Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
Many fashion designer want to see what their study will actually look like , not the nonobjective code used to bring forth it . Yet numerous WYSIWYG Web - design covering such as Macromedia Dreamweaver (; January 2006 ) and Adobe GoLive (; August 2005 ) rely on architect to have at least a basic knowledge of HTML , CSS , and JavaScript to achieve the exact design they require . As a issue , professional designers often have to think more like coder or bank on canned templates .
Freeway 4 Pro from Softpress Systems takes a different approach . target toward professional designers who do n’t want to deal with code , Freeway Pro throw off out the constitute modus operandi for Web - design applications , and instead builds upon an approach to layout you would line up in print - centre plan , such as QuarkXPress (; March 2005 ) or Adobe InDesign (; August 2005 ) . The result is an app that can help designers easily translate their creative ideas directly onto the sieve .
If you ’re not a professional designer , Softpress also offers Freeway 4 Express ( $ 99 for the boxed version , $ 89 for the download ) . Express is place toward home drug user who want to quickly lay out their Web aim , but do not need some of the advanced feature available in the pro version , such as CSS layout or the ability to add drop curtain shadow and other exceptional impression to graphics .
Think like a designer
If you ’ve used other WYSIWYG internet - design software , the first thing you ’ll acknowledge about Freeway 4 Pro is how it treats a Web site . Rather then expose a site as a serial of individual page files , Freeway Pro stage it as a single document with multiple Page in its Site Panel . This approach greatly simplifies the process of line up and editing individual page . Plus , the Site Panel lets you quick add page to a web site , apply a victor page design to create the basic look , and customize the varlet as needed .
Freeway Pro get you edit your entire Web site as if it were a single written document . ( Click image to open full screenshot )
you could embroil and drop elements exactly where you desire them on the page , and even layer images and text ; Freeway Pro will do all of the layout figuring for you , using either hypertext mark-up language table or the Web - friendlier Cs layout . The programme handle format ascendency through a circumstance - sensitive inspector palette that displays only the putz that tie in to a selected object .
Of course , the Web does n’t just exhibit still substance . It is an interactive culture medium , and Freeway Pro provide several coarse actions for thing like creating button rollovers and open new windows . you’re able to also download additional actions from the Softpress Web site or third party . As with the rest of Freeway Pro , you do not need to know the first matter about JavaScript so as to make these work .
Better code
As with version 3 (; September 2000 ) , importing Web site with survive cesium codification is still a little elusive — pages end up losing their styles . However , Freeway 4 has taken dandy tread in improving its overall code implementation . varlet created in Freeway Pro passed XHTML Transitional and CSS validation test with flying colors . Other improvements in Version 4 include a native OS go interface ( no more Carbon ) and better CSS implementation , including the use of complete CSS layout without resorting to HTML tables .
Like the old version , Freeway 4 does n’t provide access to the underlying codification , or the ability to tweak it . receive Web graphic designer who are used to negotiating the vagaries of HTML wo n’t like the fact that they ca n’t look under the hood . But for graphic designers who never want to conceive about codification , this is a positive benefit .
Great image handling
Although you could start out by import files from Adobe Illustrator (; August 2005 ) , Photoshop (; August 2005 ) , or other graphics applications , you could just as easy get going working straight off in Freeway Pro . One of the syllabus ’s most impressive feature is the room it handles images . While all Web - figure applications allow you to delineate where images will come along on the page , Freeway Pro includes tools that let you rotate , skew , mirror , and even make freeform image shapes , thereby release your conception from the typical orthogonal boxes you find on many WWW pages .
Freeway Pro also includes tools that have you easily create simple SHAPE , gradients , and many other visual effects for adding button and other controls .
One frustration many designer encounter with the Web is the lack of typeface alternative . While Freeway Pro can not fundamentally alter the nature of typography on the WWW , it does let you to quickly produce text within a computer graphic using any typeface you have install , add visual effects , then release it into a computer graphic for output .
Macworld’s buying advice
If you are customary to putter with HTML code in coating like Dreamweaver or GoLive , Freeway 4 Pro could take some getting used to . However , if you are coming from the print world — and you ’ve been put off by the idea of read code or crucify by Web - intent applications that do not work the way you ’re used to — Freeway Pro will be exactly what you need to realize your visual sensation in the on-line world .
[ Jason Cranford Teague is a senior user interface designer at AOL and the writer of several entanglement - design and -development playscript , includingDHTML and Cs Advanced(Peachpit , 2005 ) . Jason regularly rants about technology and refinement on his blogwebbedENVIRONMENTS . ]
