Web Page Construction Kit 6.0: Win9X/NT4

CNET editors' rating: 2.5 stars OK
Detailed editors' rating
Overall score: 5.0 (2.5 stars)
• Average user rating:
  Write your own review

Product summary

CNET editors' review

• Reviewed by: Christina Parsons
• Reviewed on: 06/14/2000

The most recent version of Macmillan Software's Web editor suite, Web Page Construction Kit 6.0, hits the market with a fresh interface that incorporates larger icons, more vivid colors, and overall user-friendly functionality. Unlike most conventional HTML editors, the Kit's WYSIWYG editor, WebExpress 4.0, comes bundled with two other programs. The all-new 3Space Publisher Interactive 3D Suite and Stoik PictureMan Painter 2.0 applications offer decent graphics capabilities while sustaining a very affordable price. A large online manual by well-known Web authors Lynda and Bill Weinman should be a value-added bonus, but Macmillan hasn't made the material very accessible.The most recent version of Macmillan Software's Web editor suite, Web Page Construction Kit 6.0, hits the market with a fresh interface that incorporates larger icons, more vivid colors, and overall user-friendly functionality. Unlike most conventional HTML editors, the Kit's WYSIWYG editor, WebExpress 4.0, comes bundled with two other programs. The all-new 3Space Publisher Interactive 3D Suite and Stoik PictureMan Painter 2.0 applications offer decent graphics capabilities while sustaining a very affordable price. A large online manual by well-known Web authors Lynda and Bill Weinman should be a value-added bonus, but Macmillan hasn't made the material very accessible.

Powerful Punch
The Kit packs a powerful punch for the novice looking for design ideas. Nearly 50 unique themes are available for the indecisive Webmaster, along with more than 10,000 graphics, buttons, and animation files. For consistency, any theme can be carried out page after page.

Web Page Construction Kit supports all major image types, including BMP, WMF, PCX, TIFF, and so on. Additionally, files with these extensions are automatically converted into Web-ready formats such as PNG, GIF, and JPEG. An image map editor and image text editor are also included with WebExpress.

Well-Managed Webs
The editor's Web site manager is locked into the left side of the page view. Each newly created Web site is given its own folder, making each file, link, and image easily accessible within the parameters of the program's treelike hierarchy. While maintaining filename and link case, the Kit can conveniently track all links for validity. Broken links are conspicuously marked, enabling you to instantly locate the source. The Kit also helps you correct uniform errors globally. Once something is changed on one page, all pages reflect that change.

When it is time to upload your work onto the Web, the built-in FTP client allows for multiple publishing options. You can publish only what is new, or override already published pages and files.

Ample Wizardry
The abundance of wizards for things such as new sites, forms, and frames firmly categorizes this suite as a beginner-level tool. The wizards can save you a substantial amount of time in site creation, but if you want to really customize your site, you will spend a lot of time cutting and pasting.

Advanced Niceties
The Kit's editor provides a convenient method for creating new Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and both importing and exporting existing style sheets. WebExpress lets you easily insert ActiveX objects, JavaScript, and

Before you buy

Editors' top software

Find all software reviews

Related resources

Find discontinued Macmillan Computer Publishing USA web graphics