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Web Design Software Reviews
Updated August 2006
We found the best web-design software reviews at Smart Computing, PC Magazine and Macworld, as well as websites with knowledgeable tech writers like CNet.com and About.com. Of these, Smart Computing tops our All Reviews chart with their excellent overview, "Building A Home On The Web - Four Top Web Editors." This article is a good stepping-stone for learning what types of features to consider, as well as making software recommendations. PC Magazine also publishes good reviews of web design software, but the magazine tends to review each title individually rather than making detailed comparisons. CNet.com provides a valuable resource in that, although comparison reviews are rare, each software title gets a numerical rating. CNet's section for downloads also offers a huge number of user reviews and ratings. Macworld publishes in-depth reviews from an Apple-centric perspective, which counterbalances the more PC-oriented reviews from other publications. We checked for reviews of this category at Consumer Reports, but that magazine has not tested web design software. The market can't quite agree on a universal name for this type of software, which you'll also see called website software, web authoring tools, HTML editors or website publishing software. Three industry leading web design software products are conspicuously absent from our comparison: Microsoft FrontPage 2003 , Microsoft Expression Web Designer and Adobe GoLive CS2 . Microsoft's decade-old FrontPage is being phased out. They've announced they will soon discontinue support for this venerable program, so we feel it's best to exclude it from comparison. Microsoft is replacing
FrontPage 2003
(*est. $200)
with Expression Web Designer (probable pricing *est. $400). However,
at the time of this
writing they have not announced a release date for this formidable new product, which they've positioned
to compete head to head with industry-favored
Adobe Dreamweaver 8
(*est. $400)
.
Though a beta version of Expression Web Designer has been highly praised by
reviewers and is available for free download (from Microsoft.com), it's still
too early to tell if it competes favorably to Dreamweaver 8, and Microsoft
hasn't yet announced a release date for Expression Web Designer.
Adobe's recent acquisition
of Macromedia and Dreamweaver 8 leaves
Adobe's popular GoLive CS2
(*est. $400)
web design product in limbo, as well. Though Adobe has issued statements as
recently as June 2006 that it "plans to continue supporting GoLive and
develop it based on customer needs," industry pundits overwhelmingly
believe Adobe does not need two high-end web design applications and will
be ditching GoLive in favor of further developing their front-running Dreamweaver.
Since the future of Adobe GoLive CS2 is uncertain, we've chosen not to include
it in ConsumerSearch Fast Answer. We'll update this report as soon as new
information on MS Expression Web Designer and Adobe GoLive CS2 becomes available. These are all professional
web design products. There are plenty of options available for those who want
to create a simpler website, many of which cost less than $100. Also discussed
below are some free web building and blogging tools.
... Continued
Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
Dreamweaver is the easy winner among experts as the best full-featured web authoring software. However, Dreamweaver is overkill for novices or those who may simply want a nice-looking personal website. In that case, CoffeeCup is a more appropriate choice. If you want to combine a website hosting service with site-building tools, Homestead QuickSite is a good choice. For design software that is 100% open source freeware, try Nvu 1.0 for web design and WordPress 2.0 for blog design. Nvu is compatible with both Windows and Mac systems. Advertisement
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© 2008 ConsumerSearch, Inc. A service from 
, a part of The New York Times Company. All Rights Reserved.
ConsumerSearch and ConsumerSearch.com are registered trademarks of ConsumerSearch, Inc. Other trademarks or service marks on this site are the property of their respective owners. ConsumerSearch is not sponsored by any source reviewed, and we accept no consideration or payment for including, excluding, or ranking any reviews, products or services in our reports.
* Pricing information is approximate as of the time this report was written and is based on observed market selling prices and/or list prices. Actual selling prices may differ.
