Namo Webeditor 5.5 - Namo Interactive

Difficult to use compared to similar software.

After using this product for a while, I thought I would come back and give it another update. As with most things, the warts start to show after a while. There are two types of nits, things that could be done better, but are not; and bugs. I expect a small amount of both, however, I also expect some level of support and update for bugs. On the "It could be better side" Namo is still a very good product. Yes, they are week for CSS editing, and a few other things. However, overall it is still a good product. Now, for the bugs. Well, quite honestly about the only thing that separates a big dollar package like Adobe or Dreamweaver MX from the little products is support. The big guys have it, the little guys don't. One big issue is lack of good support for Netscape. Namo seems to have forgeten that Netscape use is still almost as large as IE. However, several items which are advertised, do not work at all on Netscape. -------- Original Rating ----------------- Wow! What more can I say? Few products live up to their billing, but Namo WebEditor 5.5 succeeds. On a feature for feature comparison, WE5.5 matches up with the big boys, including Adobe GoLive 6.0 and DreamWeaver MX. To be honest, I havn't actually used DreamWeaver, only read the reviews. I have however, used several web editors, including Adobe GoLive 6.0. Namo v 5.5 is more intuitive than GoLive, and seems to have all the features as well. For simple quick starts, it can't be beat, and for advanced site editing and maintenance it is great as well. The site manager is very good (as good as GoLive's), and the smart menu's, text and buttons are an incredible time saver. Too good to be true for $...! ... However, don't bother with Namo version 5.0. It has several bugs, and several of the great features in 5.5 are missing. For virtually the same price, forget version 5.0, get 5.5.

This program is waste!! I created my website with this, and it took me almost 3 months because this program wouldn't work properly..(At all!), and would blow me out of it if I just tried to save something. Nothing worked! If I needed to just publish an edited page to my website, supposedly, you can just select to publish the edited pages. Well, when I tried doing that, it blew me out of the program. So, I tried to psychronize the pages. Well, when I tried doing that, it blew me out of the program again. So, I had to publish the entire thing all over again, just to get one page updated. At 99%, it blew me out again, and of course no changes were made on the site!! Total junk, total joke, TOTAL WASTE OF TIME & MONEY!!

Yes, I read all the reviews before buying. I needed something simple with absolutely no programming involved. Since I didn't like any of the templatesthat came with the software, I decided to build my own. Well, to sum it up - after 3 very frustrating days of trying to build my own template, I accomplished zero. I read the manual from start to finish. It is VERY poorly written for anyone who wants to do any of their own designing in Namo. In fact, after getting on their website and looking at the forum topics, I discovered that you CAN'T build your own template for your entire site. THAT VERSION IS GOING TO BE RELEASED IN MARCH 2004!!!!!!!!!! As soon as I discovered this, I went to Best Buy and purchased WebEasy Pro which is much cheaper. It is also much easier to learn and extremely user friendly with a super help section. I would highly recommend that if you want to make your own design in ANY way - do not purchase NAMO! Buy WebEasy Pro which is cheaper and far superior to Namo! Thanks Namo for wasting my time and money. Just wish I could get a refund!

OK, let me first admit my ignorance when it comes to such material. I don't know a hyperlink from a hyperkid and will probably never learn. I bought this product because of its glowing recommendations and more specifically for its claim that this product is for beginners as well. Well, forget that. This is undoubtedly a godsend for the design software literate, but as a beginner, I struggled. I felt like the poor slobs on Saturday Night Live when the computer geek is trying to explain to them what's wrong with their computers and they just don't get it. For instance, in one section they tell you to choose a "theme" from the pulldown list. I didn't like any of the template backgrounds, but they were not very clear as to how you can incorporate your own. Do they allow your own design? I'm sure they do, but as a beginner, it wasn't made clear at what point in the process you could do so. I saved and exited numerous times out of frustration, promising to come back again after reading more of the manual. Here's a sample of the directions on page 23 of the manual. Hold on you beginners our there . . . "If you want to use the auto linking feature, enter @*(the word you want to replace)in the Replace text box and the URL in the With text box. Example: "@Namo*" => "[...]" (if you enter "@Namo" appears with the hyperlinks whose URL is "[...]".)" Did you get that? Again, I don't doubt the wonderment of this product, I really don't. I respect the expert reviews out there that shower this product with accolades, but if this is for beginners then I am even more "lame" than my teenage daughter thinks I am. I will probably go to a web site designer and pay $100 to $200 to get me up and running. I wish this product worked for me as it did for others, but you need to bring more than basic computer knowledge to this software to get where you're going. Good luck.

Won't do all of the things that my Dreamweaver will, but it was quick and easy. Customer service, however, apparently doesn't exist. I had a hard drive crash and contacted Namo support on how to reload it onto a new drive. I never did hear anything back from them (perhaps they didn't know), so I ended up buying a replacement copy. 4 stars for the program, 1 star for their support.