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SiteKreator updated: Now with more Ajax

A popular site-development tool gets an update, but the builder's interface is dated.

Rafe Needleman Former Editor at Large
Rafe Needleman reviews mobile apps and products for fun, and picks startups apart when he gets bored. He has evaluated thousands of new companies, most of which have since gone out of business.
Rafe Needleman
2 min read

The midrange Web site design and hosting service SiteKreator (previous review) got an update recently. A new design theme called Aurora (available only to SiteKreator Power users for $39.95 a month), gives the Web manager a lot of design freedom while protecting him or her from egregious design errors.

Everything in the Aurora designs is integrated and color-matched, including art options: if you change your color scheme you get different choices for the image on your home page, as well as your typography selections. (Users of other plans, including the free version of SiteKreator, can still use SiteKreator templates, just not the new Aurora scheme.)

SiteKreator's interface is very capable, but its myriad tiny text buttons and pop-up entry fields may put off some people. CNET Networks

Other features include the au courant navigation elements that can slide down or fade in the forums and the blogs. There's also the capability to create tabbed or collapsible navigation in a subpage on the site.

SiteKreator is a solid Web design product, and these new features keep it current. But I find the editing scheme fiddly. It relies on tiny, floating, single letters to pull up editing menus, and creating or modifying many elements is done in text-based pop-up menus with minimal preview. For a visual site editor, it uses an awful lot of words. But if you can devote a bit of time to learning the site's single-letter menu anchors, you'll probably find you can build almost any type of business-focused site you could imagine. This is not a bad solution for small-business owners looking to set up an attractive, contemporary, and very functional Web site.