 sj |
||
|
||
tech: Best programme for creating website?
|
|
|
Subject: BS: Best programme for creating website? From: Stower Date: 16 Nov 09 - 01:25 PM Within the next few months I will be creating a website. The last time I did this was 10 years ago, so obviously times and technology have moved on tremendously. Could any of you recommend an easy to use programme (and give any other handy advice) on creating a website that will have all the obvious features such as links to other sites, an easy to use menu, and will: * be secure for credit card transactions * have a 'form' facility to people to send private messages (rather than go through email) * have downloadable music files (probably MP3) and video files, one or two for free, the rest only downloadable upon payment (and is it possible to protect these so they cannot be copied by the purchaser to give free to their buddies?) I'm a quick learner and would enjoy the creative challange of building a website. Some have counselled me that it is better to get a professional site builder to do it nowadays. Advice and recommendations? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Best programme for creating website? From: gnu Date: 16 Nov 09 - 01:30 PM Nope... just a thought. If YOU build it, you can maintain it and fix it. Maybe even build sites for others. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Best programme for creating website? From: Stower Date: 16 Nov 09 - 01:33 PM Gnu, that is one of the reasons I want to do it, so I am in control and I don't need to wait for someone else to fix any problems. Plus I learn a new skill. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Best programme for creating website? From: GUEST,www.robbycleary.com Date: 16 Nov 09 - 01:34 PM Learn HTML .. there are great .. simple books available . . . I do my own code .. it take some time to learn .. but after you do .. you have greater control of what you want and how you want it to opporate . . . www.robbycleary.com . . . peace =:0] |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Best programme for creating website? From: Will Fly Date: 16 Nov 09 - 02:06 PM I use Dreamweaver to build and maintain my website. It contains lots of templates and can be used in simple or complex modes. If you get to use it, I'm happy to help and offer any advice I can. However, whichever system you use, a knowledge of basic HTML is a huge advantage... :-) |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Best programme for creating website? From: Rasener Date: 16 Nov 09 - 02:19 PM Stower Which country are you in? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Best programme for creating website? From: VirginiaTam Date: 16 Nov 09 - 03:01 PM Whatever you do.. don;t use Front page. It likes to garble code. DreamWeaver is good, but it is best to learn to write HTML code. Much easier to avoid mistakes and fix stuff if you write it from scratch. If you take a course or are doing a website for someone who is paying you, they expect you to learn/know HTML code. To start - . List of what you want on this website to contain (menu items = navigable pages) . Create a CSS (cascading style sheets) to maintain formatting for each page (not good when customer thinks he has navigated to a new site. All pages should look the same. . Keep each page simple and uncluttered (lots of white space) no fancy fonts. Different browsers will handle the information differently. Some don't like frames, others don't like layers, etc. . If you want you site taken seriously - Avoid eye candy. Fancy graphics and bells and whistles that contribute nothing to the message and meaning. Select a simple elegant graphic or create a logo for your site that shows in the same place on every navigable page. . Use language that makes sense to the average population - (check out Plain English writing style). Use language most used by similar websites. Research this. My bugbear is not using the term "discography" for "recordings2 or "songs." And using the terms "dates" or "calendar" when you mean "upcoming gigs or "performance diary" depending on the type of performer and audience you wish to attract. Whew! All that remembered from HTML courses I took in 1999 and 2000. Hot damn. Memory still works for some things. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Best programme for creating website? From: GUEST,Jonny Sunshine Date: 16 Nov 09 - 03:35 PM I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination, but there's really no substitute for learning HTML yourself and eliminating the need for any fancy software. I thoroughly recommend "Integrated HTML and CSS" by Virginia DeBolt if you want to go down that route. I made my first website with Micro$oft Frontpage (don't go there) graduated through various freeware HTML editors until I knew enough to just code the pages myself using Wordpad / Notepad (in Windows) and GEdit (in Linux). Of course there's a steep learning curve, but in my opinion it's far better to invest time learning what's going on underneath than to invest time -and money- in learning some expensive software without understanding how webpages actually work. Stuff like credit card ordering, paid-for downloads and mailing list signup forms I use third-party systems (Paypal, CD Baby's digital distribution and Fanbridge), rather than try to re-create their functionality myself. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Best programme for creating website? From: GUEST,TIA Date: 16 Nov 09 - 03:39 PM NetObjects Fusion work svery well. For credit card transaction, there is a PayPal module. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Best programme for creating website? From: Stower Date: 16 Nov 09 - 03:55 PM Villan, I'm in England, so only programmes available here (if that was the reason for your question). Could I learn HTML by using guides on websites (I presume yes)? Which site(s) would you recommend? Or is there a good book to follow? