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Artisteer vs. Headway

by melanieshereen
13 replies
Hi,

I am in the process of trying to work with a free WP theme and for a simple site it is taking so much time.

If I had the resources to purchase a tool to help me make this process easier, especially if I want to create multiple sites, which one of these is the best investment in the long run?

A friend of mine swears by Headway, but says it doesn't give you ideas and suggestions like Artisteer does. I have the free trial and I love that you can just pick and choose.

Also, if I actually figure out how to do this right, I may want to offer site-building services to offline local businesses.

I'd love your feedback.

Thanks,
Melanie
#artisteer #headway
  • Profile picture of the author christopher jon
    Also, if I actually figure out how to do this right, I may want to offer site-building services to offline local businesses.
    If you really want to do this, do what the smart kids do. Join woo themes, elegant themes of hit up themeforest and buy something of quality. Better yet, learn how to write your own themes. Artisteer is junk in a box.
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  • Profile picture of the author PatriciaJ
    I got Headway a few months ago and found it hard to learn so I shelved it until I had a bit more time. Tried it again 3 weeks ago and was really disappointed with it because there was no variety and I was pointed in the direction of their marketplace where there is a handful of not all that themes to buy that you can modify. I then found a link on the forum to their upgrade which is in beta. Now that is something else!

    Lots more variety that you can use to produce different looking blogs and once I had more time I found it quite easy to use. I've nearly finished making over 2 of my blogs with it and am quite pleased with them but I still have a long way to go before I can think of selling them.

    I tried the Artisteer free trial a bit back, but I went for Headway because I thought that with it I would produce more unique looking blogs though I think that Artisteer would probably be easier to use.
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  • Profile picture of the author Christophe Young
    I recently used Artisteer to build my site and I loved the results!

    You can make almost ANY kind of site with it. I found a template and changed it around to suit the look I was going for and it turned out good.

    Haven't tried headway, but I was quite happy with Artisteer.
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  • Profile picture of the author dfarwig61
    I also purchased Artisteer and found it very good to work with.
    I especially liked the point and click feature finders.
    I am very happy with the latest site that I just built
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  • Profile picture of the author cypherslock
    Another vote here for Artisteer. Easy to work with, excellent results. They are coming out with v3 in November sometime. I will also recommend flexsqueeze.
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    • Profile picture of the author melanieshereen
      Thanks for all your responses!

      I think ease of use is the most important thing for me right now.

      It sounds like Artisteer is pretty straightforward and easy to learn.

      I actually did buy a year subscription to Elegant themes and I love the professional look of those sites. But I am overwhelmed already by having to learn how to customize them.

      I think for some people the visual editor is key. I can see exactly how it's going to be as I am working.
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    • Profile picture of the author adi2010
      Originally Posted by cypherslock View Post

      Another vote here for Artisteer. Easy to work with, excellent results. They are coming out with v3 in November sometime. I will also recommend flexsqueeze.
      I had Artisteer trial and found very good. However, you need really to know .PHP to tweak this further. I`m not PHP savvy so I deleted. I also check their forums and found too many problems people have. Artisteer cannot be edited in DW either. It is aimed to build your very basic template and then it is up to you. I found FlexSqueeze Themes very good. In WP admin area you can change whatever you want. Developer of FS told me that his themes can do more than Artisteer. I think you should download free Flexibility Theme 3 and play with it. If you like it then buy FlexSqueeze page. Another good thing is that you don`t need to have developer`s link on the bottom as all WooThemes.
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  • Profile picture of the author salegurus
    I switch between Xsitepro and Headway, depending on the project.
    I am very happy with both.
    I have not used Artisteer but heard some good comments about it.

    @ PatriciaJ
    Whenever i get stuck with headway i just head over to the forum, you will find most of your questions answered there. Also they recommend some sites dedicated to headway tuts and tips.
    Cheers
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    • Profile picture of the author TinkBD
      I like Artisteer - I have the Home edition.

      I invested in the Templateer addon and I am finding that combo absolutely wonderful. I am currently sitting on Artisteer 2.4.

      I have DLed Artisteer2.5 and its companion version of Templateer recently. I plan to install the newer version shortly and will experiment.

      At the moment though, I am very happy with the Artisteer 2.4 + Templateer combo.

      I don't bother with the suggestion feature. I have a couple of templates that I developed and I just start with one of them ;-)

      Tink
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  • Profile picture of the author terrapurus
    I have Atisteer and it is useful for some basic layouts. But if you have some coding ability, learn the WP codex (took me an afternoon to understand the loop and how it calls php and I am not a coder) and modify the twentyten theme to suit your purpose. Or find a free theme and edit it to suit your needs.

    Use this until you have some decent traffic to the site and it proves it converts and then outsource for a hot theme from a skilled developer.
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  • Profile picture of the author enrikm
    Artisteer user here.

    Overall it's quite good however you will really need to have some development background if you want to take it to the next level. Yes you can generate personalized themes but you might be limited in terms of the structure and all.

    Having said that though, even with any other themes like Headway, Thesis, and FlexSqueeze, an expert can really tell if a website is created using a particular theme since variations are pretty much minimal if you don't perform any code revisions with it.
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