INCOMEDIA WEBSITE X5 PRO 13 SYNAPSE CIRCUIT

 SYNAPSE CIRCUIT 

INCOMEDIA WEBSITE X5 PRO 13 £149 REVIEW!

#Web #Design #WYSIWYG #Incomedia #WebSiteX5 #Responsive

Synapse Circuit brings you what could be the new WYSIWYG Website Design application...

TAKING ADVANTAGE

Yes, it looks as though Serif has dashed WYSIWYG Web Design from its roster of creative software, choosing stick to photo editing/manipulation and illustration applications. I'll be doing reviews on Affinity Photo & Designer respectively! Stay tuned… With Serif out of the WYSIWYG Web Design application game, it leaves great opportunity for competitors to fill the gap that WebPlus (X8) has left in its wake. Synapse Circuit looks at what appears to be a strong contender…

WEBSITE X5 PRO 13

It has been a while since I looked at Incomedia's WebSite X5 Pro application. I think I reviewed version Pro 11… Let's take a look at the Pro 13 incarnation…

Like most WYSIWYG Web Design applications, X5 Pro 13 is aimed at the non-programmer - not that HTML is really a programming language. X5 Pro 13 is meant to be very easy to use, and for the most part it is pretty straightforward.

INTERFACE

The modular step-by-step approach remains unchanged; this is a little frustrating coming from applications such as Xara/MAGIX Web Designer, WebPlus, and, of course, Dreamweaver!

While the interface safeguards the novice from making errors, Incomedia needs to add a secondary optional interface for advanced users. This secondary interface would allow the designer to place content precisely on the page.

PREDEFINED

WebSite​ X5 Pro 13 has many templates that can be easily modified to suit. As always, I recommend that you start from scratch! The danger in using templates is that thousands of X5 Pro (13) users could use the same template as you.

However, the templates can serve as a lesson to understand​ a particular layout. If you're a novice, it'll take you a bit of time to learn good design principles. It's time well invested!

RESPONSIVE

Responsive web design is all the rage at the moment. In a nutshell, a responsive web design means that your website will adapt to different screens i.e. mobile, tablet and desktop. WebSite​ X5 Pro 13 makes light of creating responsive web pages; it takes a lot of the guess work out.

You should know that Google's​ search engine will rank responsive websites higher than non-responsive ones. A responsive design comes with a few challenges that makes you think about how the content is presented. Personally, I nearly always request the desktop version over mobile designs when browsing the web on my Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

My opinion is that most mobile sites pack too much information in a cramped space. Oh, well… … It takes a bit of getting used to. In fact, I don't like most mobile versions of websites (as I've stated above). That said, responsive websites is a must and WebSite​ X5 Pro 13 handles this aspect very well!

KEY NEW FEATURES

Digital Products

This is a great attribute for budding entrepreneurs that provides a means of selling digital products such as music files, photography, eBooks, etc. Yes, sell your work independently!

Parallax & Animation Effects

These days many sites show off slick scrolling effects and animations. Used selectively, these attributes can complement thoughtful design.

Online Control Panel

Here you've got an online control panel that helps you to be on top of certain aspects of your website such as online store orders, blog discussions, etc.

Title Object

Here you can add Search Engine Optimization tags to titles in order to increase the chances of a search engine finding your site and/or specific page.

WebSite X5 Manager

There's an app for Android and iOS that allows you to get notifications on your mobile device when an order is placed on your online store or when someone comments on your blog, etc. I love it!

OTHER ATTRIBUTES

WebSite X5 Pro can work with databases and can create areas that users can access by registering.

You can also connect your blog to FeedReady, which of an app that feeds off the RSS of your blog. Not bad at all. Your audience will use FeedReady if you've got great content!

CONCLUSION

WebSite X5 Pro 13 is a hard WYSIWYG Web Design application to beat. Yes, it's a tad more expensive than similar apps by about, on average, £50 but you're getting very useable professional features that will have you producing websites with a back end that doesn't require the expert knowledge of a programmer.

Now that Serif WebPlus is no more Incomedia WebSite X5 Pro 13 rules the cost effective WYSIWYG Web Design arena.

And when you use WebSite X5 Pro 13 with Incomedia's WebAnimator… WOW! FREAKING WOW!!! You'll be able to create your own Flash-like animations in HTML5; interactive content; and custom video and audio players! You can get them both for under £300! That's an amazing achievement!

