Incomedia Website X5 Website Builder Reviewed by gat3way Sun 10 Aug 08
Unlike other packages reviewed here, X5 in an offline website builder. So you simply download and install the website builder and start the process.
Because it is not online based, you need to sort out your domain and website hosting first, then create your site and upload.
the package includes all you need to upload the site to your web hosting. Installation
Incomedia's website x5 is quite easy to install.
It works on any version of windows from Windows 98 to date
There is a free trial available so you can test it out and see if it it is the right website builder for you. Using Incomedia X5 Website Builder
Once installed, you are presented with a single screen and a 5 step wizard driven process so you don't need any programming or web deisgn skills you only need to be able to follow instructions.
First you enter some general settings. nothing technical, and if you need help, click on the context sensitive help icon which will take you to the relevant help section.
Next select an menu orientation, template (you can only use 3 in the trial) . It would have been nice to see what the others look like),. colour,
In Step 3 you define your menu structure and the pages you are going to have on your site
Step 4, it gets interesting. Here you can insert text, photos, tables, animation, your videos, sound, forms, slideshows by drag an drop.
This supports mp3, wama, avi, windows media, mpg and mov files but not the recent flv format.
These tools are extremely easy to use. Just drag the icon for the media to a section of the page, click on it and enter the appropriate information or location.
You can create new rows in the content table, or move things around to any position you want in the page.
Repeat this for each of the pages you created
Step 5; Chose a design for your menu and a few other things such as links
Test, save , Export to your website host and you are done.
Pros - Costs just $39.00 - much cheaper than other website builders.
- No ongoing costs e.g. monthly payment
- You can build several sites from just your initial investment.
- You are not tied down to your websuilders website hosting. You can change to any website host you like.
- Nice and easy to use media tools, generally very easy to use.
Cons
- Limited number of templates
- Offline solution so you can only use from one computer.
- You have to sort out and pay for your own monthly hosting.
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