PDA

View Full Version : What software to use


Candyman
April 9th, 2001, 08:58
I am setting up my first web site for a small business. I have some experience with FrontPage 2000 and some Visual Basic (but not web design) and that is about it. I am willing to learn almost anything as long as I don't need to spend a bunch of money. I also have Office 2000, Photoshop 6, and Visual Studio 6. Thanks for any advice. Oh yeah...I have MS Publisher too...

[Edited by Candyman on 04-09-2001 at 10:55 AM]
polestar
April 9th, 2001, 12:31
My advice for you would be to steer clear of any fancy WYSIWYG software such as FrontPage. Learn HTML and type it in yourself - if you've used VBasic b4 you're very well equipped to just dive in at the deep end. I made the mistake of messing around with Netscape Composer - it really slowed me down in the long run.

First, make a template in notepad:

<html>
<head>
<title>Candyman's Page</title>
</head>
<body>
This is where everything in the page goes
</body>
</html>

then go to this site and download the Bare Bones Guide to HTML:

http://werbach.com/barebones/

also there are many useful tips at:

http://www.webmonkey.com

Have your browser open, save the file in Notepad, then hit refresh to see your page as you make alterations to the template.

Experiment is the key. Start simple. There are many cut and paste pieces of code to give your site a professional look once you've mastered the basics.

try http://javaboutique.internet.com/
and http://www.javascriptsource.com

Good luck! Hope that wasn't too basic.
akashik
April 9th, 2001, 15:53
Macromedia Dreamweaver all the way... :) Writes very good code, WYSIWYG, and easy to expand through the exchange at macromedia's website.

Of course this is from someone who cut their teeth with raw code, so I can get in there and change things if I need too by hand. You don't *need* to know html these days really, but you'll find it quite a frustrating experience if you don't. html is an inherently simplistic (read dumb) language so tends to do some pretty odd things when it shouldn't. Knowing the rules allows you to figure out when and where to break them.

Greg Moore
lucifer
April 11th, 2001, 07:45
dreamweaver is good - what I use. I wouldn't want to hand code some of those tables I do. but you do need to know how to do it by hand to tidy things up and get it just as you want it. there are many times you need to edit the code yourself however good your editor may be.

look at the raw HTML as much as you can and use the editor as a trainer not as a way of avoiding hand coding
Baggio
April 11th, 2001, 13:39
I'd agree with polestar, start by learning some of the code, it'll make things easier for u to understand.

Try the tutorials on the net, some r pretty good.
Epgs
April 12th, 2001, 09:36
learn the code and when frontpage screws it up you can fix it in notepad which happens to be the best
dkc48
April 12th, 2001, 11:56
I use Frontpage 2000 for all of my HTML needs. I've been using FP for 4 years and I've got the shortcuts and all of the quick commands memorized, so I can build a page pretty damn swiftly. FP 2000 is also very, very easy to use and master.

I use Dreamweaver for image rollovers and layer usage. I don't like Dreamweaver's HTML editor so I don't use that at all.

I use Photoshop 5.0 for creating graphics and ImageReady to edit and save them.

You may think its stupid and inefficient to use two editors, but its not. I'm very fast with FP 2000's HTML editing and DW's JS editing. So, its all good!
LeX
April 13th, 2001, 03:05
Do what I did. Take a peek at other people's source codes. :D

I advice you to never use a WYSIWYG editor (like Dreamweaver and Frontpage), always do the coding by hand. For one thing, HTML isn't hard at all, especially compared to VB languaging. Second, learning HTML can help you really customize your pages, and make them the way you want 'em to look.
LeX
April 13th, 2001, 03:08
Oh, you were originally asking which software to do this on. Well, Notepad is real popular and simple and fast, but for people who need some assistance (meaning numbered lines, colored text etc) then you can try EditPlus (my fav). It's not free though. Some people use Editpad, and I used to use CuteHTML.
cowax
April 13th, 2001, 14:46
1st page 2000 is really good, I use it ALL the time for HTML and CGI. It's free and very easy to use

http://www.evrsoft.com/
akashik
April 14th, 2001, 05:54
for the handcoders:
http://www.chami.com/html-kit/

I use that one to tinker with php scripts when need be. It's a little more fully featured than Notepad :)

Greg Moore
RonDoubt
April 14th, 2001, 21:13
for the handcoders:
http://www.chami.com/html-kit/

I use that one to tinker with php scripts when need be. It's a little more fully featured than Notepad

YES! somebody else besides me that uses that.
Coolin
April 14th, 2001, 23:39
I like Dreamweaver. Although I handcode, I handcode in Dreamweaver as it provides an instant preview of what I'm doing. It also allows me to go anywhere in the HTML code by just clicking on the right spot in the WYSIWYG view.
meow
April 15th, 2001, 04:20
I would say a good text editor with syntax highlighting. The features that speed up any work with text is also applicable to HTML. Preferably customizable shortcuts so you aren't bound by the predefined wizards most HTML editors offer. Previewing is best done in browsers IMO. Hitting refresh isn't such a bother. But that's me. :)
dony
April 15th, 2001, 07:28
i think for beginers like me will be easy to use dreamweaver.by the time you will learn about html too.(looking to source codes.)
akashik
April 16th, 2001, 11:27
YES! somebody else besides me that uses that. [/B]

:) As far as text editors go it's probably about the only one worth using to my mind. Looks a little daunting at first but once you dig in it's pretty handy

Greg Moore
LeX
April 17th, 2001, 15:14
While you can't preview the changes you made to your HTML like you can in Dreamweaver with EditPlus, you can do it another way. There's this built-in browser or integrated default browser (more likely, but I'm not sure) in EditPlus that allows you to preview the page you coded, doesn't open up a new window either, only window-within-a-window. Understand?
phatdood9
April 30th, 2001, 22:31
dreamweaver, hands down
meow
May 1st, 2001, 00:13
Notetab Pro. Or hands up.
lord_andy
May 11th, 2001, 18:58
...if you want to learn HTML or just get one webpage up and running.

I started out using HOTMETAL 4.0. It took a while to get used to it as I had never done anything like web page design before. I must admit the page came out ok(small letters used on purpose here) but I learnt nothing at all about HTML.
Later I started visiting sites with tutorials on HTML and started writing my pages in Notepad. I learnt the basics in a couple of hours, now I can't stand using WYSIWYG editors. I cannot see the point. When I have a problem I just run over to a tutorial and find out how to solve it or I ask in one of these here forums. :)
hcarlson3
May 12th, 2001, 10:13
I must agree that learning everything through notepad should be your first step. I did that, primarily because at first I couldn't afford dreamweaver or fp2000. But now I have both, and editing the code is easy and I understand so much more. For making rollovers I use Fireworks. I have not totally utilized this program, as I should, but I'm still learnin!
angeth
May 12th, 2001, 18:26
Most definitely start out and learn the language itself. I'm well-versed in HTML, and I like to use AceHTML, EditPlus, or HTML-Kit, depending on my mood. Definitely stay away from Frontpage & other WYSIWYG editors.
j_bird
May 18th, 2001, 14:30
Well as you can tell this very subjective. I use DW, FP2k and Notepad. I do concurr with most of the others though that knowing how to hand code is very important. Learn html and or java script and trouble shooting will become alot easier.