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Web site software

Joined
Apr 25, 2004
Messages
165
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Location
Milkyway
Dreamweaver has a lot of functionality and a short learning curve. If you have a child in school you can get an acadimic version (which means the product can't be upgraded) for less than 100. Full retail is $350 - $450. So find a kid to buy it for (son, grandson, neighbors son...).

You can usualy find out something about the software used to make a web site by viewing the source. If you see a site that you like select VIEW/Source. Look are the first few lines inspecting the

<meta name="generator" content=

the content attribute will often provide the name of the software used for the website. For example the line of interest for this site is:

<meta name="generator" content="vBulletin 3.0.0" />

For your site it's:

<meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document">

for my site it's:

<META name="generator" content="LView(R) Pro Web Gallery">

Part of developing a web site is putting it together. These things are not automatic, it takes a while. If you can create a "style" that delivers the user experince you are looking for and carry that "style" throughout your site you will be doing less work latter on.

I looked at your site and noticed that the pictures were less than perfect. Pictures also take time, effort and money.

A lot of us have a lot more time than money. For us learning HTML is a cheap way to make a web site. For some of us we want the web site to look nice and we don't want to spend more than a couple of hours getting it looking nice. I figue it takes a couple hours to get a nice looking photo (as opposed to a snapshot) on a web site. So if you want to spend more time turning and less time sitting in front of the computer feeling frustrated you should pay someone to make your web site for you. You will still have to supply the source material. But there is no learning curve and you don't need to concern yourself with a bunch in information and skills which you won't use again.

So those are your three choices as I see it:

Learn HTML and spend the time and effort to do it yourself.

Be satisfyed with a less than perfect web site.

Pay someone who knows what they are doing to help you make a web site.

P. S. I selected option 2 www.gyniahouse.com
 

Steve Worcester

Admin Emeritus
Joined
Apr 9, 2004
Messages
2,690
Likes
93
Location
Plano, Texas
Website
www.turningwood.com
I have been using Frontpage for about 4 years now. While I don't get fancy with it, I haven't found anything in the same price range with reasonable functionality. That and I guess I am not willing to start yet another learning curve.

You do know that as a student, you are able to get considerable discounts on many of the popular software titles.
 
Joined
Apr 27, 2004
Messages
2
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0
akransom said:
I am fed up with Frontpage and am looking for software recomendations. I would like to stay under $100.
www.turningaround.org

I've been using SoftPress' Freeway for a couple of months, and am quite pleased.
<http://softpress.com/en>
It uses a page layout model, following much the same format as Quark Xpress or Adobe. You place the picture elements on the page, and the program creates the html. It's gotten some good reviews from a number of sites. They have a basic version for $89, or a full featured one for a bit over $200. I got the full version that supports CSS and a bunch of other features. You can download a time limited trial version that will work for 30 days.
 
Joined
Apr 9, 2004
Messages
1,287
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4
Location
Austin, TX
Website
www.woodturner.org
I have used Frontpage and concur with your opinion. It is useful but it also is very inefficient and produces a huge amount of HTML.

I used Dreamweaver to redesign and implement this website. I would only recommend it for larger sites (ie. >30 pages). It is an excellent tool but has a high learning curve. It is also priced at a higher target because of its industrial nature.

You may not have a tech background. For smaller work I've coded up the HTML by hand and it's not that hard to learn it. If you don't find a decent small tool, you might consider that alternative.
 
Joined
Apr 25, 2004
Messages
34
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0
Location
Granville, Ohio
Back when Allaire owned Dreamweaver and Coldfusion they had a freeware program called HomeSite IIRC. Great html editor if you didn't need the database functionality or all the graphics intergration. Actually Coldfusion 4.5 and earlier editor was Homesite on steriods. Not sure if MacroMedia still distributes it or not.

Tony
 
Joined
Apr 9, 2004
Messages
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4
Location
Austin, TX
Website
www.woodturner.org
An aside - reply to Tony - Mostly Macromedia is focused on Dreamweaver at this point. Their ColdFusion work is falling by the wayside as PHP gains popularity daily. Also the other Allaire stuff is not being maintained. This AAW site uses ColdFusion quite a bit - which was a good choice back in 1996. But eventually it will have to all be converted.
 
Joined
Apr 25, 2004
Messages
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0
Location
Granville, Ohio
Hi Jeff,
That's kinda sad, but I figured that would happen when MacroMedia bought them out. I don't do alot of programming anymore, but I hate to think of how many thousands of lines of code I wrote using ColdFusion back in the 90's. It was one of the best programming enviroments out there for building datacentric web apps.

Tony
 
Joined
Apr 25, 2004
Messages
23
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0
Location
Dallas, TX
Website
www.lasered-stamps.com
I've also been using Softpress' Freeway Express on a mac platform. I don't know if it is available for Windows. But at $89 is has been an excellent program and easy to use. peace.
 
Joined
Apr 9, 2004
Messages
68
Likes
2
Location
Los Angeles, CA
Website
www.cswwoodworks.com
SiteSpinner

I do alot of brochure type websites and mainly use Dreamweaver and hand coding, but for my personal site, I found a cool little product that works very well and used it in conjunction with the other two (yes, I am a bit over the top on my own stuff). It also includes a miniature drawing app built in as well as basic image editing capabilties all for $49. It's called SiteSpinner V2
here's the link:

http://www.virtualmechanics.com/products/spinner/index.html

I also tried WebDwarfV2, their free program, but it is limited and won't let you publish a whole site without some playing around with the code manually. The $49 SiteSpinner will do the job pretty well (works on PCs only though) and has a 15 day free trial to see if you like it.

OR you can go for the gusto and get their do-all app, IMS Web Engine: (the next part is from their website) IMS Web Engine is a unique Web Design and Animation application that combines a Word Processor, a Vector Geometry editor, an advanced Renderer, an Animation editor, Behaviors and Web support features for export to HTML, Dynamic HTML and SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics). http://www.virtualmechanics.com/products/engine/index.html

If you buy IMS for the $99 price tag, you get SiteSpinnerV2 for free. Not a bad deal.
 
Joined
Apr 24, 2004
Messages
40
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0
Location
Bucks County PA
Website
sawsndust.com
I dropped using FrontPage a couple of years ago...'got tired of the incompatibilities with browsers other than IE, it's bloated and unreadable code and it's many other quirks. I switched to Dreamweaver MX and now use Dreamweaver MX 2004. It's a "dream" to use and made the transition from plain old HTML code to CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) a piece of cake. Dreamweaver is more expensive than your desired $100 limit, but consider the long term value when you invest in software. A good product by a good company can make a big difference.
 
Joined
May 25, 2004
Messages
25
Likes
0
Location
Oklahoma City, OK
Website
www.theokspindoctor.com
Website Authoring

I have been using Sausage Software's HotDog software. It is under $100 and very capable. They have a new version called PageWiz that is $69 and has WYSIWYG capabilities. I have used it for several years. Check it out at www.sausage.com :D

Good Luck! You can download a trial version that is fully functional for 30 days!

Check out my programming using it at www.theokspindoctor.com :cool:
 
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