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Best Program For Novice Web Design ?


skeptismo

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Hello,

 

I want to start building my site, but I'm totally new to web design. I have a little experience on Frontpage and nothing more.

 

What will be the best program to start studying ? I've heard that Frontpage (because of MS compatibility issues etc) is not so w3c compliant, and although it has many options, you need Frontpage extensions on your site to support these.

 

I've also heard of Flash, and Dreamweaver and HomeSite. What progrmas of those may I choose for start and still be compliant with TCH hosting ?

 

Thanks for your time,

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Have a look at CuteSite Builder (CSB) from www.globalscape.com

 

I you can work in lets say Word, then you will have no problem with CSB.

 

Also, have a look at Samanthas brilliant info about CSB: http://www.samisite.com/csbreview.htm

 

CSB has a 30 day trial.

 

EDIT: I was wrong about the url to Samanthas info. Its now corrected.

Edited by Jikrantz
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I started off using Cool Page (www.3dize.com) which is pretty easy to use. It makes positioning things on a page very easy. Sometimes, though, I find Cool Page limiting, so that's when I export the page into Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver is awesome, but it can be overwhelming for the inexperienced.

 

Regards

Dan

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Hi all,

 

IMHO, Frontpage is evil! In my personal experience, the extensions would corrupt so often that I could set my watch by it.

 

I agree Dreamweaver can be robust, but it is relatively intuitive and a breeze for layouts. I still haven't used all the bells and whistles, and may never have the need to, but it is an industry standard app, so you know that techies will be familiar with it if you need help.

 

I used it to build my business site and my clients love the layout, so I guess I'm doing somthing right.

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I have to agree with my friend Thomas,

CuteSite Builder is a great way to start,

yet flexible enough to keep up as you learn.

And the code is very compatible with all browsers.

 

Or you could get book on html

and code by hand,

its not as hard as it might seem.

And can be fun. ;)

Edited by TCH-Don
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Yup... My two cents for CSB.

 

It has a simple interface (much like Word) but with the ability to add your own code, you can accomplish so much! Less expensive than Frontpage, and Dreamweaver, faster and lower learning curve. Best option for it's price and better option than many other cheaper programs.

 

TRY IT FREE FOR 30 DAYS - FULLY FUNCTIONAL TRIAL. If you don't like it, then don't pay for it. It will stop working.

 

TCH-Kevin and I have user to user help sites (thanks Thomas for the kind words!) and others assist on the user forum.

 

Here are links to many resources that would help you with the program:

http://www.samisite.com/webbuild.htm (including KW's templates from Richard and assistance from TCH-Don)

 

I started learning HTML because of CSB/Trellix when I tried to insert special code into my web pages with assistance from KW's website.

 

-Samantha

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Make sure you at least look at CSS so that, as you grow in experience, you can start using it. If you are an adventerous sort I'd recommend trying to learn it as you learn the rest. There is so much goodness in CSS that CSB, Dreamweaver and others miss out on at the most basic levels.

 

The good thing about Dreamweaver is that it is the best I've seen for supporting CSS. There are a bazillion sites about CSS, Table-less design (aka CSS-P) and why it's good. Take a peek. Go to www.csszengarden.com for a gee-whiz intro into one of the cool things you can do with it.

 

Most of all, look at the choices and don't let anyone tell you "Real developers use ____". Real developers use all of the above and others.

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CSB is lacking for CSS support. It was designed pre-css and still uses html 4 coding for bolding, underlining, etc. If CSS is most important than I say do not start with CSB...Go to a different program. That's unfortunate. I think it would be a greate upgrade to CSB!

 

I agree wholeheartedly with Jim. Many of us work with multiple programs and don't stick to only one to create/maintain sites. Though I work with CSB a lot, I also have a couple very nice HTML editors so I can work directly with the HTML of some of my pages. (Note that you do not want to hand modify the code generated by CSB because the next time you publish with CSB all your changes will be overwritten). I am a code dabbler... prefer not to hand code, but will when I need to do it. For example, I have a specialized order form for one of my sites that requires hand coding to update it more quickly. I made it match the CSB generated pages in formatting, but the code for the pricing and quantities would have been a MESS if I had to update it in CSB.

 

-Samantha

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