The first of the new 2024 Silhouette products announced at Silhouette Summit, was the release of Silhouette Web - a browser-based software for Silhouette machines.
It's still in beta, which I think is pretty obvious, given my first experience with Silhouette Web. Read on for how to get started using Silhouette Web and why you might (or might not) want to.
I'm gonna be honest - to me web-based software is a step backwards. I have always thought that Silhouette has a huge advantage with Silhouette Studio because it doesn't rely on a need for a network or internet connection. So the question is..
Why Would I Use Silhouette Web Over Silhouette Studio?
Silhouette Web's advantage is really on devices that aren't compatible with Silhouette Studio. For example, you can not install Silhouette Studio on a tablet, phone or Chromebook, but you can use Silhouette Web on all of them.
In addition, users whose computer does not meet the minimum requirements to run Silhouette Studio can also use Silhouette Web. Since Silhouette Web is browser based, your computers RAM and memory don't impact its performance.
What to Know About Silhouette Web
As of this writing, Silhouette Web is still in beta, meaning testing mode so expect some bugs or oddities.
I found plenty.
For the record, I also find the timing of this release odd given the months-long issues that continue to plague the Silhouette library and Design Store, but I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope it's two totally different development teams...
Silhouette Web, in my opinion, should not be considered a replacement for Silhouette Studio - especially not on a desktop or laptop computer. It's not nearly as robust as the full downloadable version of the software and it doesn't seem like any of the upgrade features of Designer Edition, DE+ or Business Edition are accessible.
What you see is what you get. There's no "legacy" version of Silhouette Web. The ONLY accessible version will be what's made available on the Silhouette Web website so if it's not working well for you there's no other web-based option.
Chrome is the preferred and recommended browser and you'll get this warning if you try to access the site on a different browser. You can click "Use Anyway" to bypass the warning.
How To Use Silhouette Web
You can access Silhouette Web by going to the site and logging in.
Click the account icon (looks like a little person) along the top tool bar and log in using your Silhouette America login credentials.
The homepage of Silhouette Web is very..salesy. You'll land on the Silhouette Design store with blog-type announcements and promotions on the right side.
Clicking on any of the designs will open a new browser window on the Silhouette Design Store website.
If you want to use Silhouette Web as the design software, click the Design tab at the top.
There's an icon for the library at the bottom left, but no matter what I did I could not get my library to sync. My regular Silhouette Studio library is totally fine so I have no idea why it won't sync on the web version.
Since I could not access my library designs I tried to import a file. To open a file in Silhouette Web you have to click the icon with the three lines at the top.
Select "Open From Device"...
I tried to select an SVG file from my computer but was given a warning that it's an Unsupported File Type. For the record, I do have Business Edition...
I then tried to open a .Studio3 file and that did open successfully.
I also wasn't able to open more than one design or merge images into one work area. There's no way, that I found, to open a second design area or "tab" like you can do on the full version of Silhouette Studio.
So..at this point the only way I was able to design was to use .Studio files I had on my computer, the software drawing tools and web-based fonts.
First Thoughts...on Silhouette Web
It needs work before it's usable in any real functional way. I would not even consider Silhouette Web at a point where it should be in Open Beta. Open Beta, to me means it's been tested, but it may still be buggy and feedback is requested from end users. It might be Closed Beta-worthy, but I can confirm it never went through Closed Beta with the Beta Testers, one of which I am.
So..you can poke around, but I don't think it's anything to get too excited about...yet.
Want to learn more about the other products, software, and tools announced as new 2024 Silhouette products? Check out this blog post on the new product announcement.
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