Soft Maple's woodcrafting site strikes the right tone

Lowville-based Soft Maple Designs (www. softmapledesign.com) creates bell strips and other gifts for executives as well as children.

The site's main page brings up a bell-ringing background sound that's sure to deter any visits from workplace computers. Other than the bells, Soft Maple steers

Soft Maple may be named for wood, but the company uses suede to create its belladorned decorative strips. The site employs an irregular layout that makes it difficult to navigate intuitively.

There are links along the top but not on the sides or bottom of the page. Get ready to do some scrolling. Soft Maple uses lots of photographs that load quickly, but can't be enlarged for a closer view.

The "about" page gives a brief view into the Soft Maple design team and its history. A clean background makes the pages easy to read, and the company doesn't get verbose in its descriptions. A .pdf format order form allows visitors to print out their own catalogs. Some of the type sizes are a bit small considering the availability of blank space used as a border on each page.

The company lists its contact information and trade show schedule on the site. If sleigh bells ring your bell, Soft Maple may be a great site to visit.