NetObjects Fusion 11 review

One good test of a truly user friendly application is how far you can get on your own, without using one of those old fashioned manuals.

And in the case of the latest version of NetObjects Fusion (11, if you're keeping count), the answer is not terribly far. That isn't because it's the kind of monolithic site creation program that's so hideously complex it sends you fleeing for the comfort of a simplified online service (such as Mr Site) or the refinement of a serious technical tool (Dreamweaver). No, it's because Fusion is an awkward little begger that likes to do everything its own sweet way.

This feeling persists from when you start defining your site, via the hierarchical site map, through to when you're placing components on pages. And, unsurprisingly, it rather spoils things, making it harder than it should be to create a website efficiently.

Feast or famine

In principle, it can't be denied that NetObjects offers a veritable smorgasbord of digital delights, from new support for semantic standards-compliant code to integration of RSS feeds, Ajax components and database connectivity. Unfortunately, a lot of the feast is undercooked. Take, for example, Flash galleries. Setting one up takes minutes and is practically idiot-proof, but the results still feel clunky and cheap.

Elsewhere, it's a similar story. The templates are awkward and unwieldy, and although you can bend Fusion to your will to a certain extent and create something borderline compliant and modern, it's more effort than it's worth. If you just give in and let the application do its own thing, you'll have an easier time of it, but the code that makes up your site will look, to any web professional, like the cat dragged it in from 1998.

Site for sore eyes

There are areas where NetObjects is more successful. Although portions of the interface look like a reject from the Microsoft Office version of Pop Idol, the level of flexibility is first rate. You can drag palettes around, pin important ones where you can get at them, and stash others at the screen edges as expandable tabs. The sheer number of palettes might overwhelm beginners, but an alternative 'basic' workspace is available, and you can save your own workspace configurations.

Similarly impressive, bar a few cosmetic niggles, is the Site view, which presents a map displaying your website's structure in an obvious and straightforward manner. The management functions enable you to protect a page, locking it from moves, deletion and edits, which is useful to avoid accidents.

If you're willing to put in a fair amount of time, effort and patience, you can get decent results out of NetObjects, as the netobjects.co.uk website shows. The question is whether it's worth doing so, and, frankly, we're not convinced. Although Fusion has its good points, it's starting to feel long in the tooth, and some of the attempts to modernise feel bolted on and haphazard. The developers are obviously aware of high-end tools like Dreamweaver and Expression Web, but also want to appeal to users at the novice end of the scale.

The overall result is that Fusion doesn't quite suit any type of user. Beginners won't need features like the database functionality, and will find the application tough to get into; old hands will feel short-changed by the publishing model, the lack of access to underlying code, and the ropey code output. It's impossible to dismiss NetObjects Fusion 11 as a bad application, but we struggle to see who would find it really floated their boat.