Easy Software Recommendation needed
 

I'm having trouble finding a software that can make it EXTREMELY easy for me to build a web-site.

Something that will pretty much make it easy for me to upload photos, upload information etc.

I don't need a shopping cart at this time, just something so simple kids can do it too..... :)

Thank you for your input,

Please help!

Jake

Dreamweaver

With Dreamweaver won't I need to transfer files etc. etc.?

I'm looking for a template or something like a template where it will have a window to click on and upload an image then it "REFRESH SITE" button. I guess I'm not much of a computer nut nor do I have plans to learning this late in the game.

You'll always need to xfer the file in some method, unless you are hosting your website on your own local computer.

Dreamweaver will allow you to define a site, and it will handle your file xferes, etc. for you. Not cheap either, but you can get a free 30 day trial download.

Excuse me? Which version of DW are you saying is very easy to use? I have tried 3 & 4 and neither are real user friendly. There are 4 month classes at our local community college teaching people how to get started using DW.

Got a copy of Front Page and without any real help designed several websites. Personally I hate FP and wanted to switch to DW but DW is a bear to learn without some instruction or classes IMHO.

You will have to transfer files with either program or FTP files across to the site.

Joeaksa - two of my biggest gripes with software are the lack of good manuals and hte fact that when they are there folks don't use 'em. The tutorials built into dreamweaver are great - if for some reason it wasn't installed when you installed dreamweaver let me know and I'll create you an account for our online class :) . But it is a very complex tool. I actually dont' use it for a few reasons but the big one is that I prefer to do my HTML by hand in a plain ol text editor.

Coffee Cup isn't hard, but I don't think you'll find any "programs" that will fit your "so easy a kid could do it" bill. For that what you need is a hosting service similar to what many ISP's offer. Many ISPs have a web page where you go, click on various buttons to choose colors, styles, etc.... Then once you've chosen the layout you can upload stuff.

If it's just pictures that you are interested in sharing, then go to a photo sharing hoster.

I haven't ever seen the front end for myspace, but I suspect it's probably pretty easy.

I think there are probably lots of places that you can go to get what you are looking for, but they probably won't use programs. The program will be built into a web page that the end user uses to create the page.

Most of the free portal sites (yahoo, google) have easy templates, don't they? I seem to recall using yahoo's a long time ago and while it was very templatey, it certainly was easier to use than DW. Frontpage is easy to use but it sounds like your hesitation is ftp'ing the files to the server, which the template sites make easy.

I just found this with the advise provided by holtjv....

http://smallbusiness.att.yahoo.com/webhosting/index.php?p=PASSPORT

I'm going to look into this, seems pretty simple after taking the tour.

I do some more reading and then if all looks good I'll give it a shot.

Thanks again guys,

Microsoft Frontpage is easy to use. It right code thats bloated, but if this is just for a low volume personal site, who cares?

My dad uses is to manage his fishing website. He's 62, and has not problems.

1) Mac

2) .mac account

3) iWeb (comes with the Mac)

It's that simple.

Frontpage is a pig. If you use frontpage you can't use a standard FTP client because it can blow away the frontpage extension on the web server. Stupid. The code is so bloated I'm shocked that it works.

Dreamweaver, very powerful but the Macromedia guys don't know d**k about user interfaces. Ever use Flash, best at what it does but be prepared to pull your hair out learning it.

Best bet is to find an ISP that'll give you templates and an online WYSIWYG editor.

Thanks guys, looks like I've found all my answers. . . I think I'm moving into something easy through yahoo site-templates. They offer telephone tech support etc.

Take care,

If you don't go the template route check out Contribute. It is a stripped down version of Dreamweaver. It writes clean code and lacks the steep learning curve of Dreamweaver. At $149 it relatively inexpensive.

Sorry but would rather eat dirt than use a Mac.

Was just in Berlin in the Air Frog exec lounge. Of course they had a Mac there. Hard to figure out, slow and the whole thing just not friendly to learn, and I have been working around computers since 1973 or so.

I use FP and FTP it to my site and it works fine. Hmmm, someone forgot to tell my site that it does not work. Agree with you about DW, its a bear to start out with.

I use Windows a lot, it's a completely different mindset, one that I do not enjoy at all. Still I'd rather use it than eat dirt, but you can do whatever floats your boat. It's like being in the UK and crossing the street. you nearly get run over a few times before you get used to looking right then left.

You can use FTP with FP if your server does not have FP extensions installed. It won't blow away your extensions because they are, let me see how to explain this simply, not installed. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume they are not installed or you'd be using FP's publishing option which is a simpler way of doing things.

If the FP extensions are not installed you are not getting the full benefit of FP. And even if they are there it's not 100% that they will get hosed by FTP but there is a good chance, that's why I said "it can" not "it will". Minor difference in words but major difference in meaning.

http://www.webworkshop.org/frontpage/without_extensions.htm

http://www.jiffynet.net/faqs/frontpagefaq.html

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum46/1097.htm

Pay somebody to design and build the site for you. You will then just have to maintain it. Adobe GoLive works pretty good. Harder to learn but better for CSS than Dreamweaver. Adobe GoLive also uses MenuMachine for a pro looking menu. Adobe recently bought Dreamweaver. If you have a really small site you can just do HTML, otherwise there are many advantages to Dreamweaver or GoLive. If you are into supersimple stuff you can get away with just doing it in Word and converting to HTML(not highly recomended though)

If you just want to FTP, somebody must have an old version of WS-FTP (which used to be free)