It may sound nutty, but I decided to use Excel 2007 to re-design my website. OK, the title of this post is a bit misleading. I didn’t actually design the web pages themselves with Excel 2007, but I did use it to create all the new graphics.
The Excel 2007 development team did a wonderful job re-writing the Office Drawing Tools from the ground up. The new AutoShape formatting capabilities are really impressive. Not only are the default formats stylish, but they also allow you to add some nice effects, including reflection, drop shadows, glow, 3D, and more.
Since BreezeTree Software is build around the convergence of data and (most importantly) diagrams in Excel, I wanted to emphasize the graphics capabilities of Excel on my site. So what better way than to use Excel 2007 itself to create the graphics. The re-design started out as a proof of concept, show casing that you really can create professional and stylish flowcharts in Excel. Then I decided to go for it. Hopefully I pulled it off. 
2 responses so far ↓
Boris Yankov // Mar 21, 2007 at 7:29 am
The graphics look good. Although I think you went too far witht he ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed’ badge.
I used PowerPoint (which uses the same engine as Excel) to create some of the icons in my app FusionDesk.
Nick H. // Mar 21, 2007 at 11:57 am
> The graphics look good. Although I think you went too far with he ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed’ badge.
It’s tough for me objective. I’ll look at it in a month or two to see if I still like it. I need to let the newness wear off.
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