SoThink Software Review

My Experience

Sothink has a well laid out interface. It is a lot like Ultra Menu with it’s familiar menu tree for building the menu and two other windows for adding design properties. What makes Sothink different from Ultra menu is the amount of features that it offers. I was again very impressed with the user friendliness of the interface although with so many more features it will take you a little longer to figure out all the things Sothink can do. The extra features are well worth the extra time.

With Sothink you have the ability to move each window and place it where ever you like. This is a great feature as it allows you to have your menu window all the way across the top or along one side. This way if your building a vertical or horizontal menu you can see the entire menu without having to scroll. Unlike most programs Sothink has two toolbars instead of one. One is on the top below the file menu and one along the left side. The two tool bars are needed because this software gives you a few more menu building features than you would normally find like being able to append the menus and a few selection tools. The extras were real nice for speeding up the menu building process. The top tool bar also containes buttons for publishing, generating site maps and generating search engine friendly code to name a few. See the full features list below.

Adding the design properties to my menu was easy to do as this program has some very easy to understand and well organized design boxes. If you do have any questions there is a detailed, in depth tutorial under the help tab. Ok, I got my menu done. Now it was time to publish it to my web page.

NOTE: The process of getting your menu onto your website can be confusing and complicated if you don’t at least have a basic understanding of how folders and directory structures work not only on your local computer but also on your remote server.

That being said, Sothink does a good job of simplifying the process. The publishing tutorial is very detailed. Just make sure you follow every step exactly. The first time I ran through it I missed one thing and it didn’t publish. I normally like to put the menu files in their own folder and call it from that folder. Sothink will not let you do that so when I tried doing it that way it didn’t work. I went back and reread and saw that I missed the part that said to put the resource files into the same folder as the root site. Once I did that it worked fine.

I didn’t have the need to email tech support with any questions so I sent a handful of dummy questions to see how prompt and reliable their support was. Every question was answered in 24 hours or less. Most within the same day. Anything within 24 hours is acceptable in my opinion.

Weak Points

- Not able to put source files in a separate folder when publishing

- Limited amount of premade templates

Strong Points

- Well laid out interface

- Very user friendly

- Many good features

- Good tutorial

Summary

Sothink has a very nice interface and is very easy to get around and understand. It has a lot of nice design features also, just not as many as AllWebMenus. It also has a lot of nice power user features not directly related to the design of the menu such as a search engine friendly code maker and the ability to have data base driven menus. Their web site states that it is the most popular JavaScript drop down menu maker currently found on the web. I can understand why as it has many features packed into a very user friendly interface. I just wasn’t that impressed with the amount of design and property features Sothink had, especially for the price. By that I mean the features that relate directly to how the menu will look and how it will behave. They also didn’t offer a big selection of premade templates and the ones they did offer were a bit generic. I think Sothink is going to have to step things up a bit to stay competitive at their price range and hold onto their most popular title especially with AllWebMenus knocking at their door.

This review was for the Pro version of Sothink and not the lite version because there are just too many important features not included in the lite version and for $30 more it is worth the extra cost as the pro version also lets you use it on as many sites as you like. Check out the pro versus lite comparison chart on their website.

Software Features

Click on tabs to compare features

  • All Web
  • SoThink
  • Ultra Menu
  • Xtreem

All Web Menu Maker

$59.95
Features

  • cross-browser compatibilityDHTML Menu Studio menus will work with all popuplar browsers: Internet Explorer 6+, Netscape 6+, Opera 7+, Mozilla 1+, Safari, Firefox on all popular platforms: Windows, Unix, MacOS.

  • no need to spend tons of money on your menus You can create as many DHTML menus, for as many web sites as you like, when you purchase a single license of the program

  • XHTML 1.1 compatible code The output code generated by the program is compatible with the XHTML 1.1 standard.

  • integration with FrontPage, DreamWeaver, Adobe GoLive and NetObjects Fusion The program also comes in form of plugins for FrontPage, Dreamweaver, and GoLive (the stand-alone version of DMS also comes with a NetObjects Fusion plugin). This makes inserting menus into websites created with these applications as easy as it gets, making DHTML Menu Studio a perfect solution for beginners.

