I know next to nothing about html so I bought a (really cheap) Web page designer off the 'net. It was really cheap because it is really old --The Print Shop Web Site Designer, by Broderbund.
Here’s the problem: I can’t open my saved web page any more with the site designer. It keeps telling me that the “object cannot be placed” and then showing me my desktop in the working window. It won’t tell me which object and even if it did, it won’t open the darned page so’s I can remove it and get on with life.
I can’t get tech support for this product (the Broderbund site doesn’t seem to exist anymore and the site I was directed to doesn’t even list this software as one of its products).
I really, really do not want to have to build the site from scratch again, but if you guys can’t help me I’m gonna have to if I want to add anything to my webpages. And even if I do have to build it again I need to know what I did wrong so I never do it again (I mean besides buying obsolete design software.)
I can veiw the page as it is at the site. I can stare and stare at all that coding and after a few hours I’d be able to guess what half the stuff means.
I suppose, if I knew how, I could open it in another application (say Explorer) on my computer, but I still wouldn’t know what’s wrong with it.
Which object can’t be placed and why? How can I get Web Designer to stop trying to place said unknown object if I can’t open the page? If I can open the page with another application how would I know which object is causing all this strife? If I’m successful in removing the offensive piece of coding in Explorer, will my design software stop looking for the stupid thing?
I would spend a little more money and buy a better quality software programs like MS Frontpage, Macromedia Dreamweaver, or another better name program since some of thsoe cheaper ones don’t allow you to edit HTML directly. They generate it later after you “publish” it.
My helpful hint is learn at least the basic HTML tags before you start with any Web page building/editing program, because then when things do go wrong you will have an easier time fixing it. If I can learn HTML, anyone can.
5 Years ago when I first started designing web pages, I went through many different HTML editors trying to find just the right one. I have tried them all. The best editor I ever found is a very simple one called FlexEd. It teaches you how to write HTML while it puts in the tags for you. A wonderful little program. 30 days for free, and then 32 dollars to register. It is more than worth every penny. Dl and print up the tutorials. They will walk you through a very simple web page to teach you some basics, and then you can start experimenting with the different features as you become more proficient. http://www.infoflex.com.au/flexed/flexed.htm
It sounds like you have an image anchor that can’t find the image. If it looks fine on the web, but not to the program, I’m guessing that you uploaded the image and moved/deleted/renamed it locally.
Are you using subdirectories on your computer to store any of the linked items?
If you’d post a link, we could take a look at the html and probably find the problem for you.
Oh DMC, that sounds so possible. My webpage is that little house down there.
Don’t think the problem page is one of the ones already uploaded, though. This started happening on a page I was working on at home that never got published.
I need to take up a less frustrating hobby/time gobbler.
Although many experienced web designers might groan at this thought, storing the images in the same directory as the html pages solves this kind of problem with simplicity. You can then leave the entire path off of the anchor; just use the file name.
I never thought I’d see FrontPage in the same sentence as “quality.” Dreamweaver is good, but nothing beats doing HTML by hand. No matter what program you use, you’ll almost always need to do some tweaking by hand so knowing some HTML is a good idea.
