Namo WebEditor 5.5 review

And that's not all. Namo WebEditor also comes with several supporting graphical applications to take care of GIF animation, image slicing and screenshot capture. These are handy but the bundled Namo WebCanvas is in a different league. Using its comprehensive vector-based shape tools, gradient and texture-based formatting and non-destructive effects and styles, it's easy to create eye-catching graphics, especially web buttons and rollovers. These can be saved to GIF or JPEG or even the web-friendly vector-based SVG (Scalable Vector Graphic) format. Most usefully they can be saved to Namo's own Smart Button format, which can be losslessly scaled within the WebEditor application and used as the basis for Dynamic Navigation Bars.

It's extraordinary power for the price - and typical of the whole Namo package. With most budget packages, the more you investigate, the more likely you are to come away disappointed. With Namo it's the opposite. As you explore you come across yet more features, such as auto correction, the ability to directly open, edit and save remote files, an equation editor, a macro recorder, XML capabilities, even the ability to produce database-driven pages using ASP, JSP, or PHP.

The power is very impressive, but it's important not to get carried away. There are still plenty of rough edges, so full-time professionals won't be attracted away from Dreamweaver, while one-off and occasional users looking for a simple HTML-free solution would do better with NetObjects Fusion. That said, Namo WebEditor provides excellent features at an unbelievable price.