Web design tools for a complete beginner

Cork

Web design tools for a complete beginner.

I don't have HTML. I am thinking of doing a web design course in the Autumn by night. In the meantime - are there any good web authoring packages available?

Is netobject fusion 4 any good?

louie

Did you try Dreamweaver?
It a WYSIWYG program and very helpfull.

honeymonster

Dreamweaver is excellent, el point and click interface, mega easy and powerful. But it is expensive, cost me loads cough cough kazza herm.

-Stevo

Webmonkey

Yes use dreamweaver but make sure its version 6 - Dreamweaver MX. The older versions will put you off

What ever you do , do not start off with MS Frontpage PLEASE

Dun

I'd recommend Dreamweaver too, but whatever package you get, use the split WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get) / HTML code view if it's available (it is in Dreamweaver) and try to understand the code. It will come in dead handy when you are trying to get Dreamweaver or whatever to do something for you and it just doesn't seem to want to let you do it. Time then for some manual work, which usually does the trick.

mneylon

Originally posted by Webmonkey

What ever you do , do not start off with MS Frontpage PLEASE

For once webmonkey and I agree!
Avoid FP like the plague.

damnyanks

HTML isnt a hard mark up language at all. Its straight forward enough. Personally I'd reccomend learning it first before useing any of those editors.

p

Originally posted by Webmonkey
Yes use dreamweaver but make sure its version 6 - Dreamweaver MX. The older versions will put you off

Dreamweaver MX is version 5 :P

Anyway, I'd advise learning HTML from scratch if I were you, that will stand to you more than just learning Dreamweaver or their ilk. And you'll be able to fix the problem you otherwise will tear you're hair out about.

www.w3schools.com is a good start

RicardoSmith

Though even if you are the worlds greatest HTML expert its still quicker to build sites in Dreamweaver MX and most places will only hire you if you know Dreamweaver MX. Incidentally MX is a vast improvement over all previous versions. So if you haven't used it before its time to check it out.

dod

Do please stay away from Frontpage unless you want users complaining to high heaven about your pages. Avoid frontpage at all costs.

I would also agree with those who suggest that it is worth having a stab at HTML for two reasons:
- it is no rocket science. You will find that you can put together a reasonably sophisticated page within an hour of starting on the basic online tutorials
- whatever you write with Dreamweaver, or whichever tool you select, a familiarity with HTML is invaluable to allow you to manually edit or amend the generated source.

Realistically, if you are serious about web design, you will have to develop at least a rudimentary familiarity with HTML at some stage, and I believe you will find the whole thing a lot less intimidating if you start with HTML rather than starting with a WYSIWYG editor.

Webmonkey

Originally posted by p
Originally posted by Webmonkey
Yes use dreamweaver but make sure its version 6 - Dreamweaver MX. The older versions will put you off

Dreamweaver MX is version 5 :P

Anyway, I'd advise learning HTML from scratch if I were you, that will stand to you more than just learning Dreamweaver or their ilk. And you'll be able to fix the problem you otherwise will tear you're hair out about.

www.w3schools.com is a good start

Really! God learn something new every day

fizzy

just to agree with those who have suggested dreamweaver.

it is expensive to buy but you can download a 30 day trial from http://www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver/ and that's plenty of time to tell whether it could work for you....

it is the weapon of choice in industry and many people prefer using wysiwyg editors to coding even if they can code - especially those who are into layout and design (i wish i could be one of those people someday! )

yep html is easy to learn but i think it's good to get to grips with a visual editor first so you can focus on making working pages quickly rather than getting bogged down in code. if you want to pick up html a bit later on, there are heaps of great free courses online and you can move to code view in dreamweaver - plus you'll find it makes more sense when you have made web pages yourself and can see the code that was involved....

so dreamweaver gets my vote. even if it's not for you, you won't have wasted your time. as ricardo mentioned, any web designer needs to become acquainted with it at some point!

nahdoic

yes you're all right, you'll need to know dreamweaver if you want to get into web design.

personally I much prefer to do all designs in photoshop, where you can put everything exactly where you want it, and quickly too. Then when you are finished just cut it up and handcode the HTML for it. It creates a very neat/fast/clean design.