  • dynamic creation of menus with server-side script code (pro version only) Now you can insert items into the menu dynamically, from a server-side script such as ASP, PHP or ColdFusion. This is very useful if you want the menu to reflect a structure stored in a database or enable/disable items based on user's permissions. (pro only)

  • very small size of the generated JavaScript code The program creates different JavaScript files for different browsers, so that with any single browser only the necessary code will be loaded. The JavaScript code is highly optimized using an internal optimizer to further increase loading time. On top of this, the program generates only as much code as necessary -- all the functionality not selected in the options (e.g. certain effects) will not result in unnecessary code being generated. The size of the output code is usually around 12KB (depending on the selected features and target browser the size is guaranteed to be between 8KB and 21KB)

  • use cool bitmap backgrounds and even rare fonts You can use image-based backgrounds for the menu (also with roll-over effect), coming up with amazing results (the program comes with tons of such bitmap schemes created by professional artists). Since the top level menu bar items can be created in form of images, you can choose the coolest fonts and be sure that your visitors will see them the same way. You can even choose to anti-alias the top-level menu texts for an even nicer result.

  • cool javascript effects You can apply a number of visual effects to the menu (such as partial transparency, fading, roll-over, shadow, glow effect, or keeping the menu on top of the browser page at all times).

  • hundreds of predefined menu schemes come with the program Even though you can easily create your own designs, why not choose from tons of existing designs (most are bitmap-based schemes designed by professional artists) which you can also customize any way you want.

  • XML import/export The menu structure can be imported/exported in XML format.

  • search-engine friendly code There's an option that you can switch on in order to make your menus search engine friendly. In such case the whole structure (all links) can be found by search engines such as Google.

  • frameset integration Menus can be easily integrated into your existing frame-based or frameless site design. It's up to you to decide in which frame / window the menu item links will open and in which frame the popups will appear.

  • great performance with large menus Menus are built on demand so the loading time is kept as short as possible. Also, the output script is compressed to ensure fast loading time. If image-based menus are created, the images are pre-loaded to ensure smooth roll-over effects. On top of this, the user can scroll between popup menu items if a popup menu with lots of itemsdoesn't fit on the screen.

  • adding multiple menus to a single webpage You can easily include any number of horizontal / vertical DHTML drop down menus into a single web page or multiple web pages.

  • synchronization with current URL You can now have the menu track the currently visited page (it's highlighted in the menu) -- this works also for frame-based configurations.

  • integration with existing website created with any program The program can optionally create PHP / ASP / SSI / JSP / FrontPage / ColdFusion includes or use a DreamWeaver template so you can easily embed the menu into an existing website (on one or multiple pages) -- even if your web site is frame-based, you can visually click on the frames where specific menu parts will be displayed. The built-in assistant will help you go through this process.

  • customize the DHTML menu to the smallest detail Tons of options presented in a clearly categorized tree view can be used to choose every possible aspect of the menu, from with the graphical appearance and effects, to integration method with existing website and desired functionality.

  • integrated FTP upload You can have the program upload the output files automatically to an FTP server or to a local / network disk.

  • color matching You can easily match the menu colors with the color scheme of your website. If using image-based menus, you can modify the image coloring (e.g. changing a reddish scheme into a bluish one) by changing the hue/saturation/luminance settings. If not using image-based menus, you can also choose different colors for different popups creating a very nice visual effect.

  • informative and clear user interface At every moment you can preview and test the menu by using the preview window. The menu structure is also built in a visual way, just as the final menu will look.

SoThink DHTML Menu 8

$65.00
Features

  • cross-browser compatibilityDHTML Menu Studio menus will work with all popuplar browsers: Internet Explorer 6+, Netscape 6+, Opera 7+, Mozilla 1+, Safari, Firefox on all popular platforms: Windows, Unix, MacOS.

  • no need to spend tons of money on your menus You can create as many DHTML menus, for as many web sites as you like, when you purchase a single license of the program

  • XHTML 1.1 compatible code The output code generated by the program is compatible with the XHTML 1.1 standard.

