Media Lab Inc. today announced the release of SiteGrinder 2 Basic and SiteGrinder 2 Pro, new versions of its genre-breaking website production plug-in for Adobe Photoshop.
For over a year the first version of SiteGrinder has been empowering web beginners and experts alike to convert Photoshop designs into sophisticated web pages in a single click via an unprecedented intuitive method of adding one-word hints, such as “button” or “menu”, to the names of layers in Photoshop. SiteGrinder 2, now divided into Basic and Pro versions, adds an enormous array of features which vastly increase the variety of web elements users can generate without ever leaving the familiar environment of Photoshop.
What SiteGrinder Does
All versions of SiteGrinder generate web pages with graphics, styled and even scrolling web text, rollover buttons, popups, and multi-level menus. Interactive elements can be constructed from graphics, text, or a mix of both, and function across multiple web pages that are automatically linked to one another. “The elegance of SiteGrinder’s basic idea – that naming Photoshop layers is a great way to indicate the intended functions of those layers – produces an unusual combination of both power and simplicity. Using SiteGrinder is a little like finally getting a TiVo after struggling with your VCR for ten years!” says Media Lab President Tom Summerall.
New Features of SiteGrinder 2 Basic and Pro
SiteGrinder 2 comes in two editions, Basic and Pro. SiteGrinder 2 Basic builds upon the the groundwork laid by SiteGrinder 1 and is faster, has better reporting, generates better CSS, as well as intelligently merging graphics for users automatically. “SiteGrinder 2 Basic stays true to the ideals of SiteGrinder 1 – making a standards compliant web site that has a high degree of fidelity to the original Photoshop file.” explains Media Lab CEO Chris Perkins “but SiteGrinder 2 Pro goes places Photoshop never could and we start to treat the Photoshop document more like a guide and less like a frozen picture. There are no form creation tools in Photoshop, but with SiteGrinder 2 Pro you can make forms easily by just typing into a text field and putting underscores where you want to collect information. SiteGrinder will build the form from that description. It’s amazing.”
SiteGrinder 2 Pro adds seven distinct new industry-leading features to SiteGrinder.
- image gallery creation
- animated Flash slideshow creation
- importing of external multimedia files such as Flash animation and video
- easy integration with external HTML files
- sophisticated support for background tiles and images
- easy creation of custom web forms including email forms
- vertically expanding pages that can expand to fit growing content
Amazing Image Galleries
SiteGrinder 1 attracted the interest of Photographers who were delighted to suddenly be capable of creating their own websites to display their portfolios. SiteGrinder 2 Pro aims a large number of its new features squarely at photographers to let them create galleries where they control the exact look and design. Thus, photographers can put their best (and very personal) foot forward, rather than being trapped by some canned template.
- One page design creates an entire gallery. SiteGrinder 2 Pro can generate an entire gallery of images from a single page design with just a few layers to indicate where images, thumbnails, and navigation buttons should appear.
- Thorough metadata support. SiteGrinder 2 Pro can exploit the information that digital cameras and Photographers place in jpeg files in a variety of ways. Styled metadata can appear anywhere on a page. Position and style are determined by standard Photoshop type layers.
- Automatic thumbnails and navigation. Most galleries use thumbnails, small versions of Photographs, to help users navigate to the right image. SiteGrinder 2 Pro has simple techniques to generate an infinite variety of thumbnail treatments. Most importantly, SiteGrinder 2 Pro automatically links thumbnails to allow them to navigate to full-size images. Thumbnails can even employ image metadata for additional customization.
Pricing and Availability
Mac OS X and Windows versions of the SiteGrinder unlockable demo are available now via download from https://www.medialab.com. Introductory pricing for the download version is US $249 for the Pro edition and $129 for Basic. . SiteGrinder 2 can be ordered from Media Lab’s online store at https://www.medialab.com/store or by phone at 800-282-5361. Visa, MasterCard and American Express are accepted. Volume discounts are available.
More Information
The SiteGrinder 2 homepage at https://www.medialab.com/sitegrinder
A complete feature list at https://www.medialab.com/sitegrinder/featureoverview.html
About Media Lab
Based in Longmont, Colorado, Media Lab Inc. has been bringing Photoshop designs to interactive life as Web pages and Macromedia Director & Flash movies for over a decade. Media Lab’s award-winning web-page design tool PhotoWebber has received numerous favorable reviews since it was introduced in April, 2000. The company’s multimedia design tools – PhotoCaster, PSD2FLA, and AlphaMania – have been used to create pioneering special effects seen at the EPCOT Center at Disney World in Florida, in numerous music videos and in motion pictures such as “X-Men 2”, “Spiderman 2”, “Air Force One”, and “Armageddon”. Media Lab can be reached via the web site at https://www.medialab.com, by email at pr***@******ab.com, by phone at 800-282-5361 or 303-546-7929.
This article was last modified on January 18, 2023
This article was first published on June 2, 2006
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