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Best programme for creating website? From: Maryrrf Date: 16 Nov 09 - 06:39 PM It depends on how much time you want to put into it. Learning HTML is great, and probably a good idea, but may be overkill if you just want to put together a functional website that gets the information out about your band, folk club or whatever. A fellow Mudcatter told me about Mr. Site . I got stuck with the job of putting a website together and it had to be done quickly, and this worked well - there was very little in the way of learning curve and I had the website up in a day or so. One thing I like about it is that the website building tools are all on-line, so I can update the website quickly from any computer. The cost is reasonable, too. I'm in the USA and this company is located in the UK, but that hasn't been a problem. If you have the time and the inclination to learn HTML go for it - it's a great skill to have, but if you want something quick and easy you might try something like Mr. Site, or use some of the on-line templates and web building tools offered by some site hosters, such as GoDaddy or Yahoo. (Yahoo used to have a much better on-line web builder, but they seem to be steadily going downhill). You'll be limited as to your format - it depends on how creative you want to get. Here's the site I did using Mr. Site: http://www.richmondfolkmusic.com , and here's one I did using Yahoo's on-line tools: http://www.frugaldecorconnection.com . Good luck and let us see the site when you have it done. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Best programme for creating website? From: Bill D Date: 16 Nov 09 - 07:58 PM Kompozer Free...recommended by the alt.comp.freeware newsgroup |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Best programme for creating website? From: TheSnail Date: 16 Nov 09 - 08:40 PM Here's a pretty good site for learning HTML and other web skills - http://www.w3schools.com/ |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Best programme for creating website? From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 16 Nov 09 - 10:22 PM What a strange parallel universe...
TECH is seeking (soon EVERYONE will be seeking) "The Lower Kingdom" because the B.S. (Brit Sh!t) is so great "above the line" that there is a better chance of being read in a place for offal outside the castle walls..."Name of the Rose."
Sincerely, |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Best programme for creating website? From: Stower Date: 17 Nov 09 - 05:43 AM Bill D, Kompozer uses WYSIWYG, which I've been advised by several people to steer clear of, though I don't really know why! I must say Mr Site looks like just the thing I'm looking for, without having to learn html. This may be the way as I'm not planning to build another website, just this one for me. Thanks all. Any more recommendations or advice? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Best programme for creating website? From: Maryrrf Date: 17 Nov 09 - 01:31 PM If you do decide to use Mr. Site PM me if you have problems - there are a few little things that are tricky and I'm happy to help. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Best programme for creating website? From: Joe Offer Date: 17 Nov 09 - 02:51 PM Stower, I'm looking for Website design software, too. Generally, "WYSIWYG" is an acronym which means "What You See Is What You Get," and may not be the name of a secondary program that KompoZer makes use of (or maybe it is, but I doubt it - does anybody know for sure?). This KompoZer tutorial (click) may give you an idea how it works. WYSIWYG functionality is very useful in Web Page design, since it allows you to easily see how the page is going to look. Has anybody here used Kompozer, and can you give us an evaluation of it? I'm looking for something that produces simple HTML. Most programs I've seen produce a page with a huge amount of garbage you don't need, like identical formatting commands for every line on the page instead of a single command for a whole section. So, I'm thinking you misunderstood the advice you got on WYSIWYG - I can't imagine why anybody wouldn't want to easily see how their end product will appear. I maintain the Wellspring Women's Center Website (click), and I also use a lot of HTML at Mudcat and a couple of other Websites. The women's center Website was already in place when I took it over, and I simply made updates to most of the pages and preserved the existing format. Our development director sends me PDF files for posting, and I grudgingly accommodate her. I really don't like the idea of using PDF files so extensively, but it does get information posted in the format she wants. She's done some pages in Microsoft Publisher and saved them as HTML; but Publisher does a much better job of PDF, than it does of HTML. So, I'm looking for a program both she and I can use, that will create ungarbaged HTML pages that look good. The development director is fairly technically adept, but she isn't willing to learn HTML. I use naked HTML in Notepad for designing Web pages, and that limits me to fairly simple designs. I use tables to locate text and images where I want them, and that works pretty well for me. I do wish I had a better understanding of the <div> command for locating things on a Web Page. That's my greatest shortcoming - learning how to put things where I want them on a page. I'm tempted to get DreamWeaver, but I'm not sure of the legality of it all. I can get it at a very reasonable price for the Women's Center (it's actually a donation from Adobe with a processing fee from techsoup.com, but I do most of the Web Page work at home, on my own computer. So, if