WebTrain.com by Electronica

Web Conferencing. Web Meetings. Live Training. WebTrain.

WebTrain is a leading web conferencing provider for business, education, training, language schools and auction sectors. It was developed in 1998 by Gary Campbell. WebTrain specializes in multimedia web conferencing and collaboration solutions for live interactive virtual meetings, e-commerce, eLearning, presentation webinars, events marketing, educational training, and live auctions.

WebTrain: What's it about?

Nowadays, organizations and businesses with its offices and clients span through different locations around the world. Without being at the same physical location, users can participate virtually, from their home, school, office etc. WebTrain enables the users to present, discuss, interact, respond, vote, upload and download with hundreds of people.

WebTrain targets small-scale and large-scale businesses, training companies, support companies, educators, students, auctioneers and other markets that need effective communication

Traffick rank of: 759,713

Percent of users: 0.00011%

Users come from:

United States 59.1%

France 2.7%

Other countries 37.9%

Businesses use WebTrain primarily for virtual meetings with their clients or with their offices around the country or globe. Since the website provides free web conferencing service, it cuts communication and travel costs of companies. It also eliminates travel expenses and travel time. It has secure SSL meetings wherein it ensures privacy in your meetings. WebTrain provides efficient, effective and convenient services for its users.

Some companies use WebTrain to:

communicate with members from different chapters at the same time

teach and train its employees

pay fees

hold meetings and workshops

and much more.

WebTrain’s web conferencing features permits the user to create any kind of meeting environment it needs. It has high quality Voice-over-IP (VoIP) which ensures crystal clear sound every time. Because their VoIP uses only low bandwith (6300b/sec), you may use WebTrain even with a dial-up connection. It will work effectively with all types of internet connection; a high bandwith connection is not required.

WebTrain Features

• Live webcam broadcasting wherein you can broadcast images using any type of webcam
• Teleconferencing up to 150 participants for free
  
• Contact group feature which imports data from your email (Outlook, Gmail, Hotmail etc) or you can manually enter your contacts
• Outlook, Lotus and Calendar integration sends invitation email and enrollment confirmation; automatically provides schedule of meetings with event reminders through email or SMS
• Versatile meeting scheduling (i.e. private, public, scheduled, visible public, webinar, unlisted etc.)
• PowerPoint slide show presentation directly from a PowerPoint file or a folder of slides and images
• Supports all the major image types, including JPG, .BMP, .GIF, .WMF, .ICO etc.
• Streams multimedia content (Flash, .AVI or .MPEG files) and video (from YouTube or similar sites)
• E-commerce feature where you can charge enrollment fees and have it directly transferred to your bank account using their PayPal integration
• Screen-casting, application sharing and desktop remote control feature to broadcast, share or control another person’s application or desktop
• Record entire meeting using the built-in meeting recorder
• Automatic virus scanning of attachments when sharing files

WebTrain Critique

We found the layout simple and the site easy to navigate. The links were grouped accordingly and the navigation bar was strategically placed and was easily noticed on all pages. The RSS button on the upper right corner was very noticeable and the incorporation of this technology is very helpful to WebTrain’s users. On the upper right hand corner, a link to the list of meetings was provided. The presence of such a link helps direct users quickly to the most important page of the website. The meetings in this page are grouped depending on whether it is live or upcoming. At the bottom of the page are links to the more frequently visited pages of the website. Though a bit small, the links serve its purpose.

On the other hand, the bookmark link, placed on top of the RSS button, could be improved by making it larger although the blinking image beside it helped attract attention. The login and registration link were small as well. It would have been better to place input fields similar to what other sites do to facilitate easier login.

On a general level, the aesthetics of the site is not something to look forward to. Its simplicity led to a boring site. Furthermore, some pages contain huge blocks of text that are not enticing. The grey text on top of a blue grey background is one of the contributing factors why the text is not enticing to read. Despite these, the site is functional and that should take precedence over aesthetic value. The continued existence of the service is a testament to the website’s functionality. Though plain, it has served its purpose.