Here's a link to the Synapse Circuit WebAnimator review: WebAnimator

SCORE

WebSite X5 Pro 13 is definitely a winner and it comes through for the non-programmer with shining colours. Despite the step-by-step nature of the interface - I do hope we get an optional interface for experienced designers - WebSite X5 Professional 13 scores a well deserved Synapse Circuit Platinum! ​

WebSite X5 Pro 13 Scores a well deserved... Synapse Circuit Platinum!

You can purchase it here: WebSite X5 Pro 13

Enjoy! Thank you for reading!

Synapse Circuit / Blue Gene

WEBANIMATOR TEMPLATE COLLECTION II SYNAPSE CIRCUIT

SYNAPSE CIRCUIT

INCOMEDIA ANNOUNCES NEW WEBANIMATOR TEMPLATE COLLECTION II
Creating Web Animations Has Never Been Easier or Faster!

Goodhour, Synapse Circuit Readers! How’s it going? It is great to see you as always! I hope that your tech projects are going as planned if not better!

Did you get Incomedia WebAnimator? Are you a little stuck for ideas? Check this great bit of news out! Read on!

#Incomedia #WebAnimator #WebAnimatorTemplateCollectionII

INTERACTIVE HTML5 ANIMATIONS
Ivrea (TO) 27th May 2015 - Incomedia, a company with over 15 years’ experience in the development of website creation software, has released a new collection of templates for their WebAnimator product.

WebAnimator lets you create Web animations, without using Flash! Instead, it uses more modern technologies, such as HTML5, CSS and JavaScript. This means you can be certain that your animations will be correctly displayed on all main browsers, as well as smartphones and tablets (including iPhone® and iPad®).

INTUITION
WebAnimator requires no special knowledge of programming and provides an intuitive and complete package with all the tools necessary to create animations that can then easily be integrated into Web site pages or e-commerce carts.

With WebAnimator Template Collection II, the process of creating animations is even easier and faster. Select your template, insert your own content, follow the step by step customization process and your animation is ready for use on the web.

"Thanks to the WebAnimator Template Collection II, anyone can easily design banners and animated slideshows to add to your Web pages. Using a Template means not having to go through the difficult process of designing from scratch using a timeline: simply insert your own content and you're done!" Stated Federico Ranfagni CEO at Incomedia.

The Incomedia Template Collection II is a valuable addition to the gallery templates already available in WebAnimator and includes a range of banners and slideshows; complete with effects, transitions, text and buttons.

Template Collection II is available for WebAnimator and WebAnimator Plus.

Availability and Pricing:-

WebAnimator and WebAnimator Plus are available in Italian, English and German at £44.99 and £64.99 inc VAT respectively.

WebAnimator Template Collection II is priced at £14.99 VAT inc

System Requirements:-

* Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8

* Video resolution min. 1280 x 1024, 32 Bit

* 2 GB RAM

* Internet and e-mail account for product activation

More information, video tutorials, a trial version of the software and previews of the Template Collection are available on the official website: http://www.webanimator.com

About Incomedia:-

Incomedia (incomedia.eu/en/), founded in 1998, is a leading independent developer and publisher of multimedia software for the PC.

Incomedia’s flagship product WebSite X5®, currently sold in over 40 countries through a well-established network of International distributors, resellers and retailers, was developed with the aim of bringing high-end website creation software at affordable prices to home, business and education users. The software is designed specifically for users who want to publish high-quality websites and online shops, with a professional look and feel in just 5 simple steps.

Thank you so much for reading Synapse Circuit!

Expect more reviews, news, opinions, competitions and more from Synapse Circuit! 

WEB DESIGN MULTIMEDIA WEBANIMATOR SYNAPSE CIRCUIT

The Deftones - probably the most original Metal / Alternative band to come out America.

Somehow I don't think she'll be remembered in 2 years let alone 10! R.I.P. B. B. King!
I don't want to hear her cover of the Bee Gees song 'How Deep Is Your Love'.

SYNAPSE CIRCUIT
WEB DESIGN
MULTIMEDIA WITH WEBANIMATOR PLUS,
SORENSON SQUEEZE & WYSIWYG WEB DESIGN PROGRAMS

Goodhour, Synapse Circuit Readers! It’s great to see you as always! I hope that all is well with you and that you are winning with your tech projects! What? You are not doing a tech project??? C’mon... What’s wrong with you??? You need a challenge! Come with me...

