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May 10, 2007 1:03 PM PDT

SiteKreator updated: Now with more Ajax

by Rafe Needleman
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The midrange Web site design and hosting service SiteKreator (previous review) got an update recently. A new design theme called Aurora (available only to SiteKreator Power users for $39.95 a month), gives the Web manager a lot of design freedom while protecting him or her from egregious design errors.

Everything in the Aurora designs is integrated and color-matched, including art options: if you change your color scheme you get different choices for the image on your home page, as well as your typography selections. (Users of other plans, including the free version of SiteKreator, can still use SiteKreator templates, just not the new Aurora scheme.)

SiteKreator's interface is very capable, but its myriad tiny text buttons and pop-up entry fields may put off some people.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Other features include the au courant navigation elements that can slide down or fade in the forums and the blogs. There's also the capability to create tabbed or collapsible navigation in a subpage on the site.

SiteKreator is a solid Web design product, and these new features keep it current. But I find the editing scheme fiddly. It relies on tiny, floating, single letters to pull up editing menus, and creating or modifying many elements is done in text-based pop-up menus with minimal preview. For a visual site editor, it uses an awful lot of words. But if you can devote a bit of time to learning the site's single-letter menu anchors, you'll probably find you can build almost any type of business-focused site you could imagine. This is not a bad solution for small-business owners looking to set up an attractive, contemporary, and very functional Web site.

Rafe Needleman writes about start-ups, new technologies, and Web 2.0 products, as editor of CNET's Webware. E-mail Rafe.
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great looking but with learning curve
by svwebhead September 28, 2007 11:09 AM PDT
I trial a few other vendors and decided to go with these guys. It's been over two months now and I'm still pretty happy so I decided to share my experiences here.

If you just need a 3 page "brochure" site then it's best that you go with someone like homestead. Sitekreator is not the most user friendly service out there, but it is the most powerful and can produce the most professional looking sites quickly. If you go with them, make sure that you watch their tutorial videos...Once you see it it's actually pretty simple to use.

What I did was I went to istockphoto.com and purchased a few photos to customize my site, with sitekreator's flexibility I was able to produce a $3000 looking site in one day (I'm a bit biased of course). I would highly recommend them if you want a "real" site and not mind putting in a little time to learn the system.
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