Creating and maintaining a website has become a commonplace activity and for anyone after a powerful set of tools and plenty of options, SiteMaker 4.0 is well worth considering. With the emphasis on ease of use and intuitiveness, you'll soon have a great-looking website up and running, regardless of your skills.

Sitemaker is one of the best online website builders that adopt a template-based approach. It offers five packages, from free for the most basic to just over £130 a year for the top-end option.

The service makes it as easy as possible to create a website. As well as being able to add your own files, all the packages include an incredibly well-stocked library from which you can add images, audio, video, clip art and widgets to your site. From designing to hosting your website, Sitemaker provides a sophisticated all-in-one service.

Publication: Internet Related Magazine

Webuser, February 2009

For those without much expertise in designing and hosting web sites, many ISPs offer a range of tools to create pages quickly and simply. SiteMaker is an elegant service that allows users to create their own site from £2.99 - or even for free if supported with adverts.

When creating a site, the first step is to select a template from the large variety on offer, add a default structure (for Contacts, About your site and so on) if required, and then select a sub-domain or full domain depending on the level of service that you are paying for. Once the basic structure is in place, SiteMaker software runs within the browser window.

The overall layout of SiteMaker is extremely stylish, resembling the Mac OS X interface and is thus extremely easy to use. There are two views, basic or advanced. The latter does not really add very much in terms of design elements for experienced users, but does provide easier access to some options such as admin tools and member groups.

A free-floating Design editor in SiteMaker allows you to make changes to the various objects in the page, such as CSS-controlled fonts and colours, images, or the logo for your page. Making changes is as easy as dragging and dropping objects into place, or you can double-click to edit items.

The various elements of the SiteMaker page are uploaded and organised via a File Manager, and images are automatically optimised for the web whilst being uploaded if required. As well as the basic tools, there are useful administrator options such as site statistics, while the People menu allows you to set up groups and add members. These are used to control who will have access to certain areas of your site.

Depending on how much you pay, you can create either one free SiteMaker site with 20MB storage or an unlimited number with 1.5GB (SiteMaker Max), while the standard package includes at least one free domain name and e-commerce tools. As you'd expect, bandwidth also increases with the more expensive packages, up to 60GB per month.

Publication: PC Magazine

PC Advisor , February 2009

"Without a doubt,Sitemaker is the slickest of these online site builders [reviewed against Homestead, Lycos Tripod and Yahoo Geocities]. Its Flash based tool runs inside your browser, letting you edit your site in real time, moving elements from place to place as if they were icons on your desktop. There's also an impressive image and animation library, and a nifty jukebox tool lets you easily upload MP3's to your site."

Publication: PC Magazine

PC magazine, 20 April 2004

"SiteMaker is probably one of the best multi-purpose site-building tools - that is, suitable for business and personal use alike. Business will love the well-designed templates and eye-catching colours and Joe Average will enjoy the extra features, such as animations, MP3's and chat forums, which add professional flair to even basic sites. It's easy to get to grips with and, with a wealth of images on the library, you can get started immediately."

Publication: Internet Related Magazine

Webpages made easy, August 2004