Technology is a funny old thing... Tech know how = Technology. The Internet has been responsible for many things – including causing business models to adapt and change where possible or they fall by the wayside. One of the things that technology has changed somewhat is a reliance on systems created by others... All too often we give our power away to the next new thing on the Web be it MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, iTunes and so on! Some of us have stopped being excited at the prospect of creating an online web presence. That’s right! I am waxing on about how many of us have turned away from the dizzy world of Web Design. Read on...

#Incomedia #WebAnimatorPlus #SorensonSqueeze #Multimedia

THE DEATH OF THE INDEPENDENT MUSIC SCENE... LONG LIVE THE NEW ALTERNATIVE ONLINE MUSIC SCENE...
I would like to use the world of music to illustrate just how bizarre the mentality of the artist / band has become... As a younger man I was searching for the equivalent of my Holy Grail, a recording contract! Suffice to say that I never got one! Hahahaha! I laugh but I am actually very relieved that I didn’t get one as I have had friends who thought themselves fortunate to have gotten a “record deal” only to be dropped unexpectedly.

Along came the Internet and then the advent of the CD-R... The CD-R writer when it was first launched was quite cost prohibitive and when the CD-R Plus & Minus writers became a PC standard we got some great software to enable us artists to make our own CDs. Some of us managed to make a living – not a fortune – selling our original music. Some of us came up with a great way to present a CD-R album i.e. many of us made custom album cases / packaging to sweeten the deal. But the euphoria that came with being truly independent was short lived as the MP3 format hit the scene and with Napster the masses didn’t want to buy music anymore. To be honest I can’t say that I blame people for not wanting to purchase music as a majority of chart music is forgettable. Without Googling Jennifer Lopez, name 3 of her tracks starting from now... See? You had to think about hard!

Apple’s iTunes, in my opinion, and I know that I go on about it a lot, snared the artist / band back into bondage. Jobs decided what a track was worth and I do believe that the iTunes business model doesn’t give a lot of scope to up and coming musicians in terms of royalties, etc. The artist still comes last when it comes to dividing up the costs to make and promote recordings. Further down the line there are outlets such as BandCamp that helps to get up and coming artists / bands music to an audience. So, artists / bands do not have an official website as they rely upon BandCamp, Zimbalam and an assortment of social network accounts. Artists / bands just squander their powers away when they could be selling CDs, CD-Rs, MP3 and merchandise from their very own official website.

DISCOURAGED?
It seems to me as though creative people in general are being discouraged from actively participating in their own web design. I think this is wrong! Yes, there are web hosting services that allow their customers to modify website templates but that are not what design is all about! Uh-uh! Me? I would rather see a badly designed website than a modified template as it such sites gives me an idea as to what the people behind them are about.

Once upon a time what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) web design software had a buzz around it as so many people from a non-design background were willing to have a go at designing their own website. Those were the days! Of course there were those that insisted that hand coding a site was the only way to go! Now it seems that the average person on the street has no desire to create a website as Facebook, Twitter, G Plus, YouTube, etc has fulfilled a basic need... A Facebook presence can lead the targeted market to a BandCamp page and so on...

Personally I would love to get you to make your own website! Although I am appealing to musicians in this narrative I wish to appeal to anyone and everyone to get the credit card out and invest in some decent web design and multimedia software...

ENCOURAGEMENT
One of the most important reasons for you to have your own website is to have an outlet whereby you can’t be oppressed. God knows how irritating it is when the social network Mother Hen Brigade tells us:

1. “Stop making friends! You are making too many friends and if you don’t stop making friends we’ll delete your account.” Yeah, right! These people are bluffing as they WANT and NEED our data. And if they do decide to delete your account unceremoniously they know that the likelihood of you making another one is high – especially as you may have bonded with some great people as I have!

2. “You have been accused of SPAM... As a result you cannot post many more links... Blah, blah, blah...” You know how I feel about that if you read up on my Antisocial Networking articles. In a nutshell “spam” is an overused terminology that is malleable to suit the purpose of the people behind the social networks. Just messaging someone you don’t know on Facebook constitutes as “spam”. As far as I am concerned “spam” is when you get true junk email i.e. offers for Viagra, slimming pills, etc. In fact Facebook is the BIGGEST SPAMMER going as it constantly puts advertisements in our faces on a daily basis! And to a degree it is the same with Google’s Gmail! Of course when they SPAM us... No... When they constantly bombard us with SPAM they call it something else... Great! The two-faced so and so’s... As you should know by now the main reason for these attacks and threats is that the social networks don’t want you to use their tools for your marketing.

