OT: Basic website design software

[Naturally Digital]

Hi everyone,

I'm fairly new to the whole web design thing and would like to set up a basic website myself before bringing in a big gun to expand on my ideas...

I've played around with Frontpage and I can get around OK with it. I tried some frames and inserting graphics etc. Also played around with some of the themes. I was able to get one page up on my server without too much of a problem. I can learn software pretty quick... It's the design/layout that I am really slow at...

Can anyone recommend a decent and reasonably simple alternative to Frontpage for designing a website? Are there any good open source ones available?

Thanks.

[Cary B. Cornett]

My 1&1 Internet web hosting package included NetObjects Fusion, which so far seems to work well.

I have heard that Frontpage may generate pages that only work properly in IE, and since I insist on using Mozilla Firefox as my browser, I REALLY dislike any website that won't work with it (extremely rare, BTW). I also have a growing prejudice against using anything from Microsoft if I can find a good alternative from someone else (which is most of the time).

[Naturally Digital]

My 1&1 Internet web hosting package included NetObjects Fusion, which so far seems to work well.OK. I'll have a look at that. Thanks.


I have heard that Frontpage may generate pages that only work properly in IE, and since I insist on using Mozilla Firefox as my browser, I REALLY dislike any website that won't work with it (extremely rare, BTW). I also have a growing prejudice against using anything from Microsoft if I can find a good alternative from someone else (which is most of the time).I'm in the same boat on all counts. ;)

[canipus]

Hi everyone,

I'm fairly new to the whole web design thing and would like to set up a basic website myself before bringing in a big gun to expand on my ideas...

I've played around with Frontpage and I can get around OK with it. I tried some frames and inserting graphics etc. Also played around with some of the themes. I was able to get one page up on my server without too much of a problem. I can learn software pretty quick... It's the design/layout that I am really slow at...

Can anyone recommend a decent and reasonably simple alternative to Frontpage for designing a website? Are there any good open source ones available?

Thanks.

you may want to look at some of the templates that are available such as Template Monster. You get a huge bang for the buck for the money they charge. There's templates for every business type available with and without flash and some of them are very very sophisticated that would take a pro litterally days of work to design. Once you got the template files you can customise them with some basic tools.

[Dave Tosti-Lane]

Hi everyone,

I'm fairly new to the whole web design thing and would like to set up a basic website myself before bringing in a big gun to expand on my ideas...

I<snip>

Can anyone recommend a decent and reasonably simple alternative to Frontpage for designing a website? Are there any good open source ones available?

Thanks.

I like Macromedia StudioMX a lot. Actually, just getting Dreamweaver 2004MX would give you most of what you need for basic site-building and maintenance.

I like the way Dreamweaver lets you work either in WYSIWYG or html code, or both simultaneously. It's really simple to get started, and easy to manipulate the pages as you build them, easy to set up links, and simple to do site maintenance.

Dave Tosti-Lane

[TotalSonic]

For a $50 incredibly easy to use solution that has some pretty cool features check out Site Spinner from Virtual Mechanics -
http://www.virtualmechanics.com

I did the updated Invert site using it which I think turned out pretty well (although admittedly it still needs a bit of tweaking) and my web design skills are pretty minimal - http://www.invert.org/about.htm

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Jay Q]

Hi David,

*SNOB ALERT*. I do this for a living, so please forgive any acidity in my tone. If you plan to modify/maintain your site with any regularity, FrontPage is a waste of time. It's notorius for munching code, which isn't a terrible problem for IE users since IE makes tons of assumptions about what the code "intended" to do, and will "forgive" bad code.

If you don't mind laying down a fairly large chunk of change, you'll probably find Macromedia DreamWeaver hard to beat for ease of use as a beginner. The only caveat is that, like any sophisticated tool, it can be dangerous in the hands of a beginner. I've had to fix some sites that were busted by DW (well, by the person using it); mostly they were javascript errors, which may not be an issue for you depending on what you want your site to do. Not that you asked for this kind of advice, but just resist the temptations of the bells and whistles (which may be hard to do with DW), and you'll find that your site is not only easier to maintain but probably more user-friendly.

I have very little experience with open source web dev software (just Mozilla/Netscape Composer which is very basic; I use an app called Homesite which I wouldn't steer you toward for several reasons), but here're some links to sites that may be helpful in finding something that suits you:
http://www.thefreecountry.com/webmaster/htmleditors.shtml
http://www.cmsreview.com/WYSIWYG/OpenSource/Directory.html

Though Mozilla Composer is pretty basic, it may suit your needs. It comes with the browser which would be good for you to have for testing purposes anyway, so maybe that's worth a shot.

If I were you, I'd Google on this topic.

Jay

[danickstr]

i have yahoo host my site for 12 bucks a month. they give me lots of free stuff to do the basics for the site. i own dreamweaver but havent updated it for awhile. it was real good, but this thing for free works well and does the same basic stuff just not with html, which is more for experts. another .02 for you.

cheers!

[Naturally Digital]

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions!

Jay, I'll have a look at those links. Thanks. The app from Steve could work. I'll have to download the demo.

I've been looking at Composer and perhaps for my needs it'll be fine. I have Mozilla installed anyway. I'm definitely going to resist the "bells and whistles" as much as possible.

Thanks again.
Dave.

[Naturally Digital]

Hey, this looks exciting... http://nvu.com/index.html

Canipus, thanks for the link to the templates... Wow! There are quite a few there. I found about 6 or so that may be suitable. We'll see how it all comes together.

[Veit Kenner]

Hey, this looks exciting... http://nvu.com/index.html
Hi David,

I was just about to recommend NVU but due to the time lag I came to late. My recommendation is still valid :-) I don't think, it's perfect but it should serve your basic needs well. Best thing is, it follows webstandards and it's code is not too bad.

For free templates that you can use in NVU (and other editors) look at http://oswd.org/ (Open Source Web Design).

Happy coding,

Veit

[Dennyf]

Arachnophilia (http://www.arachnoid.com/arachnophilia/) is what I've been using for several years now. It's not exactly WYSIWYG, but it does help with layout, color schemes, etc., and shows you your changes in a browser window as you make them. It's a great tool for learning HTML as well as building your site, and won't add the ridiculous bloated-code overhead that FPexpress does.

If you decide to try it, I'd suggest getting v4.0 if you're running any variety of Windows, only get v5.2 if you're running something else. 5.2 uses the Java virtual machine, and frankly is s-l-o-w, and otherwise no more feature-rich than 4.0.

Oh, did I mention it's free? ;)

[Tim Miskimon]

Forget Front Page - like lots of Microsoft software - it sucks.
Dream Weaver is much better & easier to use to boot.

[SoundSuite]

Front Page bloats your code
Sorry, I cannot recommend an html editor other than notepad...

I use PHP Edit ;)

[Veit Kenner]

Sorry, I cannot recommend an html editor other than notepad...
If we're talking great editors I prefer WeaverSlave (http://www.weaverslave.ws/weaverslave.31.html). Free, fast, slick, stable.

For a reasonable amount of money I highly recommend Topstyle (http://www.feeddemon.com/topstyle/index.asp) which does both HTML and CSS in a very elegant way.

Veit

[Carl G.]

I use NetObjects Fusion too.
...but have been innactive with it for over a year...
have the new version now...time to get back to work!