RuggedReviews.com review of SiteSpinner Web Design Software Review

When I decided to take the plunge and create RuggedReviews.com, I knew I didn't want to use a standard pre-designed template. I also didn't want to take a lot of time learning HTML -- the programming language used by expert Web designers. I wanted something in between, a so-called WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Web design program.

WYSIWYG programs allow you to place your text, photos and graphics anywhere you want on the design page. What you see there is exactly what you see when you publish the site on the Web. The simple power of WYSIWYG gives you maximum creative freedom without having to learn HTML.

The first program I used was a bust. WYSWNWYG (What You Saw Was Not What You Got). I'd place elements on the design screen and then check to see what they would look like on the Web only to find that the elements overlapped each other. When I went to move one element, it would change the placement of another element. There was a ghost in the machine and I wanted nothing to do with it.

The experience was so frustrating, I gave up on RuggedReviews.com for months. When I was ready to dive back in, I researched the latest WYSIWYG programs and found SiteSpinner. Reviewers and consumers raved about the program they said was as easy to use as a word processor, and they were right.

Installing SiteSpinner on my computer was a cinch. I opened the program and immediately saw that it was designed far more logically and simply than the first program I used. Simple icons along the left border indicated how to place titles, photos, text, sounds, and tables. The top designer frame looked very similar to a word processor frame.

It took me about a day to get used to all of SiteSpinner's controls and the steps necessary to make a page and intregrate it into the entire list of pages that make up a Web site. It was especially thrilling to place elements on the designer page, then test them the preview page and see that all the elements were exactly where they were supposed to be.

I spent the next month designing the logo, taking and processing photos in Adobe Photoshop Elements, and building the home page and dozens of product pages that appear on RuggedReviews.com. When the site had enough products to make the site worthy of wider distribution, I used SiteSpinner's easy publisher to upload the site to my host, HostMonster.com. There were a few glitches with the FTP uploading protocol, but SiteSpinner and HostMonster helped me work through them.

SiteSpinner is a fantastic program for people who want to exercise a great deal of creative control over their Web site without having to learn the complicated HTML design language. I look forward to working with SiteSpinner to further refine RuggedReviews.com and to pursue other Web-based projects.