 | Oct 7 2009 |
HANSJOERG I owe BannerZest Pro version 1.xx since June 2009. In September 2009 version 2 came out. Despite the good 3 months that I have owed this software, Aquafadas did not provide a free update but wants to charge $59 upgrade fee. Well, I think I should be considered a very good customer of Aquafadas products since I owe ALL Pro products and those products that don't have a pro counterpart version. In summary, Aquafadas service is absolutely disatisfactory and surely not honest in this sense. This is also proved by the fact that they ignore my complaint when I even suggested that I'd be willing to pay the upgrade price like the non-pro version.
(Version 2.0.1) | |
| [ 1 Reply - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Nov 12 2009 |
RADDLE I agree. This product was too expensive to start off with, has not been augmented with new themes at anything like the rate that was implied (the main reason I paid for the pro version), and now has a steep upgrade fee. The product is good at what it does, but I don't think the company is that great at making its customers feel valued.
(Version 2.0.4) | |
| Jul 12 2009 |
PEDRO FARDILHA Hummm... so strange. BannerZest, as the name implies, is targeted to those who need to, among other things, quickly do some banners. As a lazy person who only makes flash banners out of necessity, I was quite interested in this app, but the more I read about it the more it surprises me. How is it that BannerZest cannot support industry standards clickTAG or clickTARGET vars? Let's face it, most of us out there who have to do banners, will integrate it with some sort of ad server, yet we have this banner making app that simply doesn't work with ad servers... strange indeed. Pedro Fardilha
(Version 1.5) | |
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| Jun 29 2009 |
BUMBLEB $129 for the Pro version, and $49 for the Standard version. They must be nuts. I need to create three banners out of necessity. Wanted to try this, but the price puts me off. If I was a pro banner developer, the prices are fair enough, but then I'd use Flash CS4 anyway, to have more control. I think they would sell more licenses for this app, had the price been more reasonable. Who *loves* banners? Who *loves* to create them? They are, at least to me, just a necessary evil.
(Version 1.5) | |
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| Apr 12 2009 |
BOSSA-NOVA I haven't found out how to 1. Add audio to a slideshow for publishing it to a website; 2. Make the slideshow automatically load a specific URL at the end of it. Can someone help me?
(Version 1.4) | |
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 | Dec 9 2008 |
CHICKWRITER I design brochure-type websites and purchased BannerZest Pro to be able to add small flash bits to my sites. I'm pleased with it overall. Here's one of the sites I used BannerZest on and, combined with Google AdWords, this company has had been receiving some good sales leads after I added flash to the site: houstonsprayfoaminsulation.com. For one thing, not everyone loves flash-heavy sites, but I can add just a bit of zest without being overpowering with this application. For another, Adobe is just too expensive and the learning curve is too steep for me anyway. My only suggestion/complaint is that the I can't add html links into it.
(Version 1.2.6) | |
| [ 1 Reply - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Jan 8 2009 |
CHICKWRITER After complaining that I could not add html links in my review, I found out that I could under the Media tab.
(Version 1.3) | |
| Nov 3 2008 |
CHAOTICPIXEL Even though I have barely used this app, I can tell there is a lot of potential. Unfortunately, I am not going to be interested in it until I can get my hands on the SDK that I hear so much about. As a web developer, I need to be able to modify some of these themes, so they fit seamlessly into my websites. I cannot do that when all I can choose is bg color. I need to be able to select custom bg's. Here is where I am slightly let down. I have tried to contact the developer two times now (one through the website, and another direct email to sdk [at] aquafadas [dot] com) trying to get info about the SDK, but with no luck. This is my third time trying to get his attention. So, if you are out there, please let me know how to contact you, so I can get this ball rolling. Thanks and hope to hear from you soon. [Cerebrl]
(Version 1.2.6) | |
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| Jul 25 2008 |
JKT This is an absolutely fantastic app for what it does, but like IAMDORIAN, the price is a little steep for the current feature set. However, as long as aquafadas keep updating it for free for some more point updates, until the number of themes is higher and the current ones are further enhanced*, then it will change from being a little too pricey to being incredibly good value for money. If the theme SDK is ready, then we should also start to see some third party themes in the future, thus improving its appeal further. Iincidentally, it integrates incredibly well with RapidWeaver (especially in conjunction with the Yourhead Blocks plugin and the BlocksBox theme) and makes adding banners or slideshows to your sites exceptionally easy. On the negative side of things, I am also in agreement with IAMDORIAN about the restricted size of the media pane of the info palette, which is not so good. Also, the fact that the app quits whenever you close your banner is another annoyance at the moment. Aquafadas have added these to their database of feature enhancements, so hopefully they will address these shortcomings at some point. Summary: this has good potential to be a 5++ star app, but at the moment, the price and the few GUI annoyances limit it to being a 4 star app. * The 1.2 update adds one of my requests to the cover flow theme - the ability to adjust the spacing of the media in the flow - so I am very happy with that.
(Version 1.2) | |
| [ 1 Reply - Reply ] | |
Replies:
 | Sep 11 2008 |
Thanks for the comments. Here are a few answers: - yes we will keep adding more sweet stuff for free as we've done in the past for BannerZest and for all our products (PulpMotion has seen tons of new themes since it was first released). We just added a very nice new theme today to BannerZest. - we are aware of these window size issues and will come up with something more flexible and that does take advantage of the available screen real- estate. - application does not quit anymore when you close a banner. So this is one annoyance less in yoru list ;-) - BannerZest SDK is ready. Feel free to contact us to get your hand on it.
