Never fear, however. There are many less expensive, user-friendly options out there. Two of the ones I immediately found were VegasFX Netsketch 2.3 and Xara Webstyle.
After downloading both programs' install files, I decided to try Netsketch first. After all, the company's website claimed it was a great program, useful for banners, buttons, and a long list of other types of web graphics. Needless to say, I was very disappointed upon opening the program.
Netsketch 2.3's appearance makes it look like something written at least ten years ago. There is little color in the program's setup, and the overall impression one gets is that someone could have spent a little more time making it attractive. That aside, the second disappointment comes in taking a look at the menu of options. There are only about six different things you can do with the black space you have to work with, including a not very easy to use draw function, as well as a text function and circle-drawer. There is no paintbrush, no paint bucket with which to fill the shapes and enclosures, and no apparent eraser. The only fill function, and only option for coloring, must be selected before creating the item to be colored. At least the program had a quick uninstall function. The registration price of $69 makes this product even more unbelievable. Rating: 1 star out of 5
After that disappointment, I hoped not to have the same experience with Xara Webstyle. Much to my delight, I found myself staring at a user-friendly, colorful screen upon opening the program. It immediately took me through an introduction of what a person could do with the program and offered tutorials in its use. I chose to skip the tutorials, then found that I practically didn't need them anyway. Xara's format is such that within a few clicks of the mouse, you can find yourself whipping out all the graphics you need for your site with the whole process taking less than ten minutes. Creation of buttons, bullets, headings, and dividers is made extremely easy courtesy of Xara's designers. The list of options sits along the left side of the screen with actual words instead of those tiny little pictures no one can decipher. As you click through the options, such as color, font, texture, etc...the large picture of your graphic at the top shows you what each effect will look like. When you find one that suits your fancy, you just click to the next option, then save it once it looks how you like.
Go To Page: 1 2
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Krissi Danielsson's Shareware topic, please visit the Discussions page.