To some people this will be a statement of the obvious, but... graphic design of Web pages is not as easy as it looks. Getting the right balance between download speed, aesthetically pleasing design and functionality is very tricky. Some sites get it wrong by over-doing the graphics, others take the easy route and keep graphical content to a minimum (IT Reviews is in this category), while a few - very few indeed - manage to get it just right.

If you're not a whizz with Photoshop or one of the other, advanced graphics packages, then something like Webstyle might be suitable for you. It's a tool that lets you add your own text to a wide variety of pre-designed images and Web page 'themes', so that you end up with a site that looks as though it was created by a professional graphic designer. We reviewed an earlier version of this software here. Version 3 is basically similar, but it has some new features that make it worth a look.

Arguably the most important of these is the inclusion of additional themes and graphical elements. We noted in the previous review that Webstyle 2 lacked 'corporate' themes, and although that's still the case to a certain extent, some of the new additions are more restrained and suitable for business Web sites. Some of the sample pages, in fact, look as professional as anything you'll find on the Web.

The range of graphical elements that you can produce using Webstyle 3 is pretty comprehensive - headings, sub-headings, button bars, individual buttons, banner advertisements, bullets, dividers, logos, backgrounds, textures and 3D headings. The latter are quite interesting, but a little over the top for anything other than a personal home page.

New in Webstyle 3 is the ability to edit photos (although if you already have your own photo editor there's not much here that's revolutionary), plus a thumbnail creation tool that includes any necessary Javascript and HTML code. This is true for the button bar creation feature as well - all the mouseover Javascript/DHTML code is supplied so you can just plug it into your page. This level of convenience is present throughout the package.

Xara Webstyle 3 represents an evolutionary development from Webstyle 2. The inclusion of new graphical elements and themes is welcome, and the package is now more suitable for use by small to medium-sized businesses. It remains exceptionally easy to use and the quality of the finished output is high. You'll still need some graphical awareness if you want to get the best out of it, but it makes designing new Web sites a much easier task.