So I have been playing around with www.artisteer.com
Does anyone here know of any other programs that do what that does? It’s a great program though very limited. I’d like something a bit more robust, but still WYSIWYG.
Anyone out there play with Web Content Management Systems much?
I’m a web dev, and the CMS I use the most is WordPress. I do Joomla and Drupal too. I’m pretty well married to the idea of using mainstream open source CMS’s because they’re so well supported and that makes my life easier. iThemes.com is working on a WordPress template generator called Theme Builder that’s easy to use, but it’s not WYSIWYG. I’ve yet to find anything WYSIWYG that truly what we all hope for, which is probably good, because that could seriously hurt my already hurting business. Did I answer anything or am I just rambling?
You know… I posted that last before looking at Artisteer. I had looked at this about a year ago, when the Windows version was in Beta. Being a Mac guy, I didn’t look closely, but I did bookmark the site because they said that, at some future point, they would do a Mac version. I’ll have to check it out. It’s going to have to be really easy to use, produce compliant code, and have about zero learning curve for me adopt. My skills are pