Corel WebMaster Suite

Software Review

Title:	Corel WebMaster Suite
Version:	1.0
Manufacturer:	Corel Corporation
Computer Tested On:	Generic 586-133
Operating System:	Windows 95
Reviewed By:	Frank Fogg
Review Date:	October-97
Rating	1/2

OVERVIEW

Corel Webmaster Suite is an integrated solution for the creation of a full featured graphical website. Users familiar with other Corel suite products will be familiar and comfortable with many of the features of the product.

The suite consists of eight web related creation and management modules:

• Corel Web Designer - Web Designer is a full featured HTML markup editor. All of the standard HTML markup features are available through the drop down menus and toolbar buttons. The editor has the ability to create and edit both frame and non-frame pages. Table creation is quick and simple. An integrated spell checker is also included. The editor also includes menu options to add java applets, ActiveX and CGI scripts to the page and a FTP option to upload and download pages.
• Corel Web Draw - This module is a paint-type drawing product. It is used to create from scratch or edit drawings. A floating toolbar contains many of the tools needed to finish the drawing. Selection, textures, line types, tool types, shape types, text tools and fountain fills are all readily available and easily used. One interesting feature of this product is the ability to assign portions of an image to URL links by the use of a single button during the creation phase. There is a wide variety of other drawing features included with the package such as foreground/background positioning, extrusion, coloring and texturing.
• Corel Web Move - Web Move enables the user to create or modify animated images. The animations can be created or edited frame by frame. Actors, props, cues and sounds can be added or removed. The module is integrated with Web Draw, so adding a new frame takes the user right to the Web Draw package ready to edit the target frame. Additional features include being able to selectively enlarge or reduce the pixel size of the animation.
• Corel Web Photopaint - Web Photopaint is a picture and photograph editor. In addition to the default file format, bitmaps, gifs, jpegs and tifs can be imported or saved directly from this module. Pictures can be imported from a scanner if desired. Animations can also be created. There are so many editing features with this package, it is impossible to cover them in several sentences. Cropping, masking, color transformations, image resizing, rotation and special effects features are numerous and powerful. A special feature is the ability to read or add a watermark to the photograph.
• Corel Web Gallery - This program is best described as a book of sample images. As each gallery is opened, the associated thumbnail images are displayed along with their file names and type of image. A variety of image types are available, including buttons, icons, photographs of varying sizes, and animations. Each gallery can be sorted by image types, and the images can de dragged and dropped.
• Corel Web World - Web World is a virtual reality modeling language graphical editor. The user can create virtual worlds for web surfers to visit and explore using either VRML compatible browser plug-ins or a Corel browser plug-in available free from the manufacturer. A number of VRML world templates are provided, or the user can create a virtual world from scratch using an overhead plan view. Pictures and animations can be added to the walls and support for MIDI and wave sound files is provided. It did not appear that there was a way to add 3D actors to the worlds created as is possible using some other VRML editors.
• Corel Web Data - This module allows publishing database files in a variety of formats to an HTML page. The data can be published using several different formats including viewing, tables and a graphic analysis format. The java applets needed to view the data are included.
• Corel Web Site Manager - The Web Site Manager module portion of the suite provides the user with a graphical drag and drop environment to manage the entire website. This module alone would justify a major portion of the cost of the entire suite. The user can connect via ftp to the target website, then upload or download files. All login and password features are automatic once properly configured. There are several different ways to analyze the content of the website. A particular file type can be displayed, the entire site can be viewed by level and both internal and external links are checked for validity. The ability to check pages for certain types of content such as java applets, ActiveX, forms, and frames is nice, and a virus checking routine is also included.

STRONG POINTS

Number of features and level of integration - Virtually any function except scripting can be quickly and easily accomplished from within the suite. Many editing features can be directly accessed simply by double clicking the target element.

Extensive documentation - A large operations manual and a smaller clipart reference book are included documenting all of the modules of the suite. The online help system is well written and indexed.

Large clipart gallery - In addition to the cliparts added during the installation program, a second CD ROM is included with a variety of 2D and 3D art, animations and sounds.

WEAK POINTS

Complexity - Although many of the features are absolutely wonderful, the large amount of options and components will take many experienced users awhile to digest, while inexperienced users may find them overwhelming.

Program bugs - Several minor features of the suite consistently do not work properly. However, the suite for the most part performs properly.

COMMENTS

The few problems encountered during the operation of the software do not detract from the overall power and capability of the package. As stated earlier, virtually any type of web content can readily be created, edited or imported from at least one of the suite modules. The large clipart library helps the user create a graphically pleasing and professional looking website with a minimum of effort. Managers of larger sites will appreciate the sorting and viewing capabilities of the site management tools.