Serif WebPlus X5 review

WebPlus X5 includes support for some surprisingly sophisticated features, including e-commerce, forums and blogs

Although it deliberately hides the underlying code, WebPlus X5 will still display the source for any WYSIWYG-created page — although it can’t be edited within the application. HTML pages can be created from scratch, however, and inserted into an existing site structure, but this then precludes the use of any WYSIWYG tool on that page. For most users though, the option to embed HTML code fragments into existing pages should be enough for such things as web analytics and offsite content for advertising purposes (although user-friendly Google AdSense support is built in).

As easy as WebPlus X5 makes web page creation, building a site from scratch takes time, effort and a strong eye for design. A better approach for most people will to use one of the 20-odd themed templates that cover a variety of site styles. Some do smack of Web 1.0, but the broad range of tasteful colour schemes and multiple page layouts (there are different ones for Home, About us, Contact us, and so on) do at least offer plenty of flexibility. Simply replacing the dummy text with live content should then be enough to launch some sites, but all the aforementioned tools can be deployed in the same drag-and-drop fashion for infinite customisation.

Anyone who wants more cosmetic control over a web site than services such as WordPress can offer, but who doesn’t want to get their hands dirty with code, would do well to give Serif WebPlus X5 a try. As with any WYSIWYG design application, it can’t provide the required design skills to produce a visually stunning page, but the ease and speed with which it allows surprisingly sophisticated pages to be created means that users can concentrate on how their site looks rather than having to figure out how it works.