Advertisment

Xara Webstyle 2

author-image
PCQ Bureau
New Update

Easy one-click selections for instant Web graphics

Price: $69 (online purchase only)



Meant for: Novices designing Web pages


Features: A collection of customizable templates for buttons, bullets, headings


Contact: http://xara.com

  

Advertisment

The biggest thing Webstyle has going for it is that it’s dead easy to use. Reminiscent of Microsoft Publisher style wizards, you can use its templates to create buttons, headings, navbars, banner ads, and backgrounds. This package–or, utility, rather–comes from the makers of Xara, the nifty Web graphics software that was once marketed by Corel.

Xara Webstyle is strictly novice territory–if you’re a graphics designer or familiar with heavyweight graphics packages and make your own graphics from scratch, don’t touch Webstyle. “No design skills required.”

Webstyle installs easily and has an intuitive simple interface. If things weren’t easy enough to begin with, there’s a tutorial or “viewlet” and a walkthrough on the Web. Once you’ve got your bearings, all you need is a couple of clicks to customize a graphic. First, choose what you want to work with: banner ad, logo, button, divider, bullets, backgrounds, or navbar. You land in the customization or template area, where you select attributes like size, color, texture, shadow, complexity and enter your text. The graphics are created from vector files and can be saved in gif, png or jpeg formats. There isn’t an overwhelming amount of choice–for instance, just 10 logos to choose from for your company. For good measure though, there are “theme sets” of graphics to use.

Overall, not a package for professionals but certainly a fast and easy option for home users making personal Web pages, although it’s overpriced at $69. There is a free trial version available for download from xara.com.

Mala Bhargava

Advertisment