Which website authoring software?

Just like editing applications it comes down to personal choice.

I think Dreamweaver is untouchable, especially the latest MX version but you should also take a look at Adobe GoLive. Some people like Frontpage but I think it's awful!

It really does depend what works best for you. Try all the demo's before you part with any cash though!

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Independent Film
spiralfilm.com

Thanks, Ben - I like your www.spiralfilm.com site - a model of cleanliness and taste!! It loads and navigates really quickly, even on a 56K(-ish) modem connection. Presumably done in Dreamweaver, then? Alan++

Hi,

I'm told Dreamweaver has a steep learning curve?

Jim Bird.

Dreamweaver doesn't have a hugely steep learning curve. I picked it up in a day or so. I would say, however, it does have quirks which are more likely to catch you out, or delete manually entered code etc.

Other than that it is fairly straight forward.

PS

Hello Alan,

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, spiralfilm.com is a dreamweaver built site.

The only other thing to be aware of is that the web editing software is only half the story. You need a good web graphics application to go with it.

I would say that Fireworks (Macromedia again) is the best in this area by quite a margin, but again it comes down to preference. It also integrates very tightly with Dreamweaver and Flash if you need it.

Download the trials at www.macromedia.com and have a gander. The Studio MX bundle is particulaly good value for money.

Thanks for the updates, guys.

I had an initial go at downloading Dreamweaver, Ben, but at 48MB it was going to take over 2.5 hours. I'm off to the Institute of Videographers' regional meeting in Basingstoke tonight so I'll kick off the download before I go. It's 62 miles away, so it should just about be finished by the time I get back!

Interested also to hear about Fireworks - how does a 'web based' graphics app differ from the generic packages like Photoshop or PaintShopPro? A++

If you are new to the game try Netscape Composer. It is part of Netscape. It produces good basic pages.

As for presentation on the web, check out using microsoft .wmv files. Do not forget that as yet not all of us can get ADSL so a 56k version along with a 512k version is a practical taster.

I have been experimenting lately and my very amateur efforts can be seen at:
http://www.siltec.co.uk http://desertrailways.tripod.com/index.html http://clockworkmovies.tripod.com/index.html

tripod allows up to 20MB and is the easiest of the 'free' hosting sites I have found. There does not seem to be any limit on the number of sites you can create!

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Home movies on the net - see them here
http://www.siltec.co.uk
be amazed, wonders beyond belief, see it all!!!!

quote:Originally posted by Alan Francis:
Interested also to hear about Fireworks - how does a 'web based' graphics app differ from the generic packages like Photoshop or PaintShopPro? A++

FIreWorks is particularly strong at helping the designer making the "compression/filesize" tradeoffs, so giving the site the smallest acceptable image filesizes and hence faster download times, yet "sufficient" image quality.

It can also generate buttons, rollovers, etc. directly, without much of the donkeywork in doing this in Photoshop or whatever.

It also integrates seamlessly with DreamWeaver (as already mentioned).

I would add my vote for Dreamweaver. Its fairly intuitive and easy to learn. For simple graphics I use PaintShop Pro again I find it very intuitive.

For Flash try Swish. This produced ordinary .swf files but in a fraction of the time it used to take me to do it in Flash 5. It can also be used for animated graphics in video productions as you can export to .avi

For examples check out two of my sites:
www.martinshakeshaft.com
Two versions of the same site one produced in Dreamweaver and the Flash version produced in Swish.

www.vivasort.com
All produced in Dreamweaver

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Martin Shakeshaft

www.martinshakeshaft.com
Latest Project
www.vivasort.com