Who builds their own website?

[Dave Johnson29]

Hi All,

I have just stumbled upon a weird bug in the software I use to write the web pages. The software, "Visual Page" is about 12 years old and I kept using it as I was familiar with it.

Having just discovered this bug which has probably cost me orders, I am ready to go kicking and screaming to a new web development tool.

Any suggestions on what to buy? I am computer savvy so technical aspects will not phase me. I have no idea what is hot and what is not in web development and the searches I have done didn't help much.

Thanks

[Eric Roberge]

Dave,

I'm not as "in depth" tech savvy as you, but I used Serif Web Plus. Depending on what you prefer, you can write code or use the built in application tools Website: http://www.serif.com/webplus/

I built a website with it and was very pleased with my end product and ease of maintenance (especially for the $$) Looked better than most of my competitors sites. I'd show you my site, but I put the company to bed at the beginning of the month.:(

Take care,

E-

[Sean Troy]

I use Joomla, it's free. Little learning curve but great help at their forum. Here are a couple of the sites I built with Joomla. http://seantroy.com and http://chchurch.org The only costs are your hosting and with joomla,I highly recommend Host Gator. They are set up for Joomla so it makes it very easy to run the site. Some extensions (add-ons) can cost a little but most are free. Word Press has a higher learning curve and a little less forgiving and is better suited to Blog type websites.

[Jim Becker]

Adobe Dreamweaver fan here....

[Mark Ottenheimer]

I second dream weaver. They have a free 30 day trial if you want to check it out. I am not an expert by an means, but I know it can be very powerful in the web design field.

[Terry Hatfield]

I used the site builder offered my my domain provider, spirit domains, to build mine. Super easy and cheap. It is for the technically challenged so it worked out perfefct for me. :D I built me site from scratch in about 6 hours and a good portion of that was just figuring out the software. Super easy to make changes etc..

Terry

[Steven Hsieh]

Adobe Dreamweaver fan here....

+1 What he said

[Darren Null]

Dreamweaver is it for coding from scratch.

If all you want is an easylife website learn how to install and manage a CMS (Content Management System).
Wordpress is easiest, and you can (with cPanel) set up and customise a complete site through your browser. Most of the bits you need are free. You can turn the blog bit off and use it as a website; and there's even a free shop plugin for it. It's a very shallow learning curve and wordpress is usually available to install from the control panel of your webhosting account.

Next up is Joomla, but you'll need to FTP for that; and also be prepared to need a modification that costs money.

Another step up in complexity and there's Drupal...sort of Lego for more complicated/custom sites. You assemble the bits you need into the site you want. But you can do some hardcore stuff with it & it's usually for free.

EDIT: Another way of tackling things is sitegrinder...it's a Photoshop plugin that spits out a website from a layered image. The learning curve is steepish, but you'll end up with a very pretty site.

[Chuck Wintle]

+1 What he said

+1 adobe dreamweaver

[Sean Troy]

Next up is Joomla, but you'll need to FTP for that; and also be prepared to need a modification that costs money.



Darren, correction, you don't need ftp for Joomla, you can if you like working that way but I've never used it with Joomla.

[Dave Johnson29]

Thanks guys,

I like the price of Joomla :) and it is downloading as I type.

I had sort of resigned myself to DW and am also trialing Kompozer. Not bad but a little clunky.

My web host does have a system available similar to Terry's suggestion but it does not allow tweaking the raw HTML. CSS and java code etc.

I am also going to try Ruby On Rails but not sure it is what I want.

Thanks for the opinions.

[Jack Adam]

Joomla makes it very easy to use. :D

[Dave Johnson29]

Joomla makes it very easy to use. :D

Thanks guys, but Joomla runs on the web host and the package we have would need upgrading and that would double the monthly charges.

Besides I like working off-line with the portable and sit outside in the AZ sunshine.

Plan B search is on. :)

[Sean Troy]

Thanks guys, but Joomla runs on the web host and the package we have would need upgrading and that would double the monthly charges.

Besides I like working off-line with the portable and sit outside in the AZ sunshine.

Plan B search is on. :)

Thats a big benefit having it run on the server. Your computer craps out, no problem. Still safe on the server. Host Gator has a plan for 4.00 a month that works great with Joomla and their servers are set up perfectly for Joomla.

[Bryan Morgan]

I just use vi or notepad... ;)

[Darren Null]

I just use vi or notepad
Wuss. I do it in binary straight down the phoneline using a D-Cell and a coathanger*


Next up is Joomla, but you'll need to FTP for that; and also be prepared to need a modification that costs money.

Darren, correction, you don't need ftp for Joomla, you can if you like working that way but I've never used it with Joomla.
I sit corrected. I've usually found that there's something I had to go in via FTP and tweak to date, but that could be me. The biggest downside for Joomla for me is that many of the useful extras aren't free...there seem to be a lot of people charging for stuff in the Joomla arena. These days, I usually go with either Wordpress or Drupal.




*May not be true

[Dave Johnson29]

Thats a big benefit having it run on the server. Your computer craps out, no problem.

I hope I don't shock you Sean, but I do automated back ups to two networked PCs every day. :D

I have been messing with computers long enough (37 years) to know backups WILL be needed at some time. :D

[AL Ursich]

I use Yahoo Business for a $115.00 a year to host and use the no brainier pre designed page formats. I don't have prices on my website just pictures of finished projects so I don't have a Shopping Cart.

I bought my Domain Names for 5 years after being told that less than 5 years and the search bots or what ever makes you found don't bother with the year to year...

I opened a second site last year and it has been popping up on page one due to my content. That brings me business.

Even with the Tourist Product side of the business, some local "Discover the Pocono's" sites that I have my link on have brought me some interest in a otherwise dead market.

It is all about having key words that are being searched for....

And second be a site builder that you are comfortable enough to make it happen.

A neighbor started his Yahoo Site and I followed shortly after thinking... If I get in Trouble I can ask for help.... I didn't have any problems.

AL

[Bryan Morgan]

Wuss. I do it in binary straight down the phoneline using a D-Cell and a coathanger*


Pfft. I used to just osmosis my code straight to the server from my body but I don't like showing off. ;) :D

[Sean Troy]

I hope I don't shock you Sean, but I do automated back ups to two networked PCs every day. :D

I have been messing with computers long enough (37 years) to know backups WILL be needed at some time. :D

Joomla has a fantastic site backup program called Akeeba. It zips you site files and if ever you loose it, you click a button and your complete site is restored on the server. Nice littlel feature. I figured you did backups. I'm glad I do also. I've needed them a few times :)

[Bill Cunningham]

SeaMonkey from Mozillia.. A good free WYSIWYG editor..
There are a few idiosyncrasies, but it generates code, and it works. The best free transfer program I have found is Filezilla, it works like a charm.