Mac Web Design Software Review

If you’re a Mac user, you likely already value user-friendly, intuitive and easy-to-use applications. Macs are known for these characteristics. The best Mac web design software is no different. Regardless of your knowledge of design or your fluency in HTML or other coding languages, you can create something to be proud of. Perhaps you’re looking to show off your vacation pictures or make a family blog. Maybe you want to create a web presence for your small business. Whatever the reason, with a little investment you can create your own custom website. Here you’ll find articles on Mac web design software that will get you started.

Mac Web Design Software: What to Look For

For our purposes, we looked at software that is designed primarily for the average Mac user rather than the professional designer. Users for this software should be quite comfortable using Mac computers in general, but the software tends to do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to design. We considered things like:

Features
Especially if you’re not a professional designer, you’ll want your software to come with a variety of templates to get you started. You should expect your software to at least provide WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) text editing. The best ones allow WYSIWYG editing of a whole web page at once. You should also expect to easily create links, add audio and video files and import photos. Many are specifically designed to work with your iPhoto and iMovie applications, too. Additionally, although the products highlighted here are geared toward amateur designers, some will allow you to view, and usually edit, the HTML coding behind the design.

Most of the applications we reviewed support popular hosting methods; some even offer discounts with affiliate hosting services. Our top-rated applications also coordinate with your Google Analytics account to help you track users and optimize your site to be found by search engines. Some software developers also offer third-party add-ons to increase the functionality of your website even further.

Ease of Use
Ease of use is really one of the most important things to consider when choosing Mac web design software. All the features and tools in the world won't matter if they cannot be easily used. Truthfully, “easy to use” can mean different things for different users. An experienced designer might find one program straightforward and easy to understand, while someone new to designing with computers might prefer different features and tools. For example, the menus and tools in Freeway Express might seem second nature to someone familiar with InDesign or other print layout software, but they might be less intuitive to a user not experienced in similar programs. It’s important that you know your own skill and comfort level and that you take that into consideration when choosing which software you'll use to design your website. For this category, we considered whether the software’s features and tools are intuitive for a user who is not necessarily a professional designer. Of course, good help and support tools aid the ease of use for most programs, but you don’t want to be constantly referring to the user's manual for simple tasks.

Help & Support
Superior design software will have superior support tools, including video tutorials, user's manuals, FAQs, user forums and searchable help databases. For our top Mac web design software choices, help tools are conveniently available online. The available help and support for your software can make the difference between your creating a stellar website and giving up in total frustration.

Our top three picks for outstanding web design software vary in available features and ease of use. Check out reviews of our top three—Sandvox, RapidWeaver and Freeway Express—to help you decide which Mac web design software is right for you. At TopTenREVIEWS We Do the Research So You Don’t Have To.™