The Latest Rage: Buttons. Make ‘Em On Your Mac.

I’m a sucker for easy. Seriously. Take an hour of normal work and reduce it to five or six clicks, and I’ll buy lunch.

I have button making tools on my Mac but none so cool as the latest Rage-- ButtonDesigns.

Think about it. If you’ve ever worked on creating the graphic elements for a presentation or web page, you know the steps.

For example, take buttons. Please. They’re simple, they’re colorful, they’re visible, they’re a pain in the patootie.

I’m a new mother. I know about pain in the patootie. It’s not pleasant, so don’t get me started. I’m into solutions these days.

There are times when I take my dubious talent and Mac know-how and do some work for Bambi and others “in the biz.”

My graphics touch is OK, but I don’t like spending hours working over a graphic element pixel by pixel. Yes, I know. There’s that whole billable hours thing.

It’s the frustration pie which keeps my fork on the table; if you know what I mean.

Focus, Alex. Buttons. They’re so simple but not so simple all at the same time. Pretty much like baby girls, you know?

I have a number of tools I’ve used through the years to make buttons. AlphaButton is one.

Can you spell complicated?

RapidWeaver’s Button Builder was a favorite but seems to have disappeared, but pure Mac elegance came to buttons today with ButtonDesigns.

The trick to buttons isn’t just a collection of button design templates, it’s all that cool code after the button is done that’s worth gold.

ButtonDesigns is an elegant Mac application that makes buttons. You know, the kind used in web pages and presentations.

Mouse over a button and the text changes color or highlights. Click the button and it changes again. That’s cool, and they’re a bear to make unless you do it every day. I don’t.

I need and want and require simplicity in my life. Buttons should be easy to make and now they are. Mostly.

ButtonDesigns starts off with 75 different button templates; sizes, shapes, colors, etc. From that, add text, change the size and color scheme, and save.

Exporting is a simple click, and here’s what you get when you do. Buttons. Oh, buttons and the appropriate HTML and/or CSS needed to make the button work.

I’m in to CSS buttons but they actually require thinking. With a nursing child on my hips while I’m on my Mac do you think I’m into thinking?

Think again.

Rage Software has done an excellent job with a Mac application that’s sorely needed. It’s inexpensive, creates attractive buttons and the code needed to make them work.

There really isn’t much else to talk about. ButtonDesign does the work as soon as you point and click. Try the download, taste for yourself, your mileage may vary, but my mom said the same thing to me about having babies.

All is not perfect, but it’s decent. ButtonDesign needs to be a Universal Binary, needs even more templates-- hey, where’s the round buttons?? You get the idea.

Do you make buttons and graphic elements? What do you use?

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