BaseKit

20th July 2010

Today we’re talking to Monty Fowler – the multitalented BaseKiteer behind both Vicendia – the site and Vicendia – the business.

Hi Monty- can you tell us a little about yourself?

I am an entrepreneur and management consultant living in suburban Chicago, Illinois

Can you explain the purpose of your site?

The site www.vicendia.com is the online presence for our company Vicendia Partners, a management consulting firm based in the Chicago area. We needed to have a professional site with the ability to change content easily, without compromising design or functionality. I think we achieved our goals even though a the site will constantly be changing and evolving.

How did you hear about BaseKit?

I read about Basekit’s recent funding and decided to check out the site. The nature of our business requires that I am tuned in to new ventures that pop up and I love it when I find a gem like Basekit.

Have you used any other web building software before Basekit? (If so, how does BaseKit compare)

I have built scores of sites using Photoshop for design and Dreamweaver for page/site building along with hand-coded CSS. Now that I have built a complete site with Basekit I have to admit that Dreamweaver seems like total overkill for the kind of sites I am creating. The ability to have a seamless workflow from Photoshop to Basekit is magical. No more bloody slicing! I think the entire paradigm of building, testing, and hosting from within the browser just feels natural and right. Why have we been doing any other way?

What is your favourite thing about BaseKit?

The simplicity of the controls and interface and the ability to have instant WYSIWYG display of your design is fantastic. The workflow is so much faster than traditional coding tools. The automatic template creation direct from a Photoshop file is pretty awesome too.

What would you like to see next from BaseKit?

I would like to have finer control over background and column widgets and options for adding stroke lines and fills to objects. Custom widgets would be cool too. It would be really helpful to have a visual CSS editor built in to Basekit. Browser-specific previews for function and visuals testing would make life a bit easier.

As it stands, I have to say “Bravo” to the folks at Basekit for not only creating an elegant and useful tool, but also providing truly excellent customer support. The Basekit team genuinely understands the value of building solid customer relationships.

Thanks Monty!