Web Design Tools From Down Under

There are several ways to handle the graphics required for a Website. The first, and easiest, is to simply steal -- er, "borrow" -- them from other sites. Honest designers and cyberbanditos alike use this method, in lesser or greater form. In some cases, it's not a problem. Either the Website owners don't mind, or they've used graphics from freebie sites. In other cases, it's no different than stealing a loaf of bread from the corner store. When in doubt, you should probably err on the side of caution and avoid using any graphics that aren't explicity for public use (I'm currently preparing a column for SitePoint on this very topic, by the way). But no matter how you look at it, the copyright issues basically mean that your selection's limited to images that other people have already used.

The second method is to either have professional or amateur graphic designers make the graphics for you, or to download pre-made images from graphics sites that supply them specifically for this purpose. The third is to make them yourself. Here's where many people who want a Website of their own fall short. Either they're confused by sophisticated (read: "hard-to-use") commercial programs, or they're foiled by the limitations of cheaper, less effective packages.

Two shareware programs on the market, My Web Toolbox 3.3 and Trellian Button Factory 2.02, fill part of the need. They provide an inexpensive way to create buttons and similar graphics for Websites. Neither one is as comprehensive, sophisticated, or expensive as the Photoshops, Paint Shop Pros, and Flashes of the world, and neither one attempts to be. Instead, they strive to do one particular thing, and do it well. How well they succeed, at least in my opinion, is considered here.

Note: These reviews appeared in earlier and slightly different forms as Newsletter #13 for my Web site, Troubleshooting and Resource Guide for Windows 95/98/ME, at www.toejumper.net. The newsletter was forwarded to both software creators for their responses, which have been incorporated here.