Please Recommend WebPage Software

4thorder wrote on 1/17/2004, 5:42 PM

I am trying to build a website, not an overly complex one, but something not totally cheesy. I don't know HTML and I certainly don't have time to learn it.

What I am looking for is a program that is fairly automated and doesn not require coding yet can do some nice web stuff. I see there are more and more of these on the market now, but which ones are any good.

Any suggestions?

Comments

BillyBoy wrote on 1/17/2004, 8:34 PM

Well, you're best bet is one of the so-called WYSIWYG type editors if you don't want to really learn HTML, since it will keep it all from you.

Your best bet is Dreamweaver. Its the best of both worlds in that with the click of a button you can switch back and forth from a word processor like interface to edit raw HTML code. The latest version supports CSS, (Style Sheets), and has tons of bells and whistles so with some practice and time you can make top of the line web sites. The plus siide is because its probably the #1 HTML editor, there are plenty of books and web pages on how to use it.

It isn't overly difficult to use at the basic level, but like with Vegas the real power comes from learning the finer points.

It isn't cheap. Around $400 for the latest MX 2004 version.

But wait...

If you're REALLY serious look at Studio MX which includes Dreamwever, the laterest version of Flash, Fireworks and Freehand.

You'll spend a good half year learning these powerful applications but worth the investment in time if you plan on doing more.

OK, that was top of the line and not probably what you want. Just threw it in for others. Yep, I use Dreamweaver and Flash.

At the bottom is Microsoft's Front Page. Around $90. I was one of the original Beta Testers when it first came out years ago. Its come along way but still limited.

Lots of others in between, some even cheaper.

http://www.ibiblio.org/boutell/faq/htedit.htm

You may find it better to simply forget about an editor and just get yourself a book or two on a video learning tape. All you really need to write HTML is Notepad or any word processor. Not that easy, but not really that hard.

Before your decide take a look here. The granddaddy of how-to on HTML. They literally wrote book.

http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/

XML is better, but to get your feet wet start with HTML.

At the very bottom of the above page click on both Elements and Attributes. Then visit some links in the table. Put a pot of coffee on first.

rmack350 wrote on 1/17/2004, 9:41 PM

I have to second the recomendation of Dreamweaver. Pages are pretty easy and DW can help you learn as you go.

You can get a web page up pretty quickly but there's a lot of depth to the topic. You can go for many years and still find new things to learn.

DW is a big investment. Probably too much for casual authoring. It has served me well for about 2000 pages. For the next 8000 it's choked under it's own weight. I'd call it a great middleweight editor.

There are lots of easier, more automated wysiwyg editors. These usually work with templates and place all of your elements as layers. They are very easy but the results are inconsistant across browsers and you really can't learn much with them. I downloaded 10 or 12 to evaluate for my 70 year old father and couldn't really bring myself to recommend one. I'm spoiled.

What I'd recommend is to do what I did-search the shareware sites for wysiwyg editors and try out a few.

Rob Mack

BillyBoy wrote on 1/17/2004, 9:58 PM

Good idea. If you want a head start, do a search for web page templates. You can get half decent ones starting at around $20 to $100, some even free.

Following is such a site. Not recommending, just the first hit that came up on my quick search.

http://www.steves-templates.com/templates.html

The key here is once you see how it works, just peek at the source and add more of your own pages. Of course you can do that now too with almost any web site. Just click on where it says 'source' on your browser save a copy to Notepad, then visit the W3C to understand what all the tags do and you're off and running.

PeterWright wrote on 1/17/2004, 10:13 PM

I too am a programming-free zone, and I've been using a WYSIWYG prog called Mediator 7 Pro. ( www.matchware.net )

It is a fantastic program for CDRoms, which is mainly what I use it for, but it also does Websites, which can be distributed as standard HTML or Flash.

I've recently used it to do my first website (www.allroundvision.com.au) and discovered a few things - firstly that it only works in Internet Explorer, maybe in Netscape. Fortunately IE covers more than 90% of the market, but apparently it produces lots of "redundant or proprietary HTML code", making it almost usless with other browsers.

Videomonster wrote on 1/17/2004, 10:35 PM

I think that dreamweaver is a little complicated for the beginer. I use homestead, although it's a bit expensive. You sign up on their site, (www.homestead.com) for a specific package meeting your needs with certain storage limits. They have their own site building program which you download off their site, and it has a lot of great features which arn't complicated to use. The sitebulider creates great looking pages, and homestead hosts your site and gives you a www.youradress.com, url. I would check out the homestead site, and see if it's right for you....hope it helps!

-Videomonster

TheHappyFriar wrote on 1/18/2004, 5:16 AM

Yeah, I love dreamweaver. However, since i left college I haven't used it (went into video instead. :) ).

Netscape Communicator (v4) includes one that is good. The newer netscape's include one too, but i've been told that V4 has a better editor.
Microsoft Word is an editor too.
Openoffice.org (www.openoffice.org) includes an HTML editor for free. The whole ofice sweet is free.

The reason i say Communicator V4 is better then the latest is because the latest doesn't like to use relative links but absolute ones (so it alays looks in c:\mydocs\blah\blah instead of ..\blah).

BrianStanding wrote on 1/18/2004, 7:30 AM

I use Mozilla Composer (www.mozilla.org). Open source, frequent updates, uses standard HTML coding to ensure maximum compatibility, and best of all is free!

cyanide149 wrote on 1/18/2004, 8:35 AM

I use an editod called 1st Page 2000. It's easy to use, does just about everything, but best of all- it's free!
http://www.evrsoft.com/