Website Creation Software

I keep getting complaints about my 'amaturish' website. Admittedly, I spent all of 20 minutes creating the thing - the main point is to have somewhere to host my demos.
However, in creating the website, I pretty much used about every feature of the web authoring software I'm using (Mozilla Composer). It's just marginally easier then writing it by hand in Notepad - and I don't know very much HTML!!

Anyway, does anyone know of a cheap (free) website creation program? I obviously don't have the budget for FrontPage or DreamWeaver - so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

does your host allow php?

If so I can give you a free web template, I'm a hobbyist web designer aswell as a programmer.

I have tonnesss of web designs sitting on my hard drive.

It's better to code by hand but if you must use a WYSIWYG editor try Nvu. It's a bit buggy and you will need to edit the HTML created but it's not bad.

Use Notepad++.

Writing HTML code by hand is dead easy. I used to think it was difficult too, until I wrote some of my own from scratch rather than try to comprehend the nonsense that Frontpage was churning out.

I'd strongly recommend this book for an HTML noob, and this one for CSS, and also this if you fancy getting to grips with PHP and MySQL.

None of this is difficult with the right guidance.

I agree, I've used front page in the past, it always produces some really wierd code that I can never debug. The best results are done by hand - at least for me.

PHP was dead easy after I learned C++.

And I learned HTML/CSS before I learned blitz.

Hey - I was posting a reply and IE game me "this page cannot be displayed"!! I went back and my post is gone!! >:-(

Oh well...

@Yahfree:

Yes, I'm pretty sure it supports php - I use 1and1 as my ISP.
That might be cool - thanks!!!

@Gfk:

Awesome!! Thanks!!!

Ok, well do you have an MSN or E-mail address to send a link to?


I also can create one from scratch if you don't like the look of the one I'm sending you

>It's better to code by hand but if you must use a WYSIWYG editor try Nvu.
>it's a bit buggy and you will need to edit the HTML created but it's not
>bad.

NVU is no longer developed, but a bug-fix EOL fork has been released as kompoZer, which can be found here.

http://kompozer.net/

This is another editor worth trying.

Kompozer isn't a whole lot better than Nvu. Its no longer being developed, either.

Its well worth the effort to learn HTML for yourself and I wouldn't recommend doing it any other way. I got my site - http://www.desktopgaming.net - up and running within a week or so, having never coded HTML/PHP before. If I can do it, anybody can.

Can I borrow those books, Gfk? :P

I couldn't find any PHP books in the shops or library. :S

P.S. HTML for dummies is total crap. avoid.

Nice website GfK, but you have a little bug on the contact page(the contact panel thingy peaks out of the central wrapper)

Here's a couple recent web designs I did:

http://www.ratcityrodz.com
http://www.ratcityrodz.com/site01
http://www.ratcityrodz.com/site02

Nope, they're mine. :D

(actually, I don't have the HTML one - I own all the others, plus the "XHTML in easy steps" one, and several others that aren't particularly relevant here (books on Javascript and Oracle, for instance)).

Looks ok here. What browser?

I'm using opera.

Hint: take off the first two words (counting P.S. as one), and that statement works even better!!! :-)

Why would someone want to buy something to advertise themselves as being a dummy?!!

*sigh*

Back on topic...
Is Notepad++ a web editor? It looks like just a souped-up notepad...

The 'In easy steps' books look pretty good. I've just borrow the SQL one from the library.

Your library has books like that?

Mine still has books on Fortran, for God's sake. :/

Ubergeek, NP++ is what I use, it's basicly an multi language IDE, and is perfect for web stuff because most of the time you have to do web stuff in at least 3 languages.

I wasn't dumb enough to buy it; I borrowed it from the library. ;)

Yeah, they have books on just about everything, except PHP! WTF? :(

Suprisingly, as degrading as they are, the For Dummies' books are quite good. Though, avoid the c++ one, it sucks.


luckily my library has a whole section for computer books, I checked out "PHP Unleashed" best php book i've read.

Install yourself a local apache server with PHP and learn html+PHP. Always use firefox/opera as primary test viewer.

Wysywig editors ssssuuuuccckkk!

...installing apache servers always sounds like a painful exercise.

I'd recommend either WAMP, or EasyPHP, which simplify the whole thing massively.

Both include Apache, MySQL and PHP in a single installation.

You can use also BLIde plus to code HTML and PHP files. :D
If you're looking for a more complete and complex solution, a lot of people is using Dreamweaver (I really don't like it) and some others, like me, are using Microsoft Expression Web 2.0 wich is absolutelly great (as most dev tools by Microsoft).

Its not to bad IME, not sure about windows but on ubuntu for use on localhost/lan is very easy. I assume the windows setup would be a breeze.

As Gfk said, it is a breeze with a WAMP (or LAMP on linux).

Ah right, samesame different name :)

It's worth doing a few sites in Notepad, but only to get a sufficiently decent grasp of XHTML and CSS that you can use the WYSIWYG editors more effectively. Nerds get hung up on 'coding' web pages 'by hand' but the truth is that editing content, which is what you're ultimately trying to make as easy as possible, is rarely fun in basic text editors (because the mark-up is always there, cluttering up the place). Once you understand first principles, use Kompozer/Nvu or some such to maintain. You wouldn't code an rtf document by hand if you were writing, say, your CV and there's no earthly reason why your attitude to XHTML files should be any different when you're rattling off pages for your site.

And before you go diving headlong into PHP you need to pause long enough to identify what it is you actually want to do with it, because your site already seems to have all the functionality it currently needs.

You ain't kiddin' there. Whoo-eee!

Before you spend any money on books, check out this site

golive CS3 has pretty good WYSIWYG editing. Great if your doing interesting CSS layouts with a lot of elements that need to fit together properly.

Found it much better than dreamweaver on that front. Heard good things about the expression suites that MS took over too.

If your just doing nice looking pages without using flash that have lots of bits that need to fit together nicely, I think hand coding is a pain. Just depends on the kinds of pages your trying to create.

Working on a site right now. http://summitgravity.com Used my 10 year old copy of Dreamwaever ultradev. Like blitz, it's great for protoyping and fast results. It will try to "fix" your code which can be irritating at first but once you know its habits, work arounds are simple. Dreamweaver can also
toggle from wysiwyg to hand coding editor at anytime.

Regards

Gnu

Here you go. As for editing, I use DreamWeaver, alternatively the EclipseHTMLEditor will plug right into what should already be your favourite IDE. Add PyDev on top of that and you have an excellent Django development suite. Making great, dynamic and above all clean websites has never been this easy.

Personally I find that information 'sinks in' a lot better when it comes from a book.

i am often found browsing the '... for dummies' section at boarders
i just find the cartoons at the beginning of each section then put it back down again :)

i did get their c and c++ books late 90's as well as andre lamoths windows games programming, but my fave book that is now out of print was java game programming as it leaned heavily towards the dungeon master genre, which considering it was co written by two FTL members isnt too bad :)

Nothing wrong with most For Dummies books. Anyway, if you want to create a reasonbly good-looking website, and you and host PHP and MySQL, install something like Wordpress.

Makes maintaining a site quite a lot easier, and you can get stuck in to the HTML/CSS later, if you want, to really customise your site.