Like it says in the subject ...

What software do you use to create your website?

What do you like about the program (software)?

What do you NOT like about the program (software)?

If you could change something in the program, i.e., add, delete, modify, etc., what would you change?

Or, do you use an ouside service (vendor), that is, you do not produce the html code for your website? If you do, who do you use?

TIA for your feedback.

cheers,
dr geep
;=]

I built a few sites but I code using Notepad++. I start with a free template if I can. I recently tried BlueGriffon which is free. I use a mix of html, php and css with mysql if a database is needed (password and session management for example) I also have an apache server with php and mysql running as needed on my desktop pc. It allows you to see what the page is like without making any changes when you put it up on a server. I hear Dreamweaver is great but I can't afford it. The biggest hassle is putting in all the code for the different browsers. Firefox, IE, Chrome, Opera etc all seem to need different codes to get the same result. Dreamweaver I think adds those autiomatically.

I use dreamweaver (CS6). There is really nothing I dislike about it.

Tough recently I have been using wordpress as my framework a lot and then just made plug ins and reskins for that. (mostly in dreamweaver)

Now the biggest plus about dreamweaver if you are doing cosmetic work on your site is likely that you can get a good idea of what you are doing in realtime when you use the split display function, one one side you can see the code on the other you see how it will look.

Like Layah I use Dreaweaver CS6 and like the ability to both code and see the real-time results.

I use the free Komodo Edit for composing PHP, HTML, javascript, CSS code.

Lets you preview the code. But doesn't provide wysiwyg. It does a degree of intellisense style type ahead though, to help with code completion.

For a free web code IDE its pretty good...

i'm using Dreamweaver 8. 

can't afford the adobe version.

Wordpress...super flexible, tons of add-ons, huge community, free.

I run Dreamweaver CS3, although since switching computers I'm running CS6 trial.

For structural stuff, I mostly work in code view. Mostly use design view because it's quicker for adding content.

What don't I like? well, Adobe's products are awfully pricy, but I use every app in the design premium suite, so I guess I get my money's worth. Mind you, I do this directly as part of my living. For just updating one site, it's probably not worth the $$$.

Serif WebPlus...... what I like about it is that it's easy to use, it's got lot's of features. It's more like using a drawing/dtp application and that's perfect for me. No fiddling with html and so on, even though I can do that and you still can add your own pieces of coding if you want. Don't know what I don't know about it.

Wordpress in all cases. Plugins, themes, all free, well maintained, auto-updated etc so I can concentrate on the content. And I can use Word to write a post, and publish it directly.

I like Artisteer.  It will create a regular website or a wordpress template and the latest version is very versatile.  It doesn't yet create a magazine template but it's getting closer.  You can use included graphic content or create your own.  

What software do you use to create your website?

Front Page 2000

HTML and Notepad

I bought Dreamweaver not long after I got Front Page but it was way to complicated. I still have it somewhere on CD and I might try it again someday.

What do you like about the program (software)?

Not really sure. It's the one I started with and I tend to stick to things I know.

At first I couldn't wrap my head around it because the tutorials that came with the program only showed you how to do one style of web page. So I bought Dreamweaver and was even more lost.  So I took to learning HTML and Notepad.

I surfed around the internet and found pages that had elements that I liked and I viewed their sourcecode and edited and tweaked it to fit my needs. In time I picked up on how to create my own code.

Eventually I stumbled upon a book that walked me through the entire Front Page program and I found it was way more functional than the included tutorials showed. So with my new found knowledge of the program and my understanding of HTML, I was well on my way to making web sites. I am dyslexic and have a hard time with creating HTML, so I generally use Front Page to create the base code, and I go and tweak it as I need to.

I have a hard time learning programs so when I get comfortable with one, I tend to stick with it. Hence using a program that is about 13 years old!   Though I haven't reinstalled it on my new computer with Windows 7. I'm hoping it will still be comptatable. 

What do you NOT like about the program (software)?

I'm sure if I were more developoed in web page design that I would find things to not like about the program.  But for what I use it for, it works well enough for me.

If you could change something in the program, i.e., add, delete, modify, etc., what would you change?

I'd include better tutorials to show that the program can actually produce more than one web page style.**
**

Or, do you use an ouside service (vendor), that is, you do not produce the html code for your website? If you do, who do you use?

I want to create another web page, but I want it in CSS which I don't understand at all.  So sometime next year I'm going to look around for a local firm to price one out for me.

Its been awhile since I built my web site (which I currently need to rebuild).  At the time I used Notepad to do all the coding.  But that was HTML 3.0 with no CSS and minimal Java.  I'm currently using Composer and learning CSS in order to work on a rebuild of the site.  Eventually I intend to upgrade to Dreamweaver and am also planning on going back to college for some web design courses and possibly a certificate in web design.  I'd love to learn PHP and MySQL but that's currently not practical.

Dreamweaver CS6 for me, mostly for html, a bit of PHP with lots of CSS and lots of jQuery.

I've always liked the colour formating of the code. Its not so hot at indenting but that may be because I don't trust it to rewrite anything and have all that stuff turned off.

The CSS handling is updated in CS6, a handy little icon pops up when you hover and one click goes straight to the style. Very helpful if you're cascading through 3 or 4 levels of stylesheet.

Its turning into a proper IDE even offering error messages (that are actually useful) while I'm writing PHP!

I especially like the ability to store details of many sites with its integrated ftp. I've normally got several on the go at once and having it remember the server details and ftp passwords of each one is great.

CS6 needs a higher spec. machine. Those IDE functions means its doing far more work behind the scenes. I used to run CS3 on the same machine comfortably but CS6 has graphics glitches and even crashes. I'm fairly sure that's 'cause it doesn't like the cheap onboard graphics and maybe the 32bit limit of my XP!

