17 replies to this topic

[Mark Strom]

I am dire need of a user friendly program to create a website. My current site is being done by someone who is not getting paid and did it as a favor in his spare time. Originally there was not the need nor the desire to have a site but that will be changing in the next 2 months.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[Ed Twilbeck]

Hi Mark I use Tripod. It is free, very user friendly, You have to put up with their ads. But you have a lot of space and a good bit of freedom to change. The background on my site is a picture of burl wood. check out my site and you can go to tripod from there. If you choose to use their site , select the path for small business.
Ed Twilbeck

[DFogg]

I used Frontpage for years and they just stopped supporting the program and came out with Expression which has the same friendly format, but a more complete toolbox. Professional designers diss Frontpage, but for those of us who are not interested in becoming code weenies it fills the bill.

[Janel]

I have been using Dreamweaver MX 2004. Upgrading to the newer version is not in my budget, so I hope that the software is still compatible with current code needs. A member of TCP has recently urged me to learn the code and use that alone, to be sure everything works as planned. I am not there yet, though it is making a little sense when I read the Page Source for web pages.

[Jim Kelso]

I used Adobe/Macromedia Contribute as a way to gently ease into the process($150.). It's mainly used for editing, but it does have templates available if your needs are simple. I used it to make the jimkelso.com site and the tutorials there. No code neceassary. Drag and drop.

JimKelso.com

[Mark Strom]

Thanks for all the information. I admit that learning the codes and the technical aspects is intimidating. Sitting at the computer can eat away alot of time. I have found some forums and sites that refer to the programs mentioned so I will be checking them out.

[Natasha]

Hi!
I use Microsoft Word (there is lessons how to do a site some ready models of site) and AdobePhotoshope! I alwais do my site myself! I studied it myself too!

[Jim Kelso]

C'mon you lurkers. I know there are some geeks amongst you!

[DanM]

I'm not a geek,but a few of my children's friends could be called Geeks. i've been happy with Dreamweaver 3 for the last few years. there is a free program much like dreamweaver availible, see link.

NVU

[Mark Strom]

I have gone to the dreamweaver site among others. I use corel draw and am wondering about that causing a problem. It seems photoshop is the program of choice. Does anyone know if this is a problem? I would hate to have to change photo programs as well.
And thanks for all the info, this stuff is over my head.

[Jim Kelso]

Yes NVU looks very interesting and being open-source it's free!

[DanM]

Corel is fine if that is what you have and know how to use. for quick photo editing i like photoshop elements,i find it quick and easy compared to Corel 10. at 72 dpi for use on the web a high cost photo editing program is not neccesary.

[Jim Kelso]

I agree Dan. Photoshop Elements has everything, and more, that most of us will ever need at less than a
hundred bucks.

This is worth checking out: Hidden Power of Elements

[Mark Strom]

Jim, are you talking about Adobe Elements5? It looks pretty good.
The NVU looks good also. Corel is not exactly user friendly.
It is great to have the input. Just makes research a great deal easier and eliminates wasted time. I would rather be carving any day.

[Sam Smith]

I know this thread is kinda old but I think its really neat so many of you actually make your own websites, I have built several sites and always write all the code myself, I use notepad++ its an open source "source code" editor, really nice for editing and viewing source code. This is its homepage if anyone is interested.


Sam.

[Simon F]

Hi Everyone.

I'm in need of a website myself, and have been playing around with a free download called Fusion Essentials - http://www.netobject...essentials.html

I seems fairly easy, and you can find your way past using their templates to design something nicer. Jim, please excuse me but as I like your website I've been trying to design something similar (at least for the time being while i work my way round this new program) and am finding that this Fusion product will do this.

It will also set you up to have catalogues with thumbnails that then automatically expand into larger photos etc, and also I think it has a template for E-commerce catalog.

Worth a look.
Cheers
Simon

[harryman]

I use an older version of Adobe Golive, it's relatively easy to use but it's wicked buggy. I use it because I've got it, but I wouldn't recommend it.

[edward_k]

Hi Mark et al,
Websites aren't too tricky at a certain level. I'd favour learning the basics of HTML either from a book (the peachpit ones are fine for starting - or look online at the w3schools site for free basics) or from a short course that I'm sure most places would run (like an evening course).

You can write the html in any editor from notepad to gvim or eclipse (last two are open source)... I think in eclipse you can preview the code which makes learning a lot easier.

As for images, if you go the route of basic html static pages (a good choice) you can just link in an image of your choice. Any software for image editing should have an option for optimizing the image for the web. Photoshop does this quite easily but if you are short on funds then you can use something like GIMP which is open source again.

Then it's just a question of playing with CSS (again look to w3schools) for the style, buying a domain name and renting some server space.

Alot of server space these days comes with many online tools such as the ability to create a forum / blog etc. Wordpress blogs seem a good option if you want that sort of site or phpbb forums are good too if you want to go that route.

What kind of site is it / will it be ? Portfolio ? Or something more interactive?

(My disclaimer to any of this knowledge is that I am a software engineer for my sins - well the day job at any rate !)

If you need any info give me a shout.
Ed