Serif WebPlus was once a cornerstone of the visual web design market, empowering small businesses, clubs, and hobbyists to launch professional websites without touching a single line of code. Developed by the UK-based software company Serif, this Microsoft Windows application pioneered the “What You See Is Worth You Get” (WYSIWYG) drag-and-drop web editing experience.
Though highly successful throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, the evolution of the mobile web ultimately forced the software into retirement. The Rise: Coding for the Non-Coder
First released in 2000, WebPlus was designed to make web authoring as intuitive as desktop publishing. Instead of forcing users to learn HTML, CSS, or JavaScript, the software operated much like Microsoft Word or a vector drawing tool. Key features that drove its massive popularity included:
Drag-and-Drop Layouts: Users could freely position text frames, images, and buttons anywhere on a canvas.
Built-in Graphic Tools: Elements like PhotoLab and Cutout Studio allowed users to crop photos and remove image backgrounds without leaving the app.
Integrated FTP Publishing: An in-built File Transfer Protocol (FTP) engine let creators preview websites and instantly upload them to a live server.
E-Commerce and Widgets: Later iterations featured easy integrations for shopping carts, Google Maps, and built-in blogs managed via Serif Web Resources. The Mobile Bottleneck and Retirement
As smartphones took over the internet, web design shifted definitively toward fluid responsive design—layouts that dynamically scale to fit any screen size. Because WebPlus relied heavily on absolute, fixed-pixel positioning (ideal for print layouts, but rigid on mobile screens), updating the engine to support modern responsive frameworks proved too complex. While its final version, WebPlus X8 (released in late 2014), introduced workarounds to build separate, dedicated mobile pages, it was clear the core architecture was reaching its limits.
In March 2016, Serif officially announced it was discontinuing WebPlus. The company stopped sales of the product later that year to consolidate all engineering efforts onto their booming creative line, the Affinity Suite (consisting of Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher). Current Status: A Legacy Tool
As of 2026, WebPlus is officially classified as legacy abandonware. Serif WebPlus X7 Tutorial – Quick Start!
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