  • integration with FrontPage, DreamWeaver, Adobe GoLive and NetObjects Fusion The program also comes in form of plugins for FrontPage, Dreamweaver, and GoLive (the stand-alone version of DMS also comes with a NetObjects Fusion plugin). This makes inserting menus into websites created with these applications as easy as it gets, making DHTML Menu Studio a perfect solution for beginners.

  • dynamic creation of menus with server-side script code (pro version only) Now you can insert items into the menu dynamically, from a server-side script such as ASP, PHP or ColdFusion. This is very useful if you want the menu to reflect a structure stored in a database or enable/disable items based on user's permissions. (pro only)

  • very small size of the generated JavaScript code The program creates different JavaScript files for different browsers, so that with any single browser only the necessary code will be loaded. The JavaScript code is highly optimized using an internal optimizer to further increase loading time. On top of this, the program generates only as much code as necessary -- all the functionality not selected in the options (e.g. certain effects) will not result in unnecessary code being generated. The size of the output code is usually around 12KB (depending on the selected features and target browser the size is guaranteed to be between 8KB and 21KB)

  • use cool bitmap backgrounds and even rare fonts You can use image-based backgrounds for the menu (also with roll-over effect), coming up with amazing results (the program comes with tons of such bitmap schemes created by professional artists). Since the top level menu bar items can be created in form of images, you can choose the coolest fonts and be sure that your visitors will see them the same way. You can even choose to anti-alias the top-level menu texts for an even nicer result.

  • cool javascript effects You can apply a number of visual effects to the menu (such as partial transparency, fading, roll-over, shadow, glow effect, or keeping the menu on top of the browser page at all times).

  • hundreds of predefined menu schemes come with the program Even though you can easily create your own designs, why not choose from tons of existing designs (most are bitmap-based schemes designed by professional artists) which you can also customize any way you want.

  • XML import/export The menu structure can be imported/exported in XML format.

  • search-engine friendly code There's an option that you can switch on in order to make your menus search engine friendly. In such case the whole structure (all links) can be found by search engines such as Google.

  • frameset integration Menus can be easily integrated into your existing frame-based or frameless site design. It's up to you to decide in which frame / window the menu item links will open and in which frame the popups will appear.

  • great performance with large menus Menus are built on demand so the loading time is kept as short as possible. Also, the output script is compressed to ensure fast loading time. If image-based menus are created, the images are pre-loaded to ensure smooth roll-over effects. On top of this, the user can scroll between popup menu items if a popup menu with lots of itemsdoesn't fit on the screen.

  • adding multiple menus to a single webpage You can easily include any number of horizontal / vertical DHTML drop down menus into a single web page or multiple web pages.

  • synchronization with current URL You can now have the menu track the currently visited page (it's highlighted in the menu) -- this works also for frame-based configurations.

  • integration with existing website created with any program The program can optionally create PHP / ASP / SSI / JSP / FrontPage / ColdFusion includes or use a DreamWeaver template so you can easily embed the menu into an existing website (on one or multiple pages) -- even if your web site is frame-based, you can visually click on the frames where specific menu parts will be displayed. The built-in assistant will help you go through this process.

  • customize the DHTML menu to the smallest detail Tons of options presented in a clearly categorized tree view can be used to choose every possible aspect of the menu, from with the graphical appearance and effects, to integration method with existing website and desired functionality.

  • integrated FTP upload You can have the program upload the output files automatically to an FTP server or to a local / network disk.

  • color matching You can easily match the menu colors with the color scheme of your website. If using image-based menus, you can modify the image coloring (e.g. changing a reddish scheme into a bluish one) by changing the hue/saturation/luminance settings. If not using image-based menus, you can also choose different colors for different popups creating a very nice visual effect.

  • informative and clear user interface At every moment you can preview and test the menu by using the preview window. The menu structure is also built in a visual way, just as the final menu will look.

Ultra Menu Maker

$39.95
Features

  • cross-browser compatibilityDHTML Menu Studio menus will work with all popuplar browsers: Internet Explorer 6+, Netscape 6+, Opera 7+, Mozilla 1+, Safari, Firefox on all popular platforms: Windows, Unix, MacOS.

  • no need to spend tons of money on your menus You can create as many DHTML menus, for as many web sites as you like, when you purchase a single license of the program

  • XHTML 1.1 compatible code The output code generated by the program is compatible with the XHTML 1.1 standard.