I get a software package as a donation to a nonprofit, is it legal to use it on my home computer? I think I'd have to hire a lawyer to study the user agreement to figure that one out. I suppose I could donate a laptop to the Women's Center and then put the donated software on it and use it just for the Women's Center, but it would be easier to just do it on my own computer. -Joe- This page (click) on Web Page Authoring Tools looks interesting. This Wikipedia page (HTML Editor) may also be helpful, and will clarify the issue of WYSIWYG editing. |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: Stower Date: 17 Nov 09 - 03:51 PM Thanks, Maryrrf. If I have a problem, I may well take you up on that. Joe, I'm a complete novice when it comes to making websites and using computer tech speak: "I use tables"? "naked HTML in Notepad"? " better understanding of the div command"? Even in your short contribution above I'm getting lost, Joe, which is nudging even further in the direction of Mr. Site. I'm afraid my experience of talking to any computer techie about anything technical is be more confused by the end as every third word is a piece of jargon I don't understand. |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: Bill D Date: 17 Nov 09 - 04:18 PM The short answer is: the more you know and understand HTML, the less you need WYSIWYG. Programs like Kompozer don't always give you a 'standard' result that works right in every browser....though, IF you know what you are doing, you can do the basic creation using WYSIWYG/Kompozer, then do final tweaking using editing mode. ANY code can be adjusted to compensate for small problems....WYSIWYG is just a way to see results fast and know that you are getting close. |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: Joe Offer Date: 17 Nov 09 - 04:28 PM Hi, Stower - If you're going to design a Web page, you really do need to know some basic HTML. Take a look at our Mudcat HTML guide PermaThread to get a general idea of basic HTML techniques. There's also a thread on HTML Tables that will show you want I'm talking about. Feel free to go to any of our HTML Practice threads and try out some HTML - use the Filter and look for practice - here's one (click). Unfortunately, we don't allow tables in threads, because messed-up tables cause us problems. You can also use the "preview" function in any Mudcat message to practice HTML. Use the "preview" check box in a practice thread, and you can practice all day and ensure that the world will never see your mistakes. A couple of hours of practice, and you'll be amazed what you can do. For an example of what I mean, point to a white space on this page and click the right button on your mouse. From the menu that appears, choose View Source. A window will appear that shows all the HTML code used to make this page. I started doing HTML by doing a "view source," and copying the code that did what I wanted and pasting it into a box at Mudcat. I started with the simple stuff, like making bold type by using these HTML tags: <b>BOLD</b>Once you've gotten used to using a bit of HTML at Mudcat, then you can try a little HTML in a simple text editor, like Notepad (comes with every version of Microsoft Windows). Don't get overwhelmed. It's all very simple, if you take one step at a time. Start with a <b>BOLD</b> command, and do it over and over until you're comfortable. Once you've mastered the <b>BOLD</b> command, you're halfway there. -Joe- |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: GUEST,olddude Date: 17 Nov 09 - 04:51 PM Depends entirely on what volume of traffic you expect and security etc. The very best is a robust Java application, Java JSP however is complex. If you are going to use a database under the hood (and you should) look at learning PHP ... That language is pretty darn good for database apps and widely used but you will still need HTML Dan |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: ard mhacha Date: 17 Nov 09 - 04:57 PM Joe your Thread is a must for beginners I found it very helpful, thus the bombardment of my blue clickeys. |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: GUEST,olddude Date: 17 Nov 09 - 05:06 PM Oh and dont use javascript to handle the database if you are going to have people register- use PHP javascript isn't java and it can be hacked in about 2 seconds. For online payments just sign up for Paypal and upgrade to a merchant account. It is free and you can take credit card payments and it is very secure actually. Don't sign up with the online credit card companies just use Paypal. Works great and they handle all the security and payment stuff and even a beginner can add the javascript line in to route to paypal and return. Under they hood of paypal they handle all the techno geek stuff that I use to have to deal with myself Dan |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 Nov 09 - 05:34 PM HTML for the World Wide Web in whatever edition is most current (a Visual Quick Start guide from Peachtree Press) is a good starting point. It gives you tips based upon different browsers, and now, probably good information about HTML editors. I've used FrontPage for years. It isn't great, but it is the one I know. I don't like the newest version, "SharePoint" because it is too busy trying to close all of your code to let you used the damned thing. Dreamweaver is the industry standard, but there is a learning curve, one I'm going to try to get past again. (Every time I took the course I wasn't working on a web page, and by the time I got to the web page, I'd forgotten just enough to make it difficult. So if you take a class, start using it heavily from day one.) SRS |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 17 Nov 09 - 10:49 PM Find a SIMPLE Website (NOT Mudcat) KISS
View the SOURCE and copy it.
