Internet/intranet Design Shop

Internet/intranet Design Shop

Shopping for software to help you with your firm’s Internet or intranet page is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get until after you pay for the box.

Boomerang’s Internet/intranet Design Shop is one of those that offers you a variety of tastes but is a little hard to chew for your Web page design. If you are a beginner at Web page design, this may not be the right fit for you. If you are more advanced in Web page designs, Design Shop might be helpful in organizing your Web pages.

Right off the bat, you may be turned off by the Design Shop during the installation process because you will get to a dialog box that asks for a registration code that you have to call Boomerang to get. When you do, you get a voice recording asking you to leave your name and phone number (I’m still waiting on my phone call to be returned). I’m not sure what this was all about, but when you select “cancel,” you still can access the software. When you get to the starting window, you are offered different projects you can create, such as greeting cards, banners, business cards, posters and calendars. It seems that all that is a waste if you just want to design a Web page. When you select the tab for Web site, you are shown some templates to choose from depending on the type of Web site you want to create. A drop-down list gives you the option of choosing among selections, including Art & Entertainment, Business and Finance and Personal, or you can choose to start with a blank page.

After you make your selection, you are given a window that looks like the Windows Explorer directory tree structure. This is supposed to help you organize your Web site better. But from here, you may be lost with your options to switch between the physical layout view and the logical view. It will take some time with the user’s manual to figure out how to manage your Web site using the Design Shop. If you have the time to work with the user’s manual and become acclimated with the templates or your own design, it may be beneficial for you.

You can launch your Internet browser from Design Shop so that you can view your Web pages using Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. It also gives you the freedom to incorporate objects from other applications into your Web page design. Design Shop supports Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) to launch other applications, such as CorelDRAW, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Word, as well as many others. You also can work with Java applets and cgi-bin script files.

Design Shop also includes other features, such as the MGI Photo Editor (provides image manipulation and editing capabilities), Image Cataloger (creates catalogs for your images), Boomerang Business Graphics, CGI Script Generator (creates Perl CGI scripts that are necessary for forms and data exchange within an Internet Web page), CGI Tutorial Library, Internet Graphics (a collection of about 500 Internet-ready symbols, bullets and clip art), Background and Pattern Collection (more than 1,500 backgrounds and patterns) and Clip Art Collection (more than 2,000 images with an additional 6,000 clip art images on the CD).

Although Design Shop is an unique, all-in-one Web page design program, it does require a bit of a learning curve. Even with some of the Java applet and CGI Script features, you still need to know your stuff, or using Design Shop will frustrate you. But the low cost of Design Shop and versatility to be used on Windows 95/98/2000/NT or even a 16-bit version for Windows 3.1 makes it worth the value if you have the time to learn.

Boomerang Software
(617) 489-3000
www.boomerang
software.com

Windows 95/98/2000/NT and 16-bit version for Windows 3.1

$49.95

Reviewed by Milton Hooper, litigation support specialist, Macon, Ga.

Aug/Sep '00 Issue

PROS
A lot of Web stuff for a low price.

CONS
Not for beginners; takes a little time to learn.

VERDICT
A very versatile Web page design package; has everything you need except the extra time you’ll need to learn how to use it.