BaseKit

BaseKit is an Internet-based website design service, allowing W3C code compliant websites to be built using a Photoshop file as a design template, overlaid with various 'widgets' to perform various popular functions such as inserting text, RSS feeds, Twitter feeds and videos. The intention of the software is to allow a web designer to create a visually engaging and functional website without a detailed knowledge of CSS or other code languages.

BaseKit is developed by BaseKit Platform Ltd. BaseKit Platform Ltd is based in the United Kingdom, with offices in Chepstow, Wales, and London, England.

BaseKit is an example of Software as a Service, being hosted on BaseKit's own servers with a monthly fee for published websites. BaseKit also has a policy of continual development, with additional features planned for introduction into the software on an ongoing basis.

History and Development

BaseKit was conceived by founders Simon Best, Richard Best and Richard Healy after they realised that the technical design and iterative development of websites could be streamlined.

The software as a working prototype first appeared as an entry into the Seedcamp 2008 funding competition. BaseKit was chosen as one of seven 'winners' and given funding to develop and launch. As of March 2010, BaseKit is in public beta, with a view to launch in May 2010.

The Software

BaseKit works within a standard web browser allowing users create subdomains with BaseKit.com (e.g. customname.basekit.com) and then upload either their own Photoshop PSD file or a pre-built template to their site. BaseKit then translates the layers in the PSD file based on their layer name and formats the design as an HTML page. This translated design is then available in the BaseKit Editor for the user to add content by clicking and dragging 'widgets' from BaseKit's toolbox onto the page. The user can PREview the site 'live' at any time from within the interface on their browser. Once satisfied with their design, the user can then 'publish' the site, enabling anyone with the URL to view the site.

Sites built using BaseKit are hosted by BaseKit on Amazon's Web Services system. Users can redirect their own URLs to their BaseKit site when they are ready to make their website 'public'.

The HTML code generated by BaseKit is intended to be fully W3C compliant and accessible by the vast majority of screen readers, making websites more accessible to those visitors with visual impairments.

Reception

While still in 'beta', BaseKit has received a variety of feedback from bloggers who have participated in the beta stage of development. AOL-owned blog Download Squad said "The interface is beautiful, like a marriage of everything good AbOUT Web 2.0. There is dragging and dropping, resizing, AJAX and widgets up the yin yang -- forms, date pickers, star ratings, imported Flickr and Twitter feeds -- it's all there."

Blog site CMSish said: "It’s a nicely designed and well executed web app, sort of like Dreamweaver as a SaaS solution."

Jonathan Kestenbaum, Chief Executive of NESTA said: "Digital technologies present a huge growth area for the UK economy. BaseKit’s technology makes rich website design simple and accessible to a much wider audience."

Blog site killer startups said: "I have seen a few services that enable people to come up with their own sites without requiring them to be conversant in programming, and without necessitating them to touch a single line of code at all. BaseKit, however, offers a solution that is even suppler since users can create a dynamic site from a Photoshop design, adding and editing as many pages as they want."