(Version 1.2.5) | |
| Jul 25 2008 |
IAMDORIAN Pros: Continually being updated. Recently (v1.2) added new themes. We need a lot more (50 nice ones is a good goal), but these are generally solid and mostly tastefully done. Cons: A few problems in the new themes, however. It seems that "Sticker" cannot handle large images, and at least one theme basically just looped when asked to handle 35 images+. Cropping/resizing, although nicely implemented is still clumsy. We need numeric entry (at minimum) in order to fine tune positions and sizes. The Inspector settings window is fine small (where one is simply choosing parameters), but some windows - like the media selection and cropping windows - do need a lot more flexibility. After all, why did I buy this 30" monitor, and 16 Gb of RAM, so I could futz around in a 200 px x 400 px window?? I could do that on a Mac SE! Overall a bit too pricey (especially the pro version) I suppose, but I bought it anyway. Developers do need to eat, but not steak and lobster! Overall, a nice package. Keep up the quality Mac programming.
(Version 1.2) | |
| [ 3 Replies - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Jul 25 2008 |
AQUAFADAS_DEV Thanks for the very useful comments. We will address the problems reported asap. Regarding the number of themes: we released a SDK for Flash developers that let them add new themes to BannerZest. Whoever wants it should get in touch with us (sdk 'at' aquafadas 'dot' com) Regarding window sizes. We will look at this. However, when cropping the media, we deliberatly set the scale factor to 1:1 to ensure that you see the media at the same size as it will have in the banner. This explains the small image sizes in edit mode. Regarding the theme that has problems with 35+ images, please send us some additonal info if you can (support 'at' aquafadas 'dot' com)
(Version 1.2) | |
 | Jul 25 2008 |
IAMDORIAN My earlier report - about a larger number of image files choking one of the "themes" - appears premature. I got a folder (from iPhoto, not dragged and dropped . . . perhaps the issue) with 99 images (mostly small in size) to run fine. I will add that when you've got this many images in the que, BannerZestPro really slows a system down (2GHz iMac - White case). However, considering the fact that it does seem to handle such large numbers, and still runs its dynamic previews, kudos to the developers. One of my only gripes still remains window size limitations. This is especially true for the "Your Images" selection window. This should have the option to drag it out to show the entire collection or folder of images. Limiting image sizes to thumbnails would be OK. However, being limited here to dragging the slider down to preview all one's content is enough to raise blood pressure. Overall, great program, and a truly elegant way for non-programmers to work with "flash" banners. (HINT: Adobe "flash" developers might just learn a little from this application?)
(Version 1.2) | |
| Jul 27 2008 |
The media chooser ("Your images") will soon get the ability to resize... Thanks for raising this specific problem. | |
| Apr 24 2008 |
ARGENA Making flash banner for this price is not so expensive if you considere that without BZ, you need to buy Flash, learn the way it works and that is really much more expensive. According to me, BZ save me a lot of time. I can add to my website some very cool flash banner without spending hours to work! So for a such a good product, the price is just fine.
(Version 1.0.3) | |
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| Apr 23 2008 |
RADDLE I bought the Pro version, and am using it happily - it works well and fills a gap in the market for user-friendly animations of this type, though there's a few niggling interface issues to be worked out. I went Pro because I wanted to be able to attach URLs, and also in anticipation of a wider array of themes in this version, as implied on the website. Actually, there's just two more. The developers promise this will be augmented in further releases, but it does make this version feel outlandishly expensive. On the upside, a weird problem I had - and which turned out to be an issue with the Flash security procedures - was resolved by quick and patient responses from the developers. So if you want what this does, it does it, and the company itself is responsive. But yes, the Pro version is simply *way* too expensive - unless new themes and features start coming on thick and fast.
(Version 1.0.3) | |
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| Apr 15 2008 |
EXEGETEJR I downloaded the trial pro version and really liked its functionality and ease of use, not to mention the built-in themes which are also nicely done! (not unexpected given their nicely done PulpMotion!) Unfortunately the price tag of $129 for the pro version is, as others have commented, simply too much. I use iWeb but have to use other programs to implement flash galleries... I'd like to use BannerZest, but alas, TOO much $.
(Version 1.0.2) | |
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| Apr 4 2008 |
ESPIRIDION I agree with Frodo_Life. Even the upgrade is quite expensive at $89. I like Aquafadas and their products, but this is too expensive IMO.
(Version 1.0) | |
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| Feb 9 2008 |
TRY Daniel East from MacsimumNews "This application is not just easy, itÂ’s fun. Trying themes and layouts is fast and making it work is really easy. A favorite feature is that your final export function also opens your browser to provide you with the copy/paste code you need to post your creation. " Macsimum Rating: 10 out of 10
(Version 1.0b11) | |
| [ 2 Replies - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Feb 9 2008 |
TRY By the way, since your reading the BannerZest comments, there is a bug in the Developer Profile edition. I don't seem to be able to change my profile name to Aquafadas. any thoughts?
(Version 1.0b11) | |
| Feb 9 2008 |
MACUPDATE ADMIN Please contact macupdate@macupdate.com for assistance.
(Version 1.0b11) | |
| Jan 28 2008 |
FRODO_LIFE Banner Zest is a good software however the price is ridiculous $129 for the pro version is close to extortion. Excellent Software like Rapid Weaver cost $49.95 and I would say is far more complex to program. If the software would have reasonable price around $59 for the pro version I would buy but again $129 is ridicules.
(Version 1.0b9) | |
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