  • integration with FrontPage, DreamWeaver, Adobe GoLive and NetObjects Fusion The program also comes in form of plugins for FrontPage, Dreamweaver, and GoLive (the stand-alone version of DMS also comes with a NetObjects Fusion plugin). This makes inserting menus into websites created with these applications as easy as it gets, making DHTML Menu Studio a perfect solution for beginners.

  • dynamic creation of menus with server-side script code (pro version only) Now you can insert items into the menu dynamically, from a server-side script such as ASP, PHP or ColdFusion. This is very useful if you want the menu to reflect a structure stored in a database or enable/disable items based on user's permissions. (pro only)

  • very small size of the generated JavaScript code The program creates different JavaScript files for different browsers, so that with any single browser only the necessary code will be loaded. The JavaScript code is highly optimized using an internal optimizer to further increase loading time. On top of this, the program generates only as much code as necessary -- all the functionality not selected in the options (e.g. certain effects) will not result in unnecessary code being generated. The size of the output code is usually around 12KB (depending on the selected features and target browser the size is guaranteed to be between 8KB and 21KB)

  • use cool bitmap backgrounds and even rare fonts You can use image-based backgrounds for the menu (also with roll-over effect), coming up with amazing results (the program comes with tons of such bitmap schemes created by professional artists). Since the top level menu bar items can be created in form of images, you can choose the coolest fonts and be sure that your visitors will see them the same way. You can even choose to anti-alias the top-level menu texts for an even nicer result.

  • cool javascript effects You can apply a number of visual effects to the menu (such as partial transparency, fading, roll-over, shadow, glow effect, or keeping the menu on top of the browser page at all times).

  • hundreds of predefined menu schemes come with the program Even though you can easily create your own designs, why not choose from tons of existing designs (most are bitmap-based schemes designed by professional artists) which you can also customize any way you want.

  • XML import/export The menu structure can be imported/exported in XML format.

  • search-engine friendly code There's an option that you can switch on in order to make your menus search engine friendly. In such case the whole structure (all links) can be found by search engines such as Google.

  • frameset integration Menus can be easily integrated into your existing frame-based or frameless site design. It's up to you to decide in which frame / window the menu item links will open and in which frame the popups will appear.

  • great performance with large menus Menus are built on demand so the loading time is kept as short as possible. Also, the output script is compressed to ensure fast loading time. If image-based menus are created, the images are pre-loaded to ensure smooth roll-over effects. On top of this, the user can scroll between popup menu items if a popup menu with lots of itemsdoesn't fit on the screen.

  • adding multiple menus to a single webpage You can easily include any number of horizontal / vertical DHTML drop down menus into a single web page or multiple web pages.

  • synchronization with current URL You can now have the menu track the currently visited page (it's highlighted in the menu) -- this works also for frame-based configurations.

  • integration with existing website created with any program The program can optionally create PHP / ASP / SSI / JSP / FrontPage / ColdFusion includes or use a DreamWeaver template so you can easily embed the menu into an existing website (on one or multiple pages) -- even if your web site is frame-based, you can visually click on the frames where specific menu parts will be displayed. The built-in assistant will help you go through this process.

  • customize the DHTML menu to the smallest detail Tons of options presented in a clearly categorized tree view can be used to choose every possible aspect of the menu, from with the graphical appearance and effects, to integration method with existing website and desired functionality.

  • integrated FTP upload You can have the program upload the output files automatically to an FTP server or to a local / network disk.

  • color matching You can easily match the menu colors with the color scheme of your website. If using image-based menus, you can modify the image coloring (e.g. changing a reddish scheme into a bluish one) by changing the hue/saturation/luminance settings. If not using image-based menus, you can also choose different colors for different popups creating a very nice visual effect.

  • informative and clear user interface At every moment you can preview and test the menu by using the preview window. The menu structure is also built in a visual way, just as the final menu will look.

Xtreem DHTML Menu Studio

$49.99
Features

  • cross-browser compatibilityDHTML Menu Studio menus will work with all popuplar browsers: Internet Explorer 6+, Netscape 6+, Opera 7+, Mozilla 1+, Safari, Firefox on all popular platforms: Windows, Unix, MacOS.