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by nahdoic
yes you're all right, you'll need to know dreamweaver if you want to get into web design.

personally I much prefer to do all designs in photoshop, where you can put everything exactly where you want it, and quickly too. Then when you are finished just cut it up and handcode the HTML for it. It creates a very neat/fast/clean design.

Me too, but I'll admit someone who knows Dreamweaver MX well will be much faster at doing exactly this. I mean its automating what you do by hand. Logically how can it be anything other than quicker? All automation software is quicker. Thats its sole purpose. Early versions were dire. But MX is a lot better. Try and catch a demo somewhere, you'll be impressed.

mneylon

You should still learn HTML as DW is a tool and nothing more

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by blacknight
You should still learn HTML as DW is a tool and nothing more

Thats a fair point, but theres no way doing it by hand is quicker than DW. Its like saying cutting grass with a knife is quicker than using a lawnmover. Of course you should know enough not to run the lawnmover over the flowerbeds.

Webmonkey

I always start with Photoshop also...I must say that the slicing tool is pretty cool tho in Image Ready

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by Webmonkey
I always start with Photoshop also...I must say that the slicing tool is pretty cool tho in Image Ready

Have you tried fireworksMX? Does the same thing only better...

Webmonkey

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
Have you tried fireworksMX? Does the same thing only better...

Really...thats cool must check it out

nahdoic

I mean its automating what you do by hand. Logically how can it be anything other than quicker? All automation software is quicker. Thats its sole purpose.

I like to produce quality not quantity.

Quicker doesn't necessarily mean better, it's just means well ... quicker.

And I would argue that its sole purpose is to make it quicker. A GUI is supposed to make something easier to use. It can often frustrate and slow you down. But for HTML yeah, it would be very tough to compete in terms of quantity.

RicardoSmith

While personally I don't like the DW interface, in terms of quality of the work porduced surely that is up to the person using it. A Bad workman blames his tools etc. Unless you enjoy handcoding web pages and do it as a leisure activity why would you do it by hand when you can use a tool that increases your productivity and the decreases the time it takes to turn around projects. Up to now the previous versions of Dreamweaver used to write some pretty awful long winded code. But its much better now. Still not perfect but its a lot better. That said I still don't use it much but thats only as I haven't had time to learn it. I see others using it properly and I go wow thats quick.

zAbbo

Dreamweaver is version 6(mx),

version 5 was ultradev.

I`d advise using textpad or notepad or some such to get the html basics down and sorted now.

dynamic.ie

Originally posted by p
Originally posted by Webmonkey
Yes use dreamweaver but make sure its version 6 - Dreamweaver MX. The older versions will put you off

Dreamweaver MX is version 5 :P

Anyway, I'd advise learning HTML from scratch if I were you, that will stand to you more than just learning Dreamweaver or their ilk. And you'll be able to fix the problem you otherwise will tear you're hair out about.

www.w3schools.com is a good start

DWMX is version 6 so I think webmonkey was right. Check the about dreamweaver link under the help file in DWMX for proof.



Dave

Eurorunner

yep ..its version 6.0

Dun

Originally posted by bazH
Dreamweaver is version 6(mx),

version 5 was ultradev.

Afaik they did a Netscape and skipped version 5. The last version of Ultradev was version 4, running alongside the main version.

Webmonkey

Cool...yeah I can't remember a version 5 either

berta

Hello Cork!
I strongly advize you to try a great program that is a treat for everybody who needs to create a website in lightning speed, embodying the most progressive approach to quick creation of Flash websites, HTML websites and Flash presentations. http://www.show-kit.com
It runs with all Windows platforms. I'm glad that I came across it and I appriciate to introduce it to you.
Best regards berta.

corkie

Dreamweaver is a great program to help you learn HTML, it is what I started out with about 5 years ago. Haven't use it in over 2 years.

Hope you have a high spec PC, (nothing more than 2-3 years old)
See the requirements here.

A program I like and it's free but requires 'Java' is arachnophilia

More website tools here

Eurorunner

Hope you have a high spec PC, (nothing more than 2-3 years old)

Have to agree with this...its the only program that puts it up to my machine. I need to get another stick of memory!