For some crazy reason, our visitors never seemed to like the new website. Sales would invariably halt in their tracks as soon as the new site was rolled out. So we've gone back to the old one and started again. (sigh)It's been several months and we have yet ANOTHER website just about ready to roll out. We're crossing our fingers, knocking on wood, wishing on stars, and saying prayers to the powers that be that this new website will be a winner!
All we have missing is the slider!
I've purchased several different slider programs in hopes of finding something that would work, but to no avail. So when I was offered a free trial of WebAnimator Plus, I snatched it up. This had all the elements of the PERFECT little program for idiots like me who don't have the ability and/or inclination to learn Javascript. This program has the functionality of being able to make full-on animation, even small videos, sliders, slide shows, presentations, and everything in between.
Because I'm not quite as tech-savvy as I used to be, I wasn't able to create my slider on the fly. It took watching their first (they have several) video tutorial to nudge me in the right direction. But once I had the basics down, it was all a matter of a little trial and error. By the time I was done, I had a slider with eight of my mystery games, pics, and short descriptions ready to go.
The tutorials show you how to make animations, how to rotate 2 dimensional objects and all sorts of things I never imagined I'd be able to do.
By the time I was done making my first slider, I had 5 other uses for this program already planned out. However, this is where things went downhill and the finished product looked pretty darned amazing, if I do say so myself.
HOWEVER...that's when things began to fall apart. The whole simplicity of this program was the ability to be able to cut and past a little code into your website and onto your server and viola! Instant animation. I followed the instructions, downloaded the files and crossed my fingers. Nothing.
I repeated the process again, thinking maybe I'd missed a comment or a bracket, or mis-labelled a file. Still a no-go. I went onto Web Animator's help desk and found 3 boards in 3 different languages. Pretty cool. Except the English language board had lots of questions posted, but no answers. Plus, there had been no activity by ANYONE in more than a month. So I e-mailed my contact (I was, after all testing a product in exchange for a review, right?) and told them of my problem then asked for help. No response. I waited a week, e-mailed again, and no response.
Hmm.
Summary: Web Animator is a pretty stinking cool program. I was able to create my animation quickly and easily. I have no doubt that I am probably missing one small step that keeps me from downloading my program onto the website. However, it could be the coolest animation in the world, promising to make me billions of dollars and still be absolutely worthless if I cannot get the public to see the finished product. I cannot endorse a product that I don't honestly believe has any decent customer service in place.
If you feel you are computer savvy and don't need help from the manufacturer, then by all means go for it! But if you're a normal consumer who occasionally needs tech support, then buyer beware.
For this reason, my overall grade of this product is a C-
*Please note: I received a 14-day sample of this product in exchange for an honest and unbiased review of this product, with the promise of the complete version should I complete my blog in a timely manner. However, because I was out of town, I did NOT complete my review in a timely manner and I will NOT get a full product download. Regardless, I stand by my review. This is a product I'll be using whether I get it for free or have to pay full price for it.
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