3. You have the power to create your own business online without giving a large portion to a second or third party. PayPal is enough!

4. Avoiding censorship! I tell you... <shakes head and smiles wryly> ...the people who take it upon themselves to police the Internet end up being the very thing that they detest: A TROLL! Lately I have seen “ATTACHMENT UNAVAILABLE” on Facebook. Gee, I wonder that that is all about... You can bet it is someone posting up a conspiracy theory that touches upon the untouchables... Ooooh... People should have their say! On the one hand some people claim “freedom of speech” and in the next breath or click of a mouse all of a sudden we aren’t entitled to freedom of speech. Somebody somewhere would like to take things a step further and have you locked up with a criminal record for having and expressing an opinion these days. Let’s get away from conspiracy theories and freedom of speech...

You are an artist and your work features nudity / sexuality as you are using that medium or mediums to express something of artistic value... Sadly, very sadly, the self-appointed Internet Police try to make you out to be some kind of pervert or something. Often the self-appointed Internet Police are not intelligent enough to reason with and they troll you. They try to shut you down because they believe that they are the voice of reason when the irony is that you can’t reason with such folk! As an artist you might find that your own website is vital.

Still on the subject of censorship... I have a female friend on Facebook who has just hit her fifties and looking great – if I do say so myself – who likes to take glamour photos of herself and share them with her Facebook admirers. I think her photographs are tasteful and bear in mind that Facebook (and many other social networks) do not allow nudity on its platform. Even if Facebook were to revoke the policy on nudity my friend’s photos would be still tasteful! However, she gets trolled by people that keep claiming that her photos are indecent only to be proven wrong by the bods behind Facebook! I do feel for her as I believe that she should be able to express herself without people being a nuisance. If you don’t like it do not look and then launch into an insincere tirade against. My friend has her audience and she’s happy so why rain on her parade? The self-appointed Internet Police are nothing but simple minded trolls.

Again, my last point on censorship is that if you are a music artist and your video contains nudity / sexuality you can’t show it on YouTube. Do not misunderstand me; I don’t particularly like gratuity be it of a sexual, violent or any other nature but if there is context behind it that’s down to the originator. If you or I don’t like it then we can’t do squat about it as it is already out there. Do I want to take the time to have artistic expressions removed? Hell-to-the-no! The way I see it is this: as long as there is a warning that the material may be offensive then the expression is what it is. An artistic expression is a lot different to having some genuinely disturbing picture or video suddenly appear from performing an innocent Google search...

5. The last reason is that building a website enables you to learn more about the Internet and things like ecommerce (PayPal), web and graphic design and so on! These things are good to know and it will empower you!

FLASH IS DEAD! LONG LIVE HTML5!
When I was employed as a web and graphic designer many moons ago (gosh I am getting old) one the most exciting things around was (then) Macromedia Flash. Flash, in its early stages, just allowed for simple to complex animations that included sound and interactions that often became a part of the website navigation... Adobe bought out Macromedia and Flash eventually gained the ability to stream video and this video technology is prevalent in YouTube today! However, Flash has had its run and now one can create animations that include sound, video and interaction with relative ease! Certainly HTML5 based animation / interaction is far easier to achieve than with using Adobe Flash! For a start the Incomedia WebAnimator Plus costs a mere £64.99 compared to the cost of the Adobe Flash CS 6 software! Seriously! C’mon... Why on Earth would you want to pay £400 just to make animation / interactive content that can be seen on the PC, Mac and mobile devices when you can pay just £64.99???

Honestly, Adobe does not have the stranglehold on web media as it once did. Adobe is one of those business models that have had to adapt with the changes in technology and it is currently offering a monthly payment scheme for its collection of software. Personally I think that some of these monthly costs are too high! Adobe tries to keep up this elitist sensibility when they have been surpassed by Incomedia and Magix when it comes to web design, video editing / production and DTP. Once upon a time people would pay good money to do a two day course on Dreamweaver and today we would just spend the money on the following web design programs:-

Incomedia WebSite X5 Standard & Professional

Magix / Xara Web Designer Standard & Premium

Coffee Cup Visual Site Designer

And you will still have money left over to other stuff when you skip doing these two day courses. What £250 for a two day course??? Are you nuts??? Bear in mind that there are some free web design software out there! I will do an article on them in due course!

You can easily use WebAnimator with the web design programs listed above.

