Flash Pro 8's new video features are the biggest change, but the lack of knockout new tools leaves you with few reasons to upgrade.

The upgrades aren't as overwhelming as in previous versions, but represent the steady evolution of a worthwhile program. Fusion is cheaper than other high-end competitors - although anyone who creates websites only very occasionally will want to consider the alternatives. For all but the most expert developers, this really is the recommended application.

Users of Fusion will find it appealing, but everyone else should pass.

With a powerful debugger, drag-and-drop components to get you started and excellent tutorial support, the Visual Studio Express editions are a real boon for budding programmers. They're not packages for professionals, but as a free introduction to Windows programming no other tools come close.

You'll need a decent Web connection, and you can use it only once, but these are minor quibbles. Simple to use, and with more features than you have any right to expect, Takeaway Website is a winner.

One feature of the entire Microsoft Expression Studio bundle that could prove attractive to a lot of Windows users is its price. Getting all these tools for the price is pretty hard to beat, and if you need at least two of them, it's a fair bargain. If history is any guide, though, Microsoft will have a finger in the wind for how the suite can be made more of a suite, and make the next version of Expression Studio a truly remarkable piece of work.

As user-friendly as its predecessor, Mr Site Takeaway Website Pro is a well-designed program that enables small companies to create a basic Web presence with little hassle. It may fall between two market segments, however, offering a basic suite of tools that may frustrate ambitious businesses while pricing itself above home users. A bit of an enigma, then, but a high-calibre one that will suit a narrow group of users extremely well -- if they can stomach the pricey renewal fees.

The average human being who has no Web design experience but who can use Microsoft Word will find working with Easy WebContent a breeze. It's well worth the price to avoid the learning curve of expensive products that offer more than you need.

The Android SDK is a wonderful example of what can be done with open source applications and tools. When the SDK's parts work, they work reasonably well. However, at this point, would-be Android developers must be willing to assist in debugging the development platform itself; it's still pretty rough. Android's single best characteristic is prime mover Google. Whether that is enough weight to ensure Android's success remains to be seen.

A lack of direct code editing features makes Serif WebPlus X2 unsuitable for professional site design – but there's enough here to keep most other users more than happy. Packed with features, brimming with extra resources and integrated with Serif's own Web services, it's a comprehensive and cost-effective choice.

WaveMaker's visual tool allows new developers and talented HTML jockeys to build full J2EE Web applications with a few clicks—zero to CRUD (create, update, delete data) in five minutes or less. Help from a Java professional may be needed to debug arm-length stack traces when you step off the well-groomed path.

A blinding debut release, Adobe AIR 1.0 lowers the skills requirements and costs for desktop deployment by leveraging a cross-platform runtime (from a single code base) and familiar Web technologies. Developers can take advantage of streamlined interfaces and a persistent local data store to give rich Web apps a native look and feel — including offline functionality.

It is almost unfair to review the Google App Engine when it is just a beta operation, but Google has a habit of leaving some tools in beta form for a long time. There are a number of places where the documentation and the code suggest that Google will add more functionality pretty soon. The basic framework and the database are both quite nice, although limited. We can imagine Google adding better automatic features for generating the CRUD (Create, Update, Delete) routines common in these applications. Integration with Google's Wallet might also be quite useful, although it's bound to be complicated by the banking system. Some people have already experimented with mapping the Google Web Toolkit to the system, even though that's written in Java and translated into JavaScript. Google might also provide some good tools that allow the different hosted applications to share user information, in essence allowing a user to move their preferences and some of their data to other applications. This kind of inter-application linking could be pretty cool. Time will tell what Google delivers. In the meantime, this is a good sandbox for playing with simple database applications. There's a very good reason why the beta version has a waiting list.

For the majority of users looking to run a single Web shop and who want more features than the standard stores offered by many ISPs, Actinic Catalog 9.0 is an excellent piece of software. Unless you need advanced payment and authorisation procedures (in which case Actinic Business is recommended), this will do everything that you need.