SiteGrinder2 is a 3^rd party plug-in for Adobe Photoshop. I used it with version CS3. The literature touts the ability to build a web site exclusively in Photoshop without having to write code. Pretty lofty claim, but one I had been looking for, if it did as it said.

A little background. I've been a professional Photoshop user for about 10 years. I've intentionally stayed away from learning how to build a web site because I didn't want to learn CSS or HTML. To paraphrase Leonard McCoy, “Damn it Jim, I'm a designer, not a computer geek!” Learning that stuff looked like a pain the the posterior and I just plain didn't want to do it. Yet I wanted, and needed, a web site.

I don't have anything posted yet, but I must say Sitegrinder2 is the answer to my prayers. It lets me construct the look and feel of what I want and with a simple click, it "grinds" away, writes the code and pops out a functional web site already in a web browser ready to test. Amazing!

Sitegrinder2 works by including “hints” in the layer names. There is a bit of a learning curve, but the good folks at medialab included a handy-dandy “idiot” card containing a list of most of the hint names and what they do. Exactly what I needed since I am an HTML idiot. By paying careful attention to my layer names, I was able to construct a multipage website with a picture gallery, pop-up rollovers, and scrolling SELECTABLE text. Yes, unless you want Sitegrinder2 to turn your text into an un-selectable graphic, you can have it convert any text into selectable text. There are some things to watch out for, like using odd fonts that may not be widely available on all systems, but this is a great feature.

I was still skeptical, so I had a real computer code expert look at it. He opened up the guts of what Sitegrinder2 had built and was duly impressed. Apparently the CSS is elegant and compact without any of the extraneous mess that you would expect to find in a hand-coded page.

I had expected Sitegrinder2 to be some cookie-cutter plug-in with only a limited selection of templates to choose from. I was ready for my beautiful concept to come out looking like a PowerPoint slide. I am pleased to say I was very wrong.

To all my fellow HTML illiterate brethren longing to build a web site, Sitegrinder2 may just be what you are looking for. Enjoy!