INCOMEDIA WEBANIMATOR PLUS
I don’t want to bore you with an extensive tutorial on WebAnimator Plus. No! What I want to do is give you a taste of what can be done with it! Below I did a very simple PowerPoint-like presentation based on one of my favourite Rock groups of all time, The Deftones, to illustrate just how quick one can create such presentations that can be viewed on a PC, Mac and mobile devices without you wanting to pull your hair out! 


1. I decided to create a full HD screen presentation, 1920 x 1080.


2. I created a menu screen quite easily by using an image (of the band) and adding a button. The image fades in and once complete the button flies in from the left to the centre of the presentation.


3. I then added a second scene that holds a full HD video so once the button is clicked on the first scene it jumps to scene two (with the video).

As you can imagine I could have created a more sophisticated presentation that has many screens / pages (scenes) and with intricate animations and interactions. But the purpose is to show you that within minutes a simple presentation can be completely outputted to an HTML file with the resources folder (containing the video and graphics) that can be placed online straightaway or can be a part of a website. Easy!

The last two screenshots above show the presentation playing within the Chrome browser using F11 to go full screen.

WebAnimator Plus: Present the way you want to! A well deserved Synapse Circuit Platinum Award as WebAnimator Plus allows you to create sophisticated animations, presentations and interactions with ease using image, sound and video files. There's also basic shapes and buttons! 



SORENSON SQUEEZE

If you read my review on Magix Video X7 Pro you should be familiar with the Sorenson Squeeze video format converter and compressor. No? OK... In a nutshell... Sorenson Squeeze can take video files and convert them into different file formats for different purposes i.e. the web, DVD, Bluray and so on. Even though we have fast broadband speeds and 4G data connections for our mobile devices it is still a good idea to make large video files as small as possible while maintaining the integrity of the video. If you are a recording artist and you want to showcase your videos without hindrances then you might just want to invest in Sorenson Squeeze. There are three different versions of Sorenson Squeeze:

Desktop Lite, $199

Desktop Standard, $549

&

Desktop Pro, $749

You will find that the Lite version should give you all that you need to start compression your files and / or formatting for different mediums i.e. DVD and Bluray. The professional version is for people / institutions that make their living from streaming video and create daily broadcasts independent of YouTube and similar online video outlets.

Sorenson Squeeze is a reliable and fast video / audio converter and compressor! It gets a Synapse Circuit Platinum! 

There are some free video compressors and I will have to take a look and make comparisons with the commercially available software such as Sorenson Squeeze. The reason why I recommend Sorenson Squeeze is because of its track record. Several years ago when I was part of a team creating a CD ROM for an up and coming Pop music act we discovered that the video was causing a major problem with some test systems that we had access to. I found Sorenson Squeeze through a web search – before Google had begun – and when it arrived we were able to have different formats on the CD ROM: MPEG-1 and QuickTime. Back in those days formatting video was a real pain mainly because PCs were used primarily for word processing and not much else. One couldn’t guarantee that a video would be able to play smoothly from one system to another.

In any event no matter what software you use to compress a video file into MP4 and OGG when combined with Incomedia WebAnimator Plus the results will be brilliant! The only thing missing from WebAnimator is a packager for Android and iOS apps! But that said who wants to be constantly downloading apps when presentations / animations can be viewed online? Even the news aggregator apps rely on taking content from the web.

And do not forget that if you get Incomedia WebSite X5 Standard or Professional it will be even easier to add an animation / presentation to the website you are creating whether it is for the desktop or mobile device such as a smartphone and / or tablet!

Do checkout these links for WebAnimator, Sorenson Squeeze and WebSite X5:-

WebAnimator

Sorenson Squeeze

WebSite X5

Dive in and make your website! Once it’s online give me a shout and I will link it!

Thank you so much for reading Synapse Circuit!

Expect more reviews, news, opinions, competitions and more from Synapse Circuit! 

SYNAPSE CIRCUIT WEB DESIGN FOR CHRISTMAS 2014

Above: Incomedia WebSite X5 Evolution 11. Build your ecommerce enabled shop over the Winter Holidays! Get your band website online within a few clicks! I stated "clicks" not "clucks"! What are you? Chicken? C'mon, Synapse Circuit Readers! It's EZ as 1,2 & 3!

 SYNAPSE CIRCUIT
WEB DESIGN FOR CHRISTMAS 2014

Goodhour, Synapse Circuit Readers! Season’s Greetings! I hope that all is well; you’ve managed to avoid catching a cold or flu! Have you done your Christmas shopping! But is there something missing?!

