MS Frontpage ..for a beginner... opinions pls!

justagirl

I have MS Frontpage and was gonna use this to create a website (providing a service/to include photos/be able to accept payment by cc/laser.... I'm a complete beginner, really not into in learning html (I've hardly any patience just now!) and just want to be able to use a package that is simple to use and looks ok..... .....just wondering what any of your thoughts were.. or should I buy something else off the shelf....... thanks......:)

Ph3n0m

http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm - try that

Rollo Tamasi

NVU is more of a WYSIWYG editor but Notepad+ is an excellent editor too.

justagirl

Txs for the quick replies guys.... do you reckon either one of these be 'better/easier' for me to use instead of Frontpage? Cheers..:)

Winters

Starting off and doing basic websites a WYSIWYG would suit someone perfect.

If you are looking into doing anything more complicated and want more control you cant beat doing it all by "hand" (so to speak).

justagirl

Winters wrote:

Starting off and doing basic websites a WYSIWYG would suit someone perfect.

If you are looking into doing anything more complicated and want more control you cant beat doing it all by "hand" (so to speak).

Apologies in advance for my lack of knowledge ..... so is WYSIWYG a easy to use program (for laypeople!) that builds a website by using code ??

Also, is Frontpage a bad idea because I will be learning basic code as I go along?..

Thanks for the advice.

Winters

WYSIWYG is pretty much point and click. It requires no knowledge of code at all. You insert text here and an image there and the program itself create all the code. As you can imagine, this means you cant really control the site when your making it as best as you might want.

I personally dislike Frontpage and avoid it like the plague. Thats just me, generally I use Adobe Dreamweaver on code view when making sites.

justagirl

Thank you Winters.. I understand what you are saying now...thanks for explanation....

I want to get something up and running soon as... would you recommend I buy Adobe Dreamweaver and learn as I go?... (if so, would you know where the best place for me to buy it...)

Thanks for your reply.

Winters

justagirl wrote:

Thank you Winters.. I understand what you are saying now...thanks for explanation....

I want to get something up and running soon as... would you recommend I buy Adobe Dreamweaver and learn as I go?... (if so, would you know where the best place for me to buy it...)

Thanks for your reply.

Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 is several hundred Euro iirc .... There are many free Open Source alternatives to Adobe Dreamweaver. Generally its a case of just trying out and finding what application suits you.

If you plan to learn HTML and CSS and code sites yourself than you dont really need expensive software, you can do it with Notepad++ etc. Any basic text editor really.

justagirl

Ok Winters....probably best if I don't outlay big bucks yet and see how I get on teaching myself the basics....I've tried out some of the available ones mentioned on this thread... and I'm going to go with Nvu..... fingers crossed!...

Thank you very much ... ...:D

Bluenarf

dont use anything from microsoft

---

paul.
www.paulsnet.org

Winters

Bluenarf wrote:

dont use anything from microsoft

Thats quite a sweeping and very false statement.

mewso

Bluenarf wrote:

dont use anything from microsoft

You mean don't use Frontpage. Their new replacement for Frontpage, Expression, looks very good.

Winters

musician wrote:

Their new replacement for Frontpage, Expression, looks very good.

"Microsoft® Expression® Web is a professional design tool to create modern, standards-based sites that deliver superior quality on the Web."

Now, if only IE would implement those standards correctly

janmc

Winters wrote:

Now, if only IE would implement those standards correctly

Avoid Frontpage - get a student version of Dreamweaver instead if you want a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor. You can download a 30 day trial from adobe.com

DonkeyStyle \o/

I use an actual browser as my WYSIWYG window... didn't cost me a penny.
I have a WAMP setup which I'm quite happy with.

Ph3n0m wrote:

http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm - try that

For the win!

justagirl

janmc wrote:

Avoid Frontpage - get a student version of Dreamweaver instead if you want a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor.

Thank you for all of your replies....So the moral of the story is ... don't use Frontpage eh!!:D I get it! Now, janmc, how do I go about getting a student version of Dreamweaver please?..


BTW ...I've printed off the NVU Tutorial and trying to teach myself:o .. think it may be a slow process!! ... .. would I be better off with Dreamweaver - would it be easier/quicker for me?

donkeystyle .... what is wamp?:o

Winters

justagirl wrote:

Now, janmc, how do I go about getting a student version of Dreamweaver please?..

I was under the impression that you need to go through your college / university to get these licenses. I may be wrong, Im sure the Adobe site says it somewhere. If you want to give the Dreamweaver a go and see how you like the program just grab the 30-day demo from the Adobe homepage.

If you lean how to code from scratch through HTML and CSS however, all you need is a basic text editor like Notepad++ and your browser. This obviously costs you nothing.

justagirl wrote:

BTW ...I've printed off the NVU Tutorial and trying to teach myself .. think it may be a slow process!! ... .. would I be better off with Dreamweaver - would it be easier/quicker for me?

It really doesnt matter which program you use imo. Both will achieve the same results; html code. It just depends on personal preference over which one you yourself find easier and quicker to work with.

I still use Dreamweaver myself but I only use the code view on it, I never touch the WYSIWYG editor. I use Notepad++ a lot in work for coding.

justagirl wrote:

what is wamp?:o

It is an acronym for "Windows, Apache, MySQL and PHP". Windows being the operating System, Apache being the webserver, MySQL being the database server and PHP being the scripting language used to connect it all together.

justagirl

Winters.....Thank you for the explanations - much appreciated...I'm not a student so would have to pay the full price for the dreamweaver-might check out the 30 day trial to see if it might be a good one for me....

I might have bitten off more than I can chew !!! But I've a bit of time on my side and I'll give it a shot and if I fail miserably I'll call in the professionals!:) :rolleyes:

janmc

Do you use a mac? Rapidweaver might be better than the steep learning curve of Dreamweaver.

CoNfOuNd

If I was you I would aim to gradually learn how to code. Start by learning some basic html move onto php.

Might take you some time but it will definitely come in useful, probably saving you time in the long run!

WYSIWYG editors create bad code and bad habits.

mewso

Bluenarf wrote:

dont use anything from microsoft

Actually as a follow on from this and because the world and his/her mother always suggests learning php after html I will also mention Visual Web Developer Express

While it is specifically aimed at asp.net you can develop ordinary html pages with alot of the benefits like WhatYouSeeIsWhatYouGet visual page design, standards compliance checking (unfortunately no accessibility check in the free version) and if you decide to move into the development side you can try asp.net (follow any of the huge amount of tutorials out there) which I could not recommend enough despite peoples zeal for php (which is fine I just happen to be an asp.net developer and recognise how good it is regardless of it being from microsoft or anyone else).

It's also free so well worth a look. Not looking to start a php v asp.net arguement just mentioning another option.