Filed under: Design, Developer, Internet, Productivity
SiteKreator: Unremarkable web-based WYSIWYG editor
Via Gmail webclips, I spotted this WebReference News article by Lee Underwood about a web-based WYSIWYG editor called SiteKreator. This immediately piqued my interest--and my skeptical nature--and I clicked through to read more. If it weren't for the mention of blogs and Web 2.0, the WebReference News article could've been written in the last century. (Check out the lede!) Still, my curiosity prevailed. Lee Underwood had created a test site with SiteKreator, which I visited and immediately viewed the source. I wish I could say I was surprised to find the following garden-variety WYSIWYG offenders:
- No doctype
- Table-based layout
- Spacer gifs
- Attribute values not enclosed in quotation marks
- Unencoded ampersands
I let out an audible sigh. Has nothing changed in 10+ years of WYSIWYG editors? Eternally optimistic, I had hoped for a little improvement from a service that touts the ability to let users build "impressive, Web 2.0-ready business or personal Web sites." Even divitis a la iWeb would be preferable to this.
Anyway, I ended up making a SiteKreator account for myself, and whipping up a quick test site (prepare not to be impressed). I chose the "Pirates" template, and was disappointed at the lack of actual pirates.
What can I say about the SiteKreator UI? Well, it features an "assistant" not unlike the much-maligned Clippy - except it's a dragon instead of a paperclip. As for the process of actually building the site, I'll admit I found it less than intuitive. To be fair, though, maybe this is just because I'm so accustomed to hand-coding. The WebReference News article described the interface as "pretty intuitive," so you'll need to decide for yourself.
My final analysis? Nothing new under the sun, other than some Ajax effects.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brian Solis said 4:32PM on 9-05-2006
If you're used to hand coding, I think SiteKreator will not meet your expectations...but if you try a business account, you might see that the "instant gratification" of designing and deploying a site with galleries, blogs, forums, password levels, forms, mailing lists, etc. could be a small business owner's dream come true. I've used NetObjects Fusion, DreamWeaver, and FrontPage, and love SiteKreator's interface. The business templates are customizable...and I've built entire client portals usint it. Let me know if you'd like me to send you a code to upgrade the site. Cheers!
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Paul said 7:39AM on 10-02-2006
SiteKreator.com is very different from the rest of the web-based WYSIWYG editor. It's a website builder tool that's really lightweight and easy to use.
It can be run on a Windows 98 PC and a web browser. How many of the web-based WYSIWYG editor can do this? Also, if you can click a mouse, you can use this tool to build a website.
All you need to do is to select a template.. add your content or images, and click publish and your website is done! That's really all to it.
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