Yes! You have a G+, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other account but what you don’t have your own website! Isn’t it about time you had your own web page for whatever it is that you are passionate about? Perhaps you know someone who is gifted at crafts and could do with an online shop? Read on...

#SynapseCircuitTopWebDesignSoftware #WebAnimator #IncomediaWebSiteX5Evolution11 #WebSiteX5Evolution11Professional

WHY YOU?
Today, there is no excuse for not having your own website! It may be hard in the real world to own property but in Cyberspace you can have your very own real estate! Look, the way the economy is going around the world it seems that technology is taking over... So, why not have your own ecommerce enable shop? You could be selling anything from personalized, hand crafted greetings cards to vehicles! Anything you like – providing it’s legal! Let’s take a look at the very best of web design software out there...

1. INCOMEDIA WEBSITE X5
EVOLUTION 11
The trouble with a majority of web design software is that it is assumed that the recipient has enough computing experience to be able to create a website from scratch! When I used to teach beginners on how to use Adobe Dreamweaver a majority of the class never even used a photo editing / manipulation program such as Photoshop. But one thing was for sure is that all the pupils had grand ambitions beyond their scope for their websites.

Enter Incomedia Website X5 Evolution 11 (gosh, what a mouthful)! In a nutshell WebSite X5 Evolution 11 takes you step by step through the web design process. You don’t have to worry about your computing skills or lack thereof. Just follow the steps below:-



1. Start the program... Click on the “START” button; or before pressing the “START” button take some time to check out the special offers, etc.


2. Create a new project and name it.


3. Write a description of your website.


4. Choose a template for your site. Above I left it as default!


5. Observe the “Template Structure” – feel free to change stuff just for the purpose of learning. Don’t worry if you feel that you’re not up to it. Notice that you can change the graphic that is presented to you!


6. Tweak the style of the text. Where it says, “Menu: Footer Menu” be sure to go through that list of options to change the text.


7. Customize the template with the options as shown. Again, if you don't feel up to it just observe and click "Next".


8.  Observe the quad-division on the left meant for the contents that you select on the right. Drag any content from the right i.e. “Text” onto one of the four spaces (on the left).


9. This is what it looks like after dragging and dropping content onto the four spaces (that can be divided up further if need be). You have to double click on the objects within the four squares in order to create content.


Above: You should be left with a site map of your pages; a few pages have been added for you in advance.

It’s that easy! You didn’t need any skills to do all that, did you? Cool! This is just the basics as there are better tutorials with more details! But I thought I’d show you just how easy it is to make a website with this software!

VERDICT
Incomedia Website X5 Evolution 11 is, so far, the best web design software aimed at beginners; for those that cower at the thought of touching a mouse for anything other than web surfing! But the great thing about it is that there is a great level of depth for producing professional looking websites! It’s got everything you need: a graphic editor, ecommerce, templates to get you started and predefined galleries that you can populate with your photos taken from your mobile device!

The cost is a mere, £60! It is an absolute bargain!

SCORE
PLATINUM


2. INCOMEDIA WEBSITE X5
PROFESSIONAL 11
The professional version remains just as easy to use but it has more “pro” features that includes adding a database; more complex attributes to your store such as coupons, availability and product listings... Oh, you can create an app for Android and iOS (iPhone / iPad) that keeps your visitors updated everytime you add content! Brilliant! Speaking of mobile devices... The professional version will enable you to create sites specifically for the mobile!

Sure, the price appears steep at £170 but on a professional level if you compare it to the “industry standard” Adobe Dreamweaver at £46.88 per month it works out to over £562!

VERDICT
WebSite X5 Professional 11 has to be one of the best web design software on the “pro” market today! It’s got all the tools for a serious web designer! No need to pay extortionate money!

SCORE
PLATINUM


3. INCOMEDIA WEBANIMATOR PLUS

Above: This fade animation took seconds to create without reading or watching any tutorial materials! Imagine what you will be able to create with it! It's EZ as 1,2 & 3! What are you waiting for, huh?

