Product Reviews

Golive has repackaged CyberStudio 2.0 as an entry-level tool for users who don't require the full power of the Professional version.

CyberStudio Personal Edition offers WYSIWYG DTP-style Web-site design with precise page element positioning using a layout grid. Pages are constructed in a very Mac-friendly way by dragging icons representing HTML elements from a multi-tabbed Object palette into the layout.

The source code editor is very powerful, showing coloured and formatted code which makes it easy to see what

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you're doing. It also provides error and syntax checking based on a vast database of HTML. A separate Script Editor is provided for writing JavaScript.

Unlike the Professional version, the Personal Edition doesn't support Dynamic HTML and Cascading Style Sheets, which add complex interactivity and typography to pages when viewed by version 4 browsers. Another difference is in site management. In the Personal Edition this is handled via the Project window. All files and assets are shown here and can be restructured into new directories, previewed or dragged and dropped into a layout.

The Site View provides a hierarchical map of the site. This tends to sprawl a bit and hasbeen improved in the Professional version.

Personal and Professional versions also build sites differently. The Personal Edition holds the site as a Project, which has to be 'published' on completion: in the Professional Edition, sites are created from the start as proper sites.

CyberStudio Personal Edition is a great program at a give-away price, but if you're a serious professional, you need the high-end version.