  • no need to spend tons of money on your menus You can create as many DHTML menus, for as many web sites as you like, when you purchase a single license of the program

  • XHTML 1.1 compatible code The output code generated by the program is compatible with the XHTML 1.1 standard.

  • integration with FrontPage, DreamWeaver, Adobe GoLive and NetObjects Fusion The program also comes in form of plugins for FrontPage, Dreamweaver, and GoLive (the stand-alone version of DMS also comes with a NetObjects Fusion plugin). This makes inserting menus into websites created with these applications as easy as it gets, making DHTML Menu Studio a perfect solution for beginners.

  • dynamic creation of menus with server-side script code (pro version only) Now you can insert items into the menu dynamically, from a server-side script such as ASP, PHP or ColdFusion. This is very useful if you want the menu to reflect a structure stored in a database or enable/disable items based on user's permissions. (pro only)

  • very small size of the generated JavaScript code The program creates different JavaScript files for different browsers, so that with any single browser only the necessary code will be loaded. The JavaScript code is highly optimized using an internal optimizer to further increase loading time. On top of this, the program generates only as much code as necessary -- all the functionality not selected in the options (e.g. certain effects) will not result in unnecessary code being generated. The size of the output code is usually around 12KB (depending on the selected features and target browser the size is guaranteed to be between 8KB and 21KB)

  • use cool bitmap backgrounds and even rare fonts You can use image-based backgrounds for the menu (also with roll-over effect), coming up with amazing results (the program comes with tons of such bitmap schemes created by professional artists). Since the top level menu bar items can be created in form of images, you can choose the coolest fonts and be sure that your visitors will see them the same way. You can even choose to anti-alias the top-level menu texts for an even nicer result.

  • cool javascript effects You can apply a number of visual effects to the menu (such as partial transparency, fading, roll-over, shadow, glow effect, or keeping the menu on top of the browser page at all times).

  • hundreds of predefined menu schemes come with the program Even though you can easily create your own designs, why not choose from tons of existing designs (most are bitmap-based schemes designed by professional artists) which you can also customize any way you want.

  • XML import/export The menu structure can be imported/exported in XML format.

  • search-engine friendly code There's an option that you can switch on in order to make your menus search engine friendly. In such case the whole structure (all links) can be found by search engines such as Google.

  • frameset integration Menus can be easily integrated into your existing frame-based or frameless site design. It's up to you to decide in which frame / window the menu item links will open and in which frame the popups will appear.

  • great performance with large menus Menus are built on demand so the loading time is kept as short as possible. Also, the output script is compressed to ensure fast loading time. If image-based menus are created, the images are pre-loaded to ensure smooth roll-over effects. On top of this, the user can scroll between popup menu items if a popup menu with lots of itemsdoesn't fit on the screen.

  • adding multiple menus to a single webpage You can easily include any number of horizontal / vertical DHTML drop down menus into a single web page or multiple web pages.

  • synchronization with current URL You can now have the menu track the currently visited page (it's highlighted in the menu) -- this works also for frame-based configurations.

  • integration with existing website created with any program The program can optionally create PHP / ASP / SSI / JSP / FrontPage / ColdFusion includes or use a DreamWeaver template so you can easily embed the menu into an existing website (on one or multiple pages) -- even if your web site is frame-based, you can visually click on the frames where specific menu parts will be displayed. The built-in assistant will help you go through this process.

  • customize the DHTML menu to the smallest detail Tons of options presented in a clearly categorized tree view can be used to choose every possible aspect of the menu, from with the graphical appearance and effects, to integration method with existing website and desired functionality.

  • integrated FTP upload You can have the program upload the output files automatically to an FTP server or to a local / network disk.

  • color matching You can easily match the menu colors with the color scheme of your website. If using image-based menus, you can modify the image coloring (e.g. changing a reddish scheme into a bluish one) by changing the hue/saturation/luminance settings. If not using image-based menus, you can also choose different colors for different popups creating a very nice visual effect.

  • informative and clear user interface At every moment you can preview and test the menu by using the preview window. The menu structure is also built in a visual way, just as the final menu will look.