Yes, Incomedia is on a roll with yet another brilliant program for web design; this time the focus is upon animation! Do you remember DHTML (Dynamic Hypertext Mark-up Language)? No? Okay, DHTML was all the rage with the first Dreamweaver software by Macromedia before they sold it to Adobe. Anyhoo, Dreamweaver allowed the web designer to create very interesting websites with some intricate animations going on. However, DHTML didn’t last long. If I remember correctly it was a combination of the competing web browsers i.e. Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator (gosh, that’s going back a bit) had different ways of processing a website created in different web design software and therefore DHTML had to be scrapped. Web designers fell back on the onetime game changing Flash software for creating animation to multimedia presentations – all the way up to playable games! You may or may not have realized it but with the advent of the iPhone, Steve Jobs effectively killed off (Adobe) Flash by refusing to allow the medium on the iPhone and subsequently the iPad. Then there was a big push for HTML5 to replace Flash altogether! Now, it is very rare to see any Flash content besides video material encoded in the Flash video format.

Here’s WebAnimator Plus to cater for amazing HTML5 based animations! Hurrah! If you ever used the Flash program you’d take to WebAnimator Plus like a fish to water! It is quite easy to get to grips with! There are plenty of tutorials aimed at the beginner that leads one gently to more complex animations. But WebAnimator is not just about animations; it is possible to create PowerPoint-style presentations with audio and video! The possibilities are great! Furthermore, because of the HTML5 standard the animations / presentations produced will work in all the browsers i.e. Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Internet Explorer!

VERDICT
The only element missing from this amazing cost effective package is the ability to create applications for mobile devices! However, at £69.99 there isn’t much to complain about! I think I would pay twice as much for a “pro” version that will allow me to create simple presentation apps for both Android & iOS.

SCORE
PLATINUM


Yes, it looks as though I hand out such high scores with ease but these web design software from Incomedia are really on top of the “budget but highly functional” market. As a former professional web designer I can say that many alternatives to Dreamweaver requires that the use has some design knowledge whereas the WebSite X5 products is so simple that a total novice can use it! I am thinking about mature folk, some of whom I have taught in the past, with no design skills whatsoever.

But there is a lot of scope for someone coming from a design background of some sort. Me? I am self-taught and that was pre-YouTube where I had to do a lot of reading plus trial and error. When it comes to the graphical element of the web design process the built-in tools are easy to get to grips with. WebSite X5 more or less tells the user what to do and when with the step by step methodology! This step by step method might prove to be a little awkward for the more experienced as they are used to building a site in a more unconventional manner. Most experienced people will start the design process in a photo editing / manipulation program and then bring the graphical elements into the web design software. And there are those who love to code!

The WebSite X5 Professional 11 supports those who like to add their own code. WebAnimator Plus also allows for those who know code (JavaScript) to add their own. Therefore, the designer isn’t limited by the software and this is why the Incomedia products all score PLATINUM!

IN CLOSING...
I could have brought other web design software into this listing but for the aforementioned reasons I decided not to. Anyone who able to use a graphic design program is most likely using the more sophisticated software (that I have omitted)! With my recommendations I expect non-designers and the non-technical to start creating websites fairly easily!

If you happen to be good with a graphic design / photo editing / manipulation package and would like to know what Synapse Circuit judges to be the best then that list will almost certainly come in 2015! Sorry, I just ran out of time!

Please check out the Synapse Circuit site here: Synapse Circuit.com

Yes, I am well aware that the site is due an update soon! It’s coming...

Synapse Circuit for tech news, opinions, articles, reviews and competitions. You will find interactive PDF magazines, videos and links to free legal software! Check it out at Synapse Circuit dot com

SYNAPSE CIRCUIT NEWS Incomedia WebSite X5 v 11

SYNAPSE CIRCUIT

NEWS!

New Incomedia WebSite X5® v 11

Goodhour, Synapse Circuit Readers! It’s great to see you as always! I hope that all is well with you! Me? I am in a great mood as earlier on today, 1^st October, the Sun was out! I just LOVE good weather and I hope the weather is treating you well where you are!

Good news, Everybody! It’s time to make your website dreams come true!

#Incomedia #WebSiteX5Pro11

WebSite X5® v11 features updated user interface, new app plugins, a powerful text editor, website analytics and over 1,500 templates for easy website design and customization.

London, UK, October 2nd, 2014 - Incomedia officially announces the release of version 11 of its popular, award winning WebSite X5® software. WebSite X5® is a perfect combination of simplicity and power, giving everybody – from the home user who wants just a basic blog to the most demanding creative web-designer - the opportunity to create a perfect, professional website and have it online immediately. You can build an up-and-running website in no time, thanks to the intuitive, 5-step procedure. Create a blog, a website for your company or favourite club, an online store for your business or a “Hi! This is me” website: no matter what, the result will be professional, complete, and perfect!

