Xara Web Designer 7 web-design software

Although there are several cheap ways to make a website, they usually involve some kind of compromise.

Web-based services are often clunky, some use old-fashioned templates and those that only let you create Flash-based sites aren't Google-friendly.

By contrast, Xara Web Designer 7 delivers proper drag-and-drop web design that allows users to create pages as if they were knocking up a newsletter to print out and adds all the bits needed to link pages together and create menus.

It can add widgets to display external information such as Twitter feeds, Youtube videos, Google maps, photo galleries and more. Alternatively, for people who aren't graphically inclined, it includes 30 classy templates that you can fill with your own words by overtyping the supplied text and dragging and dropping your own photos onto the placeholder images.

When it comes to ease of use some programs talk the talk but Web Designer 7 actually comes up with the goods. It works in layers which means you can position objects (whether text boxes, graphics or photos) on top of each other to create visually interesting layouts and effects.

It can handle transparency, drop shadows and you can set photos, panels and other graphics to repel the text around them so there is always a neat fit between different objects.

Objects such as banners, navigation and graphic elements can be set to repeat from page to page, and there is a gallery of icons, badges, buttons, headings, text panels and more that automatically match the colour of your design.

There are two editions available: we are reviewing the cheaper standard one but existing users of Xara Web Designer 6 who want to broaden their horizons should look at the more expensive (£90) Web Designer 7 Premium instead.

This adds extras such as more freehand graphics tools and the ability to create simple Flash animations, more templates, animated page transitions and support for HTML 5 video, useful if you want to make a fully mobile-compatible site.

For newcomers to web design, on the other hand, Web Designer 7 includes the tools you need to create a good-looking, modern website.