FlexSite32

Lincoln Beach Software's "FlexSite32" began life over ten years ago as "Web-IT!" and I used it back then.

At the time, I was editor-in-chief of an online magazine published by "Grapevine Network Productions". We called it "Connections Magazine" and it was all about internet technology and web development. Needless to say, we received and reviewed a lot of web editors and other "internet software" and we wrote reviews on most of them. We loved Web-IT! and used it to create most of the pages we posted from that moment onward.

The modern incarnation of Web-IT! is called FlexSite32 and is enhanced for modern Windows operating systems. It is solid as a rock and very stable. It is also enhanced to now work with the popular .PNG file format (portable network graphics). The background in older versions was white. In the new version, the background is transparent as it should be.

FlexSite has a split window that lets you edit your HTML "code" on the top half of your screen while seeing a preview of your site on the bottom half. This is really handy when you want to know what a visitor to your site will experience. You can set the software to preview your website in two different browsers. We use that feature all the time on this magazine (yes, we actually use Flexsite, in fact, I am writing this article using it).

If you are not familiar with HTML (hyper-text mark-up language), FlexSite32 can be a great learning tool. By experimenting with the tools in the menu bar, you can observe what each one does and before long, you will be in complete control of your own web designs. I have not found any of the quirks so often present in tools like NetObjects Fusion, where links are always saved as local file addresses. Throw that site on the web and suddenly nothing works. Microsoft FrontPage does the same thing. FlexSite32 saves exactly what you wrote on the screen. There are "wiseguys" (for tables, data forms, calendars, and templates) in the top menu to give you a hand figuring out certain website features. There is also a "table" menu at the top of the program tool bar to help you get the job done.

FlexSite32 is great for fixing the screw-ups that other web development tools make. My wife has used "Web-IT!" to fix sites that she made with other tools and she has praised Lincoln Beach just about every day for the last five years because of it. She corrects all of those bad links that other programs leave all through her designs... they look something like this:

I criticized both Microsoft and Netscape for this very mistake ten years ago and neither company ever corrected it in their website tools. Lincoln Beach has it together and has been doing it RIGHT for years! Thus, I continue to use Lincoln Beach Software tools to create websites and will do so as long as they are still available.

Standard text formatting tools are all found in the "font" tab. Heading tools are in the "format" tab. Creating lists... you, know, with bullets or numbers, you guessed it, the "list" tab. The "special" tab is where you will find ©®™¼½¾§<>& ...didn't have a better way of explaining that, :o) There is a "form" tab, "template" tab, "ASP" tab (one of the updated features), "images" tab, and a "links" tab. Hidden in the menus are other handy tools, spell checker, HTML validation tool to debug your site, and others.

I STRONGLY recommend FlexSite32 for your website development needs. Having a mature application with no quirky site snafus is why. With over ten years of using Web-IT! and now FlexSite32 under my belt, I can say, most assuredly, I won't use anything else.