Today Web Site Pros announced Net Objects Fusion 11 - and boy did that bring back memories.
Net Objects was really the first "WOW" web creation app back in the early days of the web. It was incredible. The software allowed you to create these visually rich web sites with absolutely no comprehension of html code. Working in the application was just like creating a layout in Illustrator in Quark (yep - no InDesign back then). It was the perfect solution for designers.
The first version was Mac only. I remember being so bummer about that as I was a PC user. When version 2 came along it was cross-platform. What's really funny is that as they moved forward in versions the Mac platform was actually abandoned and it became PC only.
I loved NOF. It allowed me to create web stuff out of the box. Then the world of technology started moving forward and things got ugly for NOF.
GoLive and Dreamweaver showed up and showed designers and developers that working with code was not really that hard. Once you got your head around even the simplest of code, NOF became totally restrictive. NOF was basically a layout program that produced html. You couldn't really get in there and play with the code while you were designing. If you did tweak the html once it was generated, those changes were not recognized by NOF. It was a bad combo for the cutting edge designer. The other big problem with NOF back then (which honestly, is less important now) is that the code was humungous. There were so many tables and nested tables and strange coding that pages were sometimes 3-4 times larger than the exact same layout in one of the competitive programs.
Sadly, NOF was a mere blip on the radar by the time they hit v3. I will admit that I often continued to upgrade - but I never really used the darn thing. Being the geek I am I just wanted to play with the program, but when it was time to seriously create a site I ended up using Dreamweaver.
I was so surprised when version 11 showed up this week. It seems that they have kept the best of the workflow but tried to make html and css more accessible. It will never take the place of Dreamweaver, but I really do hope that some newbies and hobbyists will take a look and perhaps use it for their work. I think for people who have no interest in creating complex, scalable web sites, this program could be a real Godsend. I know I will take a look just for the fun of it.
Check it out at - Net Objects Web Site
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