Xara Software products are top knotch and easy to use. I own every one of their products and use them constantly. 5 of 5

Having known and used Xara's products for a couple of years now, I was more than honored to review their latest product, MenuMaker 1.1

Features
Screenshots
Examples
Prices

Xara has been a long time running when it comes to quick navigations and web creations. Their products and support is a constant reminder that creating an nitch in the internet world is as simple as counting 1-2-3-4. Why four? Upon reviewing Xara Menu Maker, I realized that it takes 4 simple steps to create a high-quality-java-scripted navigation bar using this software. Step 1: The startup. Simply, open the program. Step 2: Choose your style. Step 3: Set up your navigations. Step 4: Export/save. It was that easy. Ok..maybe not that simple, but pretty close. I only say this because there are a couple sub-steps. For example in Step 2 you have to create the style of your buttons that you want and then also select your color scheme and background.

One of the biggest issues many people have on using the internet or creating their online presence is not knowing how, or with limited knowledge. With the right software, it is easy for absolutely anybody. Xara's products assists you with this endeavor.

On doing a quick system check, Menu Maker was only taking up 18,624K of my processing memory. Menu Maker is designed for use with Windows 95/98/2000/Me/XP/NT 4.0 and requires a minimum of 64MB of space. Some features require IE 5.5 (Netscape 6) or later.

Xara Menu Maker runs on Windows 95/98/Me/XP and Windows NT 4.0/2000 only.

Menu Maker is based on Xara's Webstyle program, which was also reviewd by ComplxMinds and should appeal anybody who wants to create professional looking navigation. If you have Xara Webstyle 4, this program really doesn't offer much more. So don't go out and purchase both of them thinking you get twice the fun. If you are interested in just developing nav buttons/menus...the Menu Maker 1.1 is for you!

With various software products they have available, there is no excuse for not creating the website you want. Granted, the more dynamic sites you want, the more you need to pay or learn. What Xara offers is the bare minimum for websites. With easy navigation integration and immediate java scripting to allow for drop down menus, etc., Xara is an excellent choice for any "Webmaster".

Menu Maker is a dedicated tool for creating NavBars and menus
Its so clean and simple that anybody can use it
Creates dynamic NavBars and menus in just a few clicks
All necessary JavaScript and HTML is automatically created for you
Graphics are automatically optimized for the web to keep file sizes small
Seamless integration with Dreamweaver & FrontPage so you can add / edit
Maker NavBars from within these popular html editors by inserting from there

The Startup:

A full version copy of Menu Maker costs just US $19 for a download only version or US $29 for a CD version. You purchase online either via the purchase button on the trial version, or directly from the website www.xara.com. You can also purchase through regional resellers. Xara also offers discounts to owners of Xara's other products, as well as for multi-pack licenses for business and education.

Added Bonus: You can install your copy of Menu Maker onto as many computers as you want - as long as it is only you that uses it. Xara Limited reserves the right to withdraw this facility from anyone it suspects of abusing it.

Seen below is the initial startup image. As you can see, it is pretty simple as to what you want to choose for implementing your navbars.

Startup Window

The Style:

44 pages of templates

There are more than 300 NavBar templates which can be completely customized without any loss of quality and as you type, the buttons will expand based off your wording. This is especially beneficial because you do not lose quality and you don't have to manually resize an image or downsize your font to fit the image.

Choosing a Style

Besides the overall layout of your website, one of the most important things any web designer must do is provide the proper navigation. Not only in a graphical representation, but also in the navigation processes. Just remember, 3 strikes and you're out. This means that any customer / viewer should be able to find the page they are looking for within three clicks of their mouse button. Menu Maker 1.1 an additional 55 new NavBar templates with 23 designs in up to 4 variations each, most with both horizontal and vertical design layouts. This is an addition to the existing 250 customizable NavBar templates with features such as rollover states and DHTML menus. I really liked this because of the vastness of templates and editing features in Menu Maker, there isn't any reason why somebody shouldn't be able to find a high-quality style that meets the needs of your website. see more templates

Choosing a background

Menu Maker also comes with a large selection of backgrounds that you can have as part of your menu. You may select your background as being in .gif format to integrate into your already existing webpage colors or you can select a backdrop. These background textures are also customizable for coloring, emboss and depth shadowing. And if you don't like what Menu Maker already includes, you can select your own files.

Professionally-designed fully-customizable NavBar templates

The Color Editor:

Colors Menu

This color table editor is diverse enough to retrieve the exact colors that would best match your website's. This can be done through either using the eyedropper on the color board or by simply typing in the font color.

The Menu Editor:

Editing Menus

Editing Nav Menus

Menu Maker 1.1 comes with built in scripting functions that as you save your files, the navigations and roll-out menus are included in the script.

By going to the advanced features, you are also able to select animation functions for the roll-out menus, spacing and borders.

Create hierarchical DHTML menus

Final Checks:

Sizing Menu

Simply by using the sizing editor you can have your navigations size based off the words you list in your minu with the buttons sized off the largest word or by having all the buttons remain consistent with each individual word.