The idea behind FastTrak's Web To Date 2.0 is that, in using it, a completely inexperienced user can put a Web site together with little trouble. And that process encompasses the design, structuring and uploading of a site. It's hard not to see a market for it, as has been proven by its success on the continent.

Sadly, the program itself struggles to live up to expectations, although not in quite the way we were expecting. For it does, to its credit, stick to its word. A novice really can get their site together. It's just that it'll be restricted and the end result isn't likely to be too impressive. We'll come to that shortly.

At heart, it's very straightforward. The program doesn't so much hand-hold you through many of the technical parts of Web site creation, rather it shields you from them altogether, only really putting the site itself together when you instruct it to. And that does make it simple to input your text through a simple Word-esque window. Likewise, bringing in movies, images and sounds is a breeze.

The handling of links and sub-pages is also managed very well, with a couple of simple mouse clicks again the limit to the expertise you need. Web To Date 2.0 keeps track of missing links on your site at your behest, so you'll find out if something's amiss long before your site has gone live, and uploading, again, is a process that will be painless to virtually everybody.

Yet, as we've already implied, all this ease and user-friendliness comes with a hefty trade-off, which is that your page is going to be defined by what Web To Date 2.0 actually allows you to do. Granted, there are umpteen templates and designs that you can base your site on (some of which are surprisingly strong), but where the program falters is in letting you go your own way when you want to, denying you the flexibility to add precise and individual touches.

To much of its target market, though, this is likely to be a compromise they'll happily accept, and once you've got used to the menu system and the manner in which Web To Date 2.0 does its business, then this could prove a wise investment. If you have even the slightest knowledge of Web site creation already, though, and the acronym HTML doesn't bring you out in a cold sweat, then you'll more than likely find this far too basic for your requirements.

Worth considering for genuine, absolute beginners, but likely to prove too restrictive for those with even a slight knowledge of design and Web page creation.