I use EditPad.

Or, if I'm feeling lazy, I set up an installation of Wordpress and install a premium theme, which I then customize, spending about $15 to $80 and saving myself a week's work.

If it's an eCommerce site, however, I look for hosted solutions. I will never, never, never again try to run a store on my own server.  It is very much not worth the effort. Daz3d gave us all a very good example of just how bad things can get.

For the general look of the site, I use Artisteer to create a template for Joomla. You don't need to use Artisteer for this, there are many Joomla templates out there. But I wanted to have control over the look of the site. I use a Joomla add-on called JCE (Joomla content editor) for the actual editing.

What I like:

I like the content management model - the site has a front end and a back end - this makes it very easy to update. Joomla is open source and like Blender, you get incredible power for free.

What I found challenging:

Joomla is very different from Frontpage which I used before, so it took some getting used to.

I am definitely sticking with Joomla - it makes the site so easy to maintain.

Very soon I hope to add online training to the site, and for that I intend to use Moodle - which is also a content management system but geared to training and education. It is possible to integrate the two platforms.

Quote - What software do you use to create your website?

Front Page 2000

HTML and Notepad

I bought Dreamweaver not long after I got Front Page but it was way to complicated. I still have it somewhere on CD and I might try it again someday.

 

I also use frontpage 2000, it's easy to use and am familiar with alot of the icons as it's a MS office programme, downside is that I don't think it's around anymore so can't upgrade (I checked a recent MS office pack and it wasnt in there) so stuck with a fairly old programme, also you have to use a webhost that provides the frontpage extensions and am keeping my fingers crossed that my host is not going to make it disappear anytime soon :/

I do the home page layout in Photoshop or like program since the header and footer of the home page are going to be used on just about every other page. I am a big fan of write it once, create it once and use it many times. In the case of images they are loaded in the the person viewing your site browser cache and can come from their computer instead of your server which makes the page load faster. (logo's for an example) Photoshop has built in tools to compress the images for the web with preview of what it will actually look like compressed to the level you select vs the original.

For the actual html code I use a text editor called Textwrangler (freeware) by bare bones software.They do make a pay for text editor that supports html and java tags from libraries you import yourself.

Back five-ten years ago the software some used to create webpages others have mentioned threw off to many tags in the creation of the page that weren't needed and the pages became bloated and loaded slowly. People generally have faster connections now if these programs still throw off a ton of garbage tags not needed and the issue is not as pressing. If you don't want to learn html then use Dreamweaver or a like program others have mentioned.

Up until the newest company website currently under development we used to try to code for IE4, but not any more. Run you page(s) thru a website that can verify the code for compatibility for various browsers. Get as many browsers as you can and test yourself also. Not all browsers follow the html standards in how they interrupt the html tags

Since our website has a shopping basket system, we use a middleware program that was originally called Webcatalog, originally owned and created by Pacific Coast Software. Was owned by Smith Micro for a while. Now it is owned privately again and is called webdna. (www.webdna.us). Extremely powerfully software that is not that hard to learn and I use it all the time for semi static pages I have created for charities and the like that I also hosted on our server as you need to have a server deamon running that supports the webdna tags.

If you are going to run a middleware program to add features that straight html can't support and you are not hosting your own server then check with the hosting company as to which middleware they support if you wanted to explore that as an option and the power that middleware can add to a website

The google java tools have become almost the defacto standard and there is a lot of free stuff out there. Rendo's website uses a lot of them currently.

You see a website you like or see a website with a function you like then do a view source in you browser and 9 times out of 10, you can determine how they did it and or figure it out on you own espcially if it uses the google tool sets.

WIX:)

Rapidweaver

I use Notepad.  I code everything myself.  HTML, CSS, PHP all with Notepad.

The old version of Netscape Composer that came pre-loaded on my Windows 98-SE machine.  :unsure:

Quote - The old version of Netscape Composer that came pre-loaded on my Windows 98-SE machine.  :unsure:

If you want to move into the 21st century, there is an updated version of Composer in the Mozilla Seamonkey suite (the modern iteration of Netscale Communicator)...

http://www.seamonkey-project.org/

Merry Christmas, Cage! 

I wrote all the files in html using Simple Text (Mac) - nowadays this is Text Edit.

Worked from the html 4 visual quickstart guide. Keep it simple. All the fancy programs that do the work for you also fill up the file page with a lot of often unnecessary coding.

NB Html4 is a bit out of date now, but the pages still display perfectly.

I use a simple text editor too (Textpad). There are no pro and cons with text editors, you like them or not, and Textpad is lightweight and handy.

The pro: If you don't have sophisticated webpages a text editor is ok, you control the content of your webpage (there's no extra stuff).

The con: you gotta learn html, PHP and CSS. For JavaScript there's a very good library called JQuery which does extraordinary stuff (like for exemple the preview windows in the Marketplace).

EditPlus for the HTML.

http://www.editplus.com

I hand code, always starting from accumulated templates I previously generated with CSS and key Javascript on board. I never caught on with any of the Dreamweaver-type higher level tools.

I have a few faithful PERL and php scripts for form interaction.

JQuery quite important to me.

Canvas 10 for graphics (both vector and bitmapped)

OGG Video Converter for creating the four"flavors" of video needed for graceful fallback in HTML-5.

::::: Opera :::::

iweb for mac was very intuitive.  you could put pictures on it and move them anywhere instead of middle or on one side like all the other website making softwares that I tried.  but iweb isn't being supported by apple anymore although it still works.  so I thought I might go with adobe muse as one can place images in a similar way and align them and bring them forward and backward etc.  there is a demo you can download and try.

Love esther