Websites created with WebSite X5® are always optimized for search engines and will work perfectly on tablets and smartphones. If you purchase the Professional version, you will find a mobile app that is ready to be downloaded for free from the Apple Store or from Google Play: all you have to do is associate it with your website and invite your visitors to download it so they can stay up-to-date with all your latest news.

New Key Features include:

New Graphic Interface - WebSite X5® stands out amongst all the other website creation programs for its simplicity: a logical and intuitive guided procedure accompanied by loads of work previews, means everybody is able to create a professional and stunning website in no time at all.

In version 11, both the layout of the graphic interface and the guided procedure has been carefully revised to make the overall design more modern and functional. Now, it’s even easier to develop a project and publish a website online.

Create and Manage your Website’s Graphic Templates - One of the most important aspects of a website is its graphic appearance. Some people like to use prepared templates, and others prefer to create their own.

The new features in version 11 will satisfy everyone, thanks to a renewed gallery of over 1,500 default templates, all of which have been carefully designed to be displayed perfectly on desktops and mobile devices alike. This gallery has been set up so that it can be constantly updated online, with new templates being added every so often to give you even more choice. Both the default templates and the custom templates can be edited using the built-in editor to modify structure and style.

Additional New Apps as Optional Objects - WebSite X5® offers a unique page-editing system of content Drag&Drop: texts, tables, pictures, galleries, videos, e-mail forms, social network buttons, maps, product catalogs, to name but a few…

The list of objects that you can use to create pages goes on and on in the new version 11. Take the new optional Object category, for example: here you have a list of apps that is constantly being added to. Each app lets you add a new content or a particular feature to a page of your website such as, an online booking form, a new slideshow, etc. You can view the app library in its own window and choose which ones to install and use to finish off your project.

Web Fonts & Text Editors - Most of the information in a website is text, and that’s why it’s vital to make sure your texts are not only correct and laid out in the best way, but also to ensure they are legible for all your visitors.

The new version 11 introduces a completely renewed text editor that offers an improved text selection and new commands so that you can integrate web fonts in your projects.

Always Amongst the First on Google - A good website needs good graphics and interesting contents, but it also needs to be optimized. WebSite X5® provides the necessary options for tweaking all those factors that add up to a perfect page optimization: titles, descriptions, alternative text, sitemaps, etc. Furthermore, it offers a useful site analysis feature that means you can check your project for any weaknesses and identify where it can be improved.

In this latest version it is also possible to easily integrate any necessary code to link up to Universal Analytics™, the new working standard provided by Google Analytics™, so that you can keep a precise track of all the visits to your website.

The brand new WebSite X5® v11 is available in 5 different versions, each with its own characteristics and features: Free, Home, Compact, Evolution and Professional.

Among the exclusive features of the Professional version, are the free 12-month web hosting, unlimited domains that you can organize through the online control Panel, web space, broadband, databases and unlimited e-mails, as well as built-in backup possibilities and anti-hacker protection.

Availability and Pricing:

The brand new WebSite X5® v11 is available in 5 different versions, each with its own characteristics and features:

Free

Home £14.99 inc Vat,

Compact £33.99 inc Vat,

Evolution £59.99 inc Vat and

Professional £169.00 inc Vat.

Available from Amazon, pxsdistribution.co.uk/incomedia/ or websitex5.com/en/store.html

About Incomedia:

Incomedia, founded in 1998, is a leading independent developer and publisher of multimedia software for the PC.

Incomedia’s flagship product WebSite X5®, currently sold in over 40 countries through a well-established network of International distributors, resellers and retailers, was developed with the aim of bringing high-end website creation software at affordable prices to home, business and education users. The software is designed specifically for users who want to publish high-quality websites and online shops, with a professional look and feel in just 5 simple steps. http://www.incomedia.eu/en/index.html

STOP THE PRESS!!!! GET A COPY OF THIS FANTASTIC WEB DESIGN PROGRAM NOW!!!

DOWNLOAD WEBSITE X5 FREE here:

http://www.websitex5.com/en/free-website-builder.html

STANDBY FOR TUTORIALS ON WEBSITE X5…
WATCH THIS SPACE…

THANKS FOR READING...

Please check out the Synapse Circuit site here: Synapse Circuit.com

Yes, I am well aware that the site is due an update soon! It’s coming...

Synapse Circuit for tech news, opinions, articles, reviews and competitions. You will find interactive PDF magazines, videos and links to free legal software! Check it out at Synapse Circuit dot com