Then change the background ... and change the URL's ... substitute your descriptions in the code....and your photo-bucker/flicker references.
Two hours and you have a premium presentation...without the premium cost...or hassle.
There are MANY practice pages but as Mr. Offer indicated the Mudcat HTML is a good start. |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: Stower Date: 18 Nov 09 - 06:26 AM Hell's bells, I'm feeling lost again! Javascript? PHP? Java? Where do I find a practice page? Or do you mean type in messages but don't send them? "View the SOURCE and copy it." Get it. "Then change the background ... and change the URL's ... substitute your descriptions in the code....and your photo-bucker/flicker references." Uh? How? Where? I know all you techies out there must be thinking, 'We've got a right 'un 'ere', but please remember: you have a whole frame of reference I don't have; you are speaking from a mental map with names and references, and I have never seen that map! |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: TheSnail Date: 18 Nov 09 - 08:51 AM Stower, don't worry about Javascript, PHP or Java. They are far beyond what you need at the moment. I'll give another plug for the W3Schools website I mentioned earlier, this time pointing directly to the HTML tutorial.- http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp It leads you very gently by the hand and provides a means for you to try out you own code. |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: treewind Date: 18 Nov 09 - 09:31 AM "Best Programme?" I'm with the hand-coding enthusiasts. The "programmes" I use are: vim for editing (it has syntax coloring for HTML, PHP, CSS and many other languages besides) Apache webserver for testing locally PHP (that's why I need a local web server and can't just view the files. It's not exactly a programme, but a language) sitecopy (convenient way of uploading changed local files to real site using ftp) The other requirements are not trivial, and can't be done just by using "a program" to create web sites: be secure for credit card transactions As others have said, use PayPal for the security heavy lifting. In the UK I also use Nochex because they are cheaper. have a 'form' facility to people to send private messages (rather than go through email) That implies a whole slew of database stuff for identifying people, signing on, passwords, storing messages. If you've never made a web site I wouldn't advise starting there. have downloadable music files (probably MP3) and video files That's trivial, just upload files and embed a link in the page where it's downloaded from. the rest only downloadable upon payment Again all much of that database stuff above probably applies. You can get PayPal to invoke a callback page, in which you have PHP code to update the database to say that customer has paid. Good luck! (and is it possible to protect these so they cannot be copied No. See what happened when Sony tried it on CDs and the lengths they had to go to in the attempt. Writing code with HTML, PHP and MySQL (the most likely languages you'll be using) is a nightmare if you're not familiar with all of them. Start with static HTML and CSS, then learn PHP, then MySQL if you need databases. You might get part of the way there more quickly with online Content Management Systems like Wordpress, Joomla, one of the Wiki packages, Drupal or similar, assuming your web host allows you to use them. But you won't really understand what's going on if you do it that way, nor have so much control over the appearance of the site. Anahata |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: treewind Date: 18 Nov 09 - 09:40 AM PS if you want a big improvement over notepad (for anything, including but not limited to HTML) get Notepad2. Free, simple, but so much better... |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Nov 09 - 10:41 AM Notepad is a hand coder's best friend. It is the easiest way to scrape out the nonsense from a program like Word. If you look at the top of your browser and choose View and go look at the Source Code, as long as it doesn't have all of the fancy machine language and javascript that is indecipherable, just straight html or dhtml or xml or CSS you can see, etc. look them up) you can copy a lot of it. If they used a cascading style sheet from another location (versus embedding it in the top of the page) then you need to recreate it, so you might as well find a different one to copy. Tables are your friend. It's much neater to look at than a page that can scrawl all of the way across the browser window. Those can be messy, move around, and unstable to try to read or print sometimes. You can make simple forms, etc. Look for the book I mentioned and it tells you all about this stuff. SRS |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: Desert Dancer Date: 18 Nov 09 - 11:47 AM You can't just copy from "View Source" and "change the background", etc., any more without also tunneling through to the CSS file and copying that, so there's a fair amount that you