Freeway Express 3.5 (Mac) Accessories
Freeway Express 3.5 (Mac) Reviews
I rank Freeway Express near the top of the pack out of the sub $200 web design programs available to Mac and Windows users. I really only have one negative thing to say about the program and that is this; I wish they had more professionally designed templates available for Freeway. And if you are graphically or creatively challenged like I am a template can be a lifesaver. The only major choices are GoLive and Dreamweaver which complement a handful of low cost Shareware programs. Naturally I wanted to continue my web design exploits with the Mac but I had a terrible time finding affordable web design software for Mac. and many other web design programs.
I tried both GoLive and Dreamweaver but decided they were not the route to go. I accidentally found Softpress Freeway while surfing the net and decided to try the 30 day trial. In my book only Netobjects Fusion 8 would get a higher rating while Frontpage and Namo Webeditor 6 rate lower than Freeway. I found GoLive too difficult to learn (geared towards creative types that are familiar with other Adobe products) and Dreamweaver was just too time consuming to use to create a basic website. It's drag and drop simplicity is refreshing and makes it a breeze to manipulate graphics for proper placement. Templates are a great way to whip up a quick site without having to spend hours and hours with design programs.
If you scour the web you'll note dozens of companies provide great looking templates for Dreamweaver, GoLive, FrontPage etc. The program is a bit difficult to learn but once you do you'll see how easy it is to create a page.
If you own a Mac and are just getting started with web design then I heartily endorse Freeway Express for a starter program. Overall I was not too disappointed by the latest edition of Express because I ended up purchasing it soon after.
I recently purchased my first Mac computer after having used Windows for well over a decade. Just make sure you get the manual or carefully read the instructions that come within the software and you'll be able to master this program.
Express did have a couple of quirks on my new iMac G5 but after a month or so of OS X updates the problems vanished and the program settled down and worked as advertised. If you upgrade to Freeway Pro you'll have the opportunity to utilize dozens of Actions from third party vendors that complement the basic functions that come standard with Freeway.
You can visit the site I built at www.mindspring.com/~rmjournal/index.html Not fancy, but it functions. That one was too hard for me. These people must not have read the manual, which you have to print out yourself, because it explains how to do things. I think the negative reviews here are puzzling. I previously used Pagemill 3.0 and never could figure out GoLive.
I've spent 50-60 hours with this program and I still can't figure it all out (and I think that is partly due to problem #2. Its buggy. And finally,. It crashes at least once every session (erasing all recent changes). The result of my time with it has been frustration and a pretty pathetic web site.
I can sit down with iMovie and in 30 minutes figure out how to edit a movie. There are many problems with this software:. Sometimes, for no reason, you can't get it to display a whole picture (you spend hours fiddling wth setting that make no sense to try to fix it). Its like learning a new operating system because nothing works like it should - right click and it zooms in. The user interface is not based on Apple specs.
Screw up and scroll to far to one side or the other and the "canvas" is woppergee for the rest of your session. There must be something better out there. 1. Even if this is the lowest cost "option", I would not consider it an option. It just stinks. It is not user-friendly or intuitive. This is a very bad program for creating web pages.
3. Poorly thought out. It assumes a great deal of knowledge and it requires a great deal of reading the manual. Its just a bad program. 4. Poorly designed. 2.
New to the world of web design, I was looking for a package that was easy to learn the basics - with more advanced options (for when I became more confident). Freeway Express is so easy to design web pages - and the help menu is ultra concise for the many times I got stuck. I can't believe that I did it myself. I downloaded the free trial for this program and found it so easy to use I purchased the full program. I have just completed designing my very first website - and am thrilled with the results. If you're looking for a great basic easy-to-use web design program which provides professional results - Freeway Express is the package for you. You can download a free trial at www.softpress.com
I switched to Adobe GoLive, which costs a fortune by comparison, but was far, far easier to understand. This was true "you get what you pay for." It was extremely unintuitive and hard to figure out. Unfortunately, this program is not even worth if for free. Looking for a replacement for old standby Claris Home Page, I found Freeway Express 3.5.
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