Serif WebPlus X6

I tried this product and now own the newer version X7. I admit there is a "familiarity issue" to get used to the software, but the help system is really good. And, if you contact customer support a real person will e-mail you back. Try that with Adobe and Microsoft. As a book publisher, JamesRussellPublishing.com we had to move away from Adobe and Microsoft as they are killing the goose with on-line, cloud-only software now with big fees. We found Serif software products work. There are some strange quirks using the Z-fold brochure templates as they do not print out properly on USA printers as far as we can tell, but you can create your own templates to fix the problem. The software really is easy to use and it is powerful and the elements on the page are solidified on the page and will not flow out of the bounding boxes, etc. Give this product a try. It will deliver on the promise. What is nice is that these powerful products Serif makes replaces the need to buy and use Adobe or Microsoft software for once and for all. That, is good news!

Took two weeks and a refund/reorder to actually get the item in the first place due to Amazon's in-house courier being absolutely awful (not Serif's fault on that, though). Finally got it just two days before the project it was needed for was due, only to find that the installation DVD was no good and completely unreadable. Sometimes with software like this the developer will offer a downloadable installer as well that can work with the key you get with the product, but unfortunately Serif offers no such thing.Can't blame the developer for the shipping issues since that was entirely on Amazon's end, but getting a disc that doesn't even work with no alternate means of install definitely doesn't help things. Guess I'm going to have to waste another $60 to get the downloadable version in order to actually get this project done on time. Thanks for that, Amazon and Serif!

Today I called Serif wanting customer support for WebPlus X4, which, unfortunately, they do not support any more. The reason I was calling for support was to get a few small code changes I had made to a website (Hosted by Hostmonster) imported into my WebPlus software on my local machine. Since I didn't have the X6 version I was not able to get through to an acutal support tech, but instead was patched through to a salesperson.The salesperson assured me that if I upgraded to X6 there would be no problem recieving technical support to get help for this issue. I was skeptical. I asked if there was a way that he could make sure this was something that I could be helped with. The salesperson said, "OK, let me put you on hold and speak to our lead technical person." I said great. When the salesperson came back on the phone he said that the lead tech (Martin Sporrs) had just told him that this was a very easy task and there would be no problem importing from a webpage to the program. So, I bought the new version - WebPlus X6.About an hour later I was ready to call back and ask, "OK, how do I do this?" Now just to be perfectly clear about the situation:This was a website that I had previously created with WebPlus X4I was the owner of the websiteI wanted to copy two webpages that I made changes to from the webserver downloaded to the WebPlus program on my local machineBack to the story, So the tech tells me, "Unfortunately, that's just not possible to do." I was like, "What? How can that be? I see import existing websites advertised all over the place for the new version." Not to mention I was apparently just lied to by the salesperson. The guy tells me, "You can import webpages from a published site but you won't see it in the program. It just doesn't work like that. You can't download a page and then view or make changes to it within WebPlus." So of course I was like, "What? What kind of import is that? How does that work? How can you import something and never be able to see or work with it?" Needless to say it was the most bizzare conversation I've ever had with Serif.I then asked for a refund. And they are now reviewing the conversation with the salesperson to see if I'm eligible for one. Now this part is really strange too. Why would they need to listen to the conversation when the product has a 30 day money back garuntee? Either way, they will unquestionably find the salesperson in the wrong when they review the conversation. I think I'm ready to try something a little more functional. However, as many websites reviews say all over the internet, Serif WebPlus X products are very good for simple websites and simple functions - regardless of what they advertise.

Serif called soon after the purchase to up-sell me the latest and greatest X8. They offered a good price and assured me that they would be around for the future. Another company's proprietary software I was using went belly up and left me with no way to get re-installation licensing and support when the program or computer crashed. Webplus X8 can be reinstalled without hassle, but the same month I bought the latest and greatest Serif discontinued the product. That was disappointing. It will have no updated version to go to.

This product, while easy to learn in general, can be complex. The update in January improved its capabilities.PROS1. Can build large, fully-featured websites.2. The user forum members are very helpful.CONS1. It insists on sending email forms through its own server.You must sign up for this, although it is free. WebPlus is used to promote the Serif website hosting business in the UK, although you do not need to use them except for email forms.2. Its power requires a lot of knowledge once you get past the basics. Subtle things, like forcing a line break without doing a return to keep one hyperlink on two lines, are possible but not in the manual. It follows PagePlus rules of formatting rather than those of Microsoft Word, leading to possible errors of font size variations when you modify a word ending.3. It does a poor job of importing and translating html from an existing website. The import translation from hand-coded html and css is so bad, you have to recreate the website manually using WebPlus as if the website did not exist.