Corel Website Creator Poor Choice For Web Sites
I know many of you don't want to hear this and some will even dismiss what I have to say. Corel Website Creator (X5 or X6) is just not a good choice for designing a Web site. I'll go over the pros and cons so you understand why I have such a negative opinion.
First, you have to understand the origin of the product. It is a Corel branded version of Net Objects Fusion. If Corel was going to license a Web editor from elsewhere, I honestly can't think of a worse choice. While there may be training resources available under the Net Objects Fusion name, I definitely will not be covering it in my CorelDRAW Unleashed books.
No matter what tool you use to design a Web page or a Web site, there is a learning curve. That includes Corel Website Creator. The downside is that anything you learn about Corel Website Creator is of no help if you use any other tool. Therefore you are better offer learning at least the basics of HTML and CSS as those technologies will help you with almost any editor you choose. They just aren't useful in Corel Website Creator.
Yes, it is a WYSIWYG environment. So the page you design will look exactly the same once published to the Web. That is appealing to many users. There are templates supplied and that can make it easy to get started on a very simple site. The only possible situation where this tool may be useful to you would be a very small site (no more than ten pages) that will never change.
Why do I stress the difficulty in making changes? Sure, you can open the site you've designed in Corel Website Creator and make changes. Just don't even think about changing it in any other editor as the code created is an absolute mess. If the product were to ever be discontinued, you could be left with sites that must be started from scratch.
Don't try to edit an existing site with Corel Website Creator. It won't import existing HTML code. It only works with its own templates and sites.
No matter how strongly I say this, some of you will still want to use it because it was supplied as a free bonus with CorelDRAW X6. It may actually be the answer for one or two of you. I just think you would be much better off finding another tool (free or commercial) and learning the basics of Web design.
First, you have to understand the origin of the product. It is a Corel branded version of Net Objects Fusion. If Corel was going to license a Web editor from elsewhere, I honestly can't think of a worse choice. While there may be training resources available under the Net Objects Fusion name, I definitely will not be covering it in my CorelDRAW Unleashed books.
No matter what tool you use to design a Web page or a Web site, there is a learning curve. That includes Corel Website Creator. The downside is that anything you learn about Corel Website Creator is of no help if you use any other tool. Therefore you are better offer learning at least the basics of HTML and CSS as those technologies will help you with almost any editor you choose. They just aren't useful in Corel Website Creator.
Yes, it is a WYSIWYG environment. So the page you design will look exactly the same once published to the Web. That is appealing to many users. There are templates supplied and that can make it easy to get started on a very simple site. The only possible situation where this tool may be useful to you would be a very small site (no more than ten pages) that will never change.
Why do I stress the difficulty in making changes? Sure, you can open the site you've designed in Corel Website Creator and make changes. Just don't even think about changing it in any other editor as the code created is an absolute mess. If the product were to ever be discontinued, you could be left with sites that must be started from scratch.
Don't try to edit an existing site with Corel Website Creator. It won't import existing HTML code. It only works with its own templates and sites.
No matter how strongly I say this, some of you will still want to use it because it was supplied as a free bonus with CorelDRAW X6. It may actually be the answer for one or two of you. I just think you would be much better off finding another tool (free or commercial) and learning the basics of Web design.
Labels: weekend-widget
posted by Foster D. Coburn III at
8:00 AM
10 Comments:
AMEN! I was willing to pay for a good html/wysiwyg like dreamweaver, (say $199) but this one is just taking up room on my hard drive. Komposer or Aptana are better, and they're free. I just pay for a good html program and use Komposer for tables.
Even worse than the program is Corel's support (or rather their TOTAL LACK of support) for this add-on. NOBODY at Corel knows ANYTHING about Website Creator. None of the techs I've chatted with has EVER USED this product.
John, this doesn't surprise me and I pointed out the reasons in my post. Corel did NOT create the product! They simply licensed it from NetObjects. So you may find support materials available by looking for the NetObjects name. I still highly recommend all users to look elsewhere for their Web site needs. Does Corel use it to update their own Web site? No, they don't!
I have been using graphics programs for over 30 years. I have been using NetObjects Fusion since version 7. I agree with Fosters comments.
We created my company's current website with NetObjects, originally in Version 8. It has over 62 pages. This has caused us major consternation with each version upgrade. When NetObjects moved to more CSS based code, there was no easy way to upgrade the existing site. Some pages "broke" and had to be recreated.
True, when you make changes you are better off going back to the original NetObjects document. Minor changes can be made to CSS or the HTML of pages, but I too find their code to be aggravating.
While the wysiwyg of NetObjects is great for laying out your site, the code it generates is lacking. Moreover, their database implementation has always been lacking. Most NetObject users write their own database connectors. Ecommerce with NetObjects I find to be very poor. Even third party add ons.
In terms of support from NetObjects, I find that lacking also. There are third-party NetObject forums that do supply a wealth of information and tutorials.
In terms of learning curve, if you are used to desktop publishing, I find NetObjects works similarly. It uses an org chart style system to add and organize main and child pages. And you can setup master templates for differing types of pages.
I am surprised Corel does not just buy NetObjects and make it their own. I have used Corel products since version .9 and I feel they do create good products.
Thank you so much. I was tempted to try this to replace NetObjects because I'm getting really fed up with it. Now I won't waste my time downloading the free trial.
I switched to CoffeeCup Editor from Dreamweaver due to bad wysiwyg code output.
Would it kill adobe to auto-move the tags where they belong?
Hand coding Shorthand CSS is faster for me than using a wizard.
TIP: start using JS Micro-Frameworks like moo.fx & Stop using CSS Grids, instead move the HTML Tags around. This is a obvious choice for HTML5.
What I like about moo.fx is - it works with all platforms and is very small (4kb). Use only what you need to get the fx done. jQuery has become very bloated over the years, on the other hand there times when you need the big guns...
Bummer. Guess it's back to CoffeeCup.
Wish I read this before taking on Corel to build my site. Yup,,,,,,,built the whole thing which was insane only to find out Corel Draw doesn't properly code the pages for HTMLs. I even had my hoster Network Solutions take at look at a couple of the pages and even they can't figure it out. Nothing like wasting three full weeks to design and build the entire site and than finding out it's vertually useless. I'm HERE TO TELL EVERYONE THAT COREL SUCKS FOR CODING PAGES TO HTML. IN OTHER WORDS IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN. I know the pages,,,,rollovers and links where set properly and stil no proper HTML breakdowns and the world scratches it's head because they can't code the pages. THIS IS SO REDICULOUS THAT I'M ALSO GOING TO BASH COREL RIGHT NOW. DO NOT BUY ANY COREL WEBSITE BUILDING PROGRAMS BECAUSE YOU"LL ONLY MAKE YOURSELVES CRAZY WITH A FINAL DISSAPPOINTMENT AT THE END. Anyone find a method to properly code Corel Pages at all???????????? Can Adobe AI open corel files and can AI code them properly from there?
Designers are always looking for a shortcut to avoid learning HTML. So the question isn't whether or not another graphics program (Adobe Illustrator) can open a graphic file and make a Web site, it is what program is the BEST choice for creating a quality Web site. The key here is that you really need to learn HTML and CSS and use a tool that allows you to maximize those technologies. It definitely isn't a graphics program. Of course, graphics software is an important tool in the process for creating the graphics used on the Web site.
I like it. I just kinda hope Corel will offer updates and fix the problems with the program. COREL RULES!!
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