got there then this is definitely for you.
Certainly the Web Templates, once embellished with your own images and text will deliver a web presence that should make you glow with pride at what you have accomplished but remember, despite not needing to understand HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), Javascript (programming language for building websites) you will need to seriously focus on the tutorials because a one click journey to building your website this isn’t. Still, with a little bit of time, some handholding together with the ability to focus on the task the results will speak for themselves. Serif have done a brilliant job of helping you build a website to be proud of but you must put a little effort in yourself as well.