zWebQuest is a free tool for creating WebQuests. WebQuests created using zWebQuest are hosted for free on the Zunal site. I was initially drawn to the zWebQuest tool because the excellent WebQuest tool at QuestGarden is not free. They offer a 30 day trial membership, after which you need to become a paid subscriber to continue making full use of their service. I was also concerned with what would happen to my WebQuest after that trial period expired.

Strengths:
• WebQuests are hosted for free on zunal.com
• WYSIWYG editor requires no knowledge of HTML to create WebQuest
• Templates are provided to allow some control over the look of your WebQuest
• Finished product looks basic but professional

Weaknesses:
• The WYSIWYG editor does not have an option to view or edit the HTML code of the WebQuest. This becomes an issue if you cut and paste from a website into your WebQuest because HTML tags are copied along with your text requiring that you instead paste to a text editor to strip out the HTML then paste into the zWebQuest tool.
• The WYSIWYG editor does not have all the formatting features of most editors. You are extremely limited in how you format your text unless you copy and paste preformatted text from another source.
• WebQuest rubrics are limited to 4 categories and 4 levels of mastery. zWebQuest gives you no ability to change that.
• The “Process” page shows icons for 3 attached files at the bottom even if you have no files attached.
• WebQuests can only be exported as PDF files and doing so strips some content from them.

zWebQuest would be of use to any educator who wants to create their own WebQuests without learning HTML or worrying about how to host their finished product. I found it to be a little frustrating to use, but I haven’t used other WebQuest creation tools, so I’m not certain how it compares. I would recommend it to someone who is just getting started with using WebQuests but isn’t ready to commit to a QuestGarden subscription.
zWebQuest is a free tool. A free user account is required for use as is an internet-connected computer with a modern Web browser.