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the makers of Namo Web Editor 2006 must have found themselves in a marketing conundrum. Caught between two industry powerhouses-Adobe's Macromedia Dreamweaver and Microsoft FrontPage-Namo developers had to do something to differentiate themselves. What they decided to do was aim straight for the middle between professional developers and newbies. They also included a myriad of software to make it a suite (something that neither FrontPage nor Dreamweaver can claim, though it is part of the larger Macromedia Studio suite), added a couple of unique features, threw in some Web hosting and domain naming services, and even offered templates for sale on their Web site. Then they made a smart move, setting the price well down-market from its more expensive rivals.
While Namo made a game effort, the company will have to work harder to make the program attractive to both power users and beginners if they hope to dent the market share of their high-powered competitors. The program lacks cohesion and, while using wizards and other aids, it falls short of the ease of use of FrontPage and the professional development environment of Dreamweaver. Unfortunately, by aiming for the middle, Namo fails to provide a useful solution for either end of the spectrum.
GETTING STARTED WITH NAMO
The program comes with an installation front-end that enables you to load Namo Web Editor 2006 along with some extras including drawing program Namo Web Canvas and utilities Namo Image Slicer, Namo Image Capture, and Namo Gif Animator. This review covers only the Web Editor. After installation, you must immediately enter your registration code and a rather lengthy special CD code. There is no trial period as you often see with this type of software. Instead, you must register or exit. To its credit, Namo does not require product activation, something that both Microsoft and Macromedia require, to the chagrin of many users.
The package includes a comprehensive paper user manual, Microsoft HTML-style online help, and an online HTML and CSS reference. Surprisingly, the paper manual is not available in (searchable) PDF format. Nor is there a tutorial (or walk-through videos) for new users, something you would expect in a program that is trying to gain market share from...