Posted: 11/10/2009 9:41:46 AM EDT
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Does anyone have any experience building websites? What software do you use and is it user friendly? I have never built one but need to do so to support a project and self promote some things I am doing. It will be linked to link to some pretty high traffic sites in the field so it needs to look good. I will need to update it and I would really like this to be as user friendly as possible. Any ideas? All suggestions really appreciated.
Thanks for looking. |
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I've built a lot. I learned HTML about 7 yrs ago and used to build them in notepad. Then I got Dreamweaver and started building them in that, and then tweaking the code in notepad. I use photoshop for most of the graphics, and adobe illustrator from time to time too. For what you are talking about doing, and based on your experience, you might want to look at pre-made template services. GoDaddy and most of the bigger hosting companies offer those. |
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I've built a lot. I learned HTML about 7 yrs ago and used to build them in notepad. Then I got Dreamweaver and started building them in that, and then tweaking the code in notepad. I use photoshop for most of the graphics, and adobe illustrator from time to time too.
For what you are talking about doing, and based on your experience, you might want to look at pre-made template services. GoDaddy and most of the bigger hosting companies offer those.
Yea, I was looking at that. I built one using Go Daddy for something else but I was not happy with it for a number of reasons. I am looking at going another direction. What would another template service be? |
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Quoted: Quoted: I've built a lot. I learned HTML about 7 yrs ago and used to build them in notepad. Then I got Dreamweaver and started building them in that, and then tweaking the code in notepad. I use photoshop for most of the graphics, and adobe illustrator from time to time too. For what you are talking about doing, and based on your experience, you might want to look at pre-made template services. GoDaddy and most of the bigger hosting companies offer those. Yea, I was looking at that. I built one using Go Daddy for something else but I was not happy with it for a number of reasons. I am looking at going another direction. What would another template service be? IIRC yahoo has a pretty good bizsite-in-a-box option too, according to one of the members here. ETA: you can also buy none-unique templates from design houses, usually around $40-$100. Typically you'll need something like MS Frontpage or Dreamweaver to edit them if you don't have any HTML experience though. |
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if you have no idea what you are doing, let me explain the easiest possible way for you to get a site running and learn what you need to know BEFORE buying a piece of more complex software like dreamweaver or frontpage....
first, go to www.godaddy.com and get you domain name. then you need a host for your site, which www.godaddy.com can easily provide at a very reasonable price if you use godaddy for your host, they have a very easy and straightforward web application that lets you create a site from scratch, or use their templates. you can build yourself a very nice website, with ease, in not very long at all. hope this helps. |
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Quoted: I was looking at Dream Weaver but I was not sure if it was one of those things that was for professionals and a PITA to use. I do not have a ton of time to put in to this. Its not terribly difficult. If you can operate things like Excel, Word, and Powerpoint with some proficiency, then it should not be a problem. |
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Quoted: Does anyone have any experience building websites? What software do you use and is it user friendly? I have never built one but need to do so to support a project and self promote some things I am doing. It will be linked to link to some pretty high traffic sites in the field so it needs to look good. I will need to update it and I would really like this to be as user friendly as possible. Any ideas? All suggestions really appreciated. Thanks for looking. Go get a host and set up a wordpress site. As you learn, you can tweak the site to do damn near anything. HTML, CSS, PHP... you need to learn all of it to be a good web monkey. |
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vi vim Emacs j/k, I prefer vim but really want to start a flame war 
I use Dreamweaver to build templates for CMS's like DNN, Joomla and Wordpress. Also, if you are going to use a CMS, you may want to check out Artisteer for building simple templates. |
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Use a CMS (content management system) like Drupal or something, check the options at Bluehost for hosting and you can test drive about everything at http://php.opensourcecms.com/ |
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Use a CMS (content management system) like Drupal or something, check the options at Bluehost for hosting and you can test drive about everything at http://php.opensourcecms.com/ Yep...CMS is where it's at. |
| There are some free templates here http://fullahead.org/index.php/work/all#free-templates. I use either Kompozer or Adobe Dreamweaver to edit them as needed. |
Based on what I have read so far here, I think you should hire someone to get involved with this and build it for you. But, make sure that you can learn more and eventually take over as you become more knowledgeable about it. There are several website designers on arfcom. (even that pitbull one ) |
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I use vim. Do yourself a favor - either hire someone, or get some premade site through an online service. I build websites for a living, and I've never seen someone ask this question and come up with a decent product. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile +1 Me too |
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I use vim. Do yourself a favor - either hire someone, or get some premade site through an online service. I build websites for a living, and I've never seen someone ask this question and come up with a decent product. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile +1 Me too Same. The amount of time you will lose trying to "unfuck" things will far outweigh whatever cash you pay a web guy to go in and create/host your stuff. I have clients that want to try to take a stab at their own site maintenance, but they always end up coming back to me to get it done. |
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How you do this depends on what you want.
I started with a grad class in HTML. Usefull to fill in the gaps, but you may not have the time or money. For a server, I researched host ratings. Went with Lunarpages.com. For a HTML editor, I use MS FrontPage. Dreamweaver gets great reviews. Downloaded a cheep FTP for the transfers. If you go with a premade company, make sure its not a kluge of java bandwith hogs that require a specialist to update. Look at websites you like and come up with a list of what you need. |
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I use vim. Do yourself a favor - either hire someone, or get some premade site through an online service. I build websites for a living, and I've never seen someone ask this question and come up with a decent product. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile +1 Me too Same. The amount of time you will lose trying to "unfuck" things will far outweigh whatever cash you pay a web guy to go in and create/host your stuff. I have clients that want to try to take a stab at their own site maintenance, but they always end up coming back to me to get it done. I personally wasted two months looking for someone to build my website for me (at a reasonable price) because I had no Idea. I found Microsoft Word had a wizzard to build a website and so I did it myself in about 4 hours and was very impressed with the results.... (YMMV, but worth an hour or two to check it out before spending thousands for someone else) |
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I've built a lot of sites for businesses, churches, and others.
Unless you know a lot about security (database injection, cross site scripting, general bad stuff) then you're asking for trouble (unless you're going to have a handful of static pages - ie dreamweaver - which are a PITA to update or add content). My suggestion use a Content Management System: Wordpress. It's a blog platform, but there are a ton of plugins to make it do pretty much anything you want. If you want something with memberships and whatnot, then you need to look at Joomla or Drupal. These three are open source which means that when a vulnerability is found, it gets fixed before a hacker can take down your site. Drupal is the most secure but it's a little more difficult to design with unless your a programmer. I'm a Drupal guy and it'll do anything you can think of. However, Wordpress makes it easy to keep up to date with one button upgrades. These CMS's have a ton of great templates (some free, some commercial) which will change the look of your website without having to write code. Wordpress is like a bus, it's a blogging platform, but you can add bell's and whistles (which are free) to make it get you where you want to go. Joomla is like a manufactured car, it has a lot of stuff built in, it's comfy, and you can add bell's and whistles (some free, some $$) to make get you where you want to go. Drupal is like an engine, 4 tires and a frame. Out of the box, it'll go, but you'll need to do some work to make it comfy for you (add seats, body, paint job, etc). But once it's set, you'll have to nuke it from orbit to take it down. So you got to ask yourself how much time, effort, or $$$$ you want to get this site up. |