Template Selection:  

PixelMill offers over 4000 templates, including 700 HTML/CSS types, 800 Expression Web, 600 Dreamweaver and 2300 for PowerPoint. However, we did notice that many of them are quite dated, for example when we looked at templates for TypePad, many were dated from 2007, there was only one from 2008 and none from this year, we would like to see newer templates, which are also more likely to be compatible with new browsers and new software as well. They also offer 9400 Royalty-Free images, 1500 music files, 200 video files and 700 logos.

As mentioned, PixelMill has many templates for Microsoft software, including many for PowerPoint, and some for SharePoint and Expressions Web. If you are looking for PowerPoint templates or even web templates for FrontPage, PixelMill may be a good choice for you.

We would like to see them add other types of templates such as those for Blogger, Joomla, WordPress, CS4, Mambo, ZenCart, PHP-Nuke, SWiSh, Magento or perhaps even Mac ones for iWeb. And definitely they need to add newer, up-to-date templates. We also noticed a few text coding errors on a few of their pages while using FireFox Mozilla 3.0.6, which though somewhat common, should not be on a site that sells code.

Feature Set:  

PixelMill offers many Microsoft product compatible templates and access to high-end stock photography through Corbis, Getty and Jupiter, which is a nice add on. They actually offer more images than anything else, with a stock photography inventory of nearly 9500.We also really liked that they check their templates on a variety of browsers. Though many are not up-to-date, for example many have only been tested on FireFox 2.0, when a version of 3 is used now, so be careful about this when you select a template or keep in mind that you may need to alter the code a bit if it does not display well on the newest browsers.

We would have liked to have seen unique templates offered, those that can be purchased and only used once and unlike many sites, PixelMill also does not tell you how many times a particular template has been downloaded so you have no idea how many times that template might be splashed all over the web. If you want a one of a kind template you will have to utilize their custom services or use a different service that offers one-time purchase templates, such as Template Monster.

Ease of Use:  

We found selecting, purchasing, downloading and utilizing PixelMill’s template quite easy. We used Adobe Dreamweaver, the version that comes with CS3, as our editor and found many compatible templates and the website template files downloaded quickly.

Help/Support:  

PixelMill offers most of the support options we were looking for, even chat support. They host many webinars online, FAQs, a searchable knowledgebase, a community forum and numerous tutorials or instructional type articles. PixelMill also provides support tickets, email and phone support.

We checked out a webinar that offered CSS support, we found it to be quite extensive and it included many helpful screenshots for assistance in explaining coding situations. These types of webinars and tutorials could prove extremely useful to those new to coding and do-it-yourself type business owners putting up their own site for the first time.

Though, as mentioned several times, we wish PixelMill offered more current technology, for example when we typed in CS4 into their search tool it returned zero search results. Some tutorials on how to use their templates with new software would be a nice addition.

We found PixelMill easy to work with and we liked their extensive support. Our biggest concern is the dated material and templates, even many of their Dreamweaver templates were posted last year. We would also like to see them offer more variety, such as templates compatible with Joomla, ZenCart, WordPress and more.

Though if you are still using FrontPage or are required to put together numerous PowerPoint presentations, you may want to look into PixelMill, they offer thousands of PowerPoint templates that could prove to be a great time saver.