zmag's CREATOR tool is a complete nightmare. Avoid if possible.
I contract for a startup business which pays a substantial amount of money to zmags for support and for their products. While their walkthroughs of their Creator products are nice, they only walk you through the basics and the basics never actually showcases any issues you have with the Creator product. The script code provided is short and easy and updates are live once pushed but I was shocked to see what a difference things were from their demo compared to real-life.
Initial impression is nifty when you realize zmag's creator allows import from Adobe software. Seems convenient? Very rarely does it do anything properly.
1. It will not input gradients or text strokes. It has imported text all messed up which means you have to spend time adjusting and getting exact results is next to impossible. It has imported images upside down. Any complex design or vectors need to be flattened so there's no real flexibility as Creator makes it seem.
2. Widget order and layer order is confusing. Items that aren't visible despite being the top layer needs to be dragged down then back up in order to be seen again. Every time you click a layer or tab, the list bounces around causing a headache.
3. Unforgiving and no snapping features to help with precision of objects. Accidental movements and poor "undo" functionality may leave you with a mess you cannot undo because everything is autosaved so if you make a mistake, you have to start over from the beginning. Because of this, many employees of my client were scared to open any Creator projects.
4. Dated software UI and poor implementation and wording; "Publish" vs "Push" isn't the same and there's two methods of adding a link where one doesn't work yet the company has yet to remove the non-functioning link tool.
5. Transforming from a file will lead to Creator asking you to name the file only to change the file name back to whatever default they set after you "push" the project. Requires renaming twice and wasted time.
6. Thumbnail and previews on Dashboard are hideously organized where thumbnails are either blank or "unavailable" without any reason, causing a lot of unnecessary confusion and the sense of unfinished projects.
Overall, this tool has been such a nightmare to use and many designers at my job also agreed but we're stuck dealing with it. A 5 minute task often turns into 50+ minutes. Creator gives the illusion of flexibility, customizable, drag&drop and all but, when you realize how frustrating it is to even MOVE an object without clicking and accidentally moving another option, it becomes a complete drag (no pun intended). I would seriously avoid the Creator product if possible or at least when zmags decide to improve this product; A LOT of improvement is needed.