need to understand to do it. It ain't simple any more, if you want your site to look decent (that is, to compete with others) and to do secure sales. To do it yourself will take a substantial investment of learning/tinkering time, especially given that it sounds like you're starting from scratch on the techie front. There are various options nowadays that are less than doing it yourself and more than hiring someone, about which I know little: Google Sites -- here's an example: AZ We Dance Intuit has recently started a business web site service. Don't know if it's available in the U.K. There are probably other comparable things out there, too. There are also lots of starving web designers out there... contact your local college that might provide training and see if you can get a recommendation from a prof...? ~ Becky in Long Beach |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: Bill D Date: 18 Nov 09 - 12:33 PM Lot's of valuable info here, but most of it misses Stower's point.....that he simply doesn't comprehend 95% of the jargon, and needs a language course before he could begin to use most of the suggestions. My suggestion of Kompozer was the simplest I could think of except for something like "Mr. Site" About 12 years ago, I used an early 'build your own' to do Mudcat's first attempt to host pictures & links of members. It worked, but was very limited. Amazingly, it is still up, though it hasn't been changed in 10-11 years. It 'might' be, Stower, that what you need is to find someone you know locally who can do some of this, and sit beside them as they create a basic page and show you what actual actions are meant by some of the arcane language here. |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: Bill D Date: 18 Nov 09 - 12:42 PM (of course, many links in that site are long gone,,,as are several of the people) |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: Maryrrf Date: 18 Nov 09 - 01:45 PM There is a long, steep learning curve when you attempt to build a website from scratch using HTML. I don't dispute the value of being able to hand code, but if all somebody wants is to put together a basic website I don't see anything wrong with using an easy program with predesigned templates. I would choose that option as opposed to paying somebody to do the website. That way you can do your own updates. |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: Stower Date: 19 Nov 09 - 04:51 AM Thanks, TheSnail and Maryrrf. Bill D: "Lot's of valuable info here, but most of it misses Stower's point.....that he simply doesn't comprehend 95% of the jargon, and needs a language course before he could begin to use most of the suggestions." Yes. Thank you. Treewind, please do correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure the advert for Mr. Site (link above) says all the items you mention - Paypal etc. - are available using their programme. This being the case it seems the best option for me, unless there is a compelling reason for me to get to the stage where the language many of you use makes sense to me for the sake of making and maintaining just *one* website. |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: TheSnail Date: 19 Nov 09 - 07:17 AM Recently discovered this but haven't had time to explore it much yet - http://www.weebly.com/ |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: GUEST Date: 19 Nov 09 - 07:40 AM I took a look at Mr.Site. Yes, it does do most of what you want. I suspect you only have limited control over the appearance and functionality but maybe that doesn't matter. I'm not sure if it will do private messages between users, but that may be a part of the "forum" feature. Mr.Site also gives you a whole package including hosting and domain name, so it saves you a few other headaches and learning curves as well. It's not the cheapest way of hosting a site. But the beginner package for a year wouldn't break the bank if it turned out not to do all you wanted after all. Anahata |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: treewind Date: 19 Nov 09 - 07:44 AM Oops, just installed new browser SRWare Iron and forgot to login and set up a cookie. That was me posting as GUEST above. Anahata |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: Crane Driver Date: 19 Nov 09 - 08:01 AM We used Mr Site to produce our website Crane Drivin' Music. It gives quite a lot of functionality and appearance (more now than it did then) and you can go into 'advanced' mode and code directly in HTML if you want(need) to. We're happy with the result, anyhow. Andrew & Carole |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: treewind Date: 19 Nov 09 - 10:18 AM Joe: I'm tempted to get DreamWeaver, but I'm not sure of the legality of it all. I haven't studied the matter carefully, but I have heard that Dreamweaver's output is the least horrendous among the various WYSIWYG HTML editors, so it might not be a bad choice. As for the legal implications in your case, I assume you mean that once you have DW installed on your computer at home, purchased at a "charity" price through the women's center, you'll want to use it for other purposes. If you are the only person maintaining their site, and you want to keep above board morally and legally, you could purchase it at normal price (so you can use it for anything with a clear conscience) and suggest that your clients donate the "charity price" of DW to you as a contribution towards your purchase. Then they've paid what they'd have had to anyway. They won't own that copy of the software but as they are getting your services for free (? I assume) how can they complain? Anahata |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: Newport Boy Date: 19 Nov 09 - 01:05 PM Another guide can be found on mustrad.org.uk - at the bottom of the home page is a link to HTML Coding. It's a good-looking site, and Rod Stradling writes a clear guide. Phil |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: Desert Dancer Date: 19 Nov 09 - 03:56 PM Newport Boy, this morning I thought of recommending that page -- it helped me get started, but then I took a look again and thought better of it. It's pretty old, and not up to current standards (at the least, tags should be lower-case, "i" and "bold" have been changed to "em" and "strong", and it's all pre-CSS). Although it's a good overview of the concept, there are better and more current online tutorials available. ~ Becky in Long Beach |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: Newport Boy Date: 19 Nov 09 - 04:29 PM You're probably right, Becky. I was really suggesting it as a clear explanation rather than a step-by-step tutorial. Phil |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: GUEST Date: 19 Nov 09 - 04:56 PM Stower - to get a BASIC idea.
Go to Bill D's 12 year old posting noted above.
In your web-browser click VIEW and then click SOURCE.
EVERYTHING with a <by it is the start of the code that creates the visual effect you see on Bill D's slice of a Mudcat Fossil.
The references within THIS thread are excellent.
Now it appears that Becky knows of better and more current online tutorials Perhaps...she will share?
If you want a ready made place - (and it sounds like you do) then "GoDaddy" (advertised on the SuperBowl) may have features you desire (templates-hosting-securesocket-paypall etc)
Friends who ZILCH except for their medium - have been pleased with their results...there. |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: Maryrrf Date: 20 Nov 09 - 10:26 AM I've been playing around with theweebly thing mentioned by Snail. Looks interesting. |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: Tootler Date: 20 Nov 09 - 03:44 PM I'm also with the hand coders. Most of the various programs you can get to create websites with create hugely bloated code and so use far more resources and bandwidth than is necessary to get your information over. I once created a home page using a proprietary website creator and for a fairly simple home page it created a page 2MB in size! I was appalled so I went in a slimmed down the code and generally modified it to make it more compact and reduced the size of the page to around 200KB a reduction of around 90%. For that reason, I suggest avoiding proprietary site creators. When I first created a website I went out and bought a book on HTML and I would still say that is the best place to start. Like it or not, print is much easier to move forward and back through than are on line tutorials IMO, though the latter may often be free. Later on I also bought a book on CSS and taught myself that. These days you need to learn both. I use a text editor called Arachnophilia for developing and editing web pages. It is a free download written in Java so is OS independant. It works equally well in Windows and Linux for me and there is no installation needed. It highlights the HTML tags in colour and enables you to input tags on the click of a mouse and has browser links available for checking the page. |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: Nick Date: 20 Nov 09 - 07:44 PM Joe I used to use Dreamweaver and found it a nice balance. The code it produced was not horribly bloated and was understandable when you went to the code view and I could do a mix of handcoding stuff that I felt comfortable with and using the tools it offered. I haven't used it since about version 3 or 4 so it's probably moved on quite a lot. If my memory serves me right (and having checked it does!!) you can legally download a fully functional version for 30 days to see how you get on with it. Armed with one of the many "Learn Dreamweaver in a Weekend" books and the knowledge you already have I would doubt you would have any trouble with it. Free Downloads from Adobe |
|
Subject: RE: tech: Best programme for creating website? From: Bill D Date: 20 Nov 09 - 10:21 PM I 2nd Arachnophilia! It is excellent... and the entire Arachnoid website makes very interesting reading. The author is one of those certified geniuses.... if a bit opinionated on a few things.. *grin*..(fortunately, he agrees with ME on most stuff) |
| Share Thread: |
