i am building a 5mg web site , and i am hoping i can get some help from the kind folks here, i would like to know if there is an easy to use (i am not the smartest guy with this stuff)and preferably free programme i can use to do this with, and any other advice that i can get would be gratefully recieved as well,
many thanks in advance.

Most web site providers have a section that provides free site building tools as part of there service. Check on this first. If not you can create fairly decent web page just using MS Word, and saving the document in an html format. Hope this helps.

Also, some free and shareware packages at www.cnet.com, and www.tucows.com.

Attached Link: http://www.marblesmahoney.com

Dreamweaver is the best thing out there but it aint cheap, about 3 hundred or so. I do it for a living and can tell you that html created with MS Word is a nightmare, especially if your not into programming. Best bet is make a page at a free site, then download the source with IE and modify with notepad till you learn the html stuff. Marbles/Veloscoot

There's a version of Front Page that comes with one of the IE browsers. I started out using that. (I hand code now) Netscape also has one.

Also, taking a look at page sources is a good way to learn as well. And there is a forum here for it too, "HTML & Web Scripting".

Attached Link: http://www.evrsoft.com/download/

Another good one (free) to learn HTML with is "1st Page 2000." For a freeware HTML scripting program, it's probably as good as you'll find. If you just want to get a page up fast and learn html at your own pace, the HotDog packages (shareware, $40 - $100) at http://www.sausage.com/ seem to give a lot of bang for the buck.

As 'tired' said, many of the free webspace providers do have online pagebuilding programs built in. I know zilch about html coding etc but managed to build a couple of flashy websites on Yahoo/geocities using the simple online tool set. They even have a short instruction course and the whole process is "what you see is what you get" resembling very simple desktop publishing software with heaps of wizards for backgrounds and photos. I put off trying it for months for fear of stuffing it, but the wizards and templates were so easy to use, I uploaded 2 pages in an evening without any knowledge at all. If you join Yahoo! they will automatically provide a space of I think 15megs, why not take it and practice, you can re-edit your pages anytime. Tommy.

1st Page 2000 rock's

thanks for the info so far, i live in new zealand, and the site provides no tools, and and site is provided by the server i use, and in kiwi land there is not much in free web sites around

I started out coding with notepad and was quite pleased with myself at the time - but having a grounding in HTML definitely helps with any programme you use. I picked up a free copy of Dreamweaver2 with a mag and it's definitley much better than anything else I've used. You have to be really careful with some apps - particularly Front page, as they add loads of extra coding in and many servers don't recognise FP's extensions. Also worth considering is an HTML editor, which takes a lot of the work out - I use the free 'Notetab Lite' instead of the generic HTML facility with DW, but it's really a stand-alone. You can download it here: www.notetab.com Hoorah! The web transcends geography :) Have fun! Soozie

I have Dreamweaver 2 and love it. Might upgrade and revamp my site, but that's down the road. I've used Design Gold and beta tested Ovation, which was later sold to Sierra and marketed as Web Studio. Got FP2000 and InterDev at work. With all that available, I still like Dreamweaver and still use that exclusively. If you are a student you might qualify to get Dreamweaver 4 studio which comes with Flash and FireWorks for $200. Poser has Flash export according to the book (haven't tried it yet).

for a simple page coffee cup or liquid effects, both available free downloads, aren't bad. coffee cup is free, liquid effects is a trial version, limited time of full use. best off to use either frontpage or netscape composer, a wysiwyg type of page design rather than going really fancy right off the top. when you get more comfortable, you can add bells and whistles like flash animations / sound events. less frustration level that way, trying to get a full multimedia site for your first site will cause a lot of stress

I love Dreamweaver, but IMHO the best free and user friendly software hands down has got to be Arachnophilia. Most free browser HTML editors etc are "WYSIWYG" but...they add a ton of uncecessary code that makes editing later on royal pain in the bum! http://www.arachnoid.com/arachnophilia/...there ya go.

I would agree regarding Arachnophilia; it is highly functional, very user-friendly, and the program's author calls it "careware" as opposed to "shareware" or "freeware"...his "price" for the program is basically that you do something nice for someone. I've been using it, must be close to 10 years now, and it gives me just the right measure of control over the code with just enough "does-it-for-you" bits in case I'm feeling a bit lazy. I'd definitely recommend following the link in Desdemmonna's post...go download the spider. Peace.

Attached Link: http://www.marblesmahoney.com

Please, please, please stay away from FrontPage from evil Microsoft. It put in loads of crap that is not needed. I really have made a living out of rebuilding sites for companies that some "web genius" built using FrontPage & Word. It may be fast and easy, but just like any good woman knows, slow and hard is much more pleasing. I just had to rebuild all of www.800sameday.com just to add a few new buttons. These programs as well as all other microsoft affairs load up a bunch of self important things to give the programmers a wedge against the designers. Pages of code for a simple table, seperate style codes for every text line, its a joke. I have been doing this web thing since 1994 so i know the deal. Macromedia's Dreamweaver and Flash make better sites because thats what they are designed to do. Microsoft's programs are designed to make you dependendent on their products and technology. I say this not because i dislike Microsoft, but because it is fact. Even the simplest html builder is far better than anything Microsoft provides, period. Check out Lycos.com or angelfire.com for a cool online free solution. Marbles

I teach my students to just use Windows Notepad to begin with. They all want to use Front Page, but I've told them that if they don't have an extremely good handle on what all the code does, they'll never make head nor tail out of the stuff Front Page generates

I'll second Arachnaphillia. It's great for hand coding. Colors your code so it's easy to see if you miss something.

Front Page 2000 is a huge pain in the butt. It's ok for learning but if you do use a WYSIWYG editor, use it to learn html. Hand coding is the best way to go.

And don't be afraid to peek at source codes. I'm against stealing code but if you want to learn how tables are set up there isn't a thing wrong with it.

My source code looks inaccessible but it's there and you're welcome to look at it. (just scroll down) Sources will give you ideas on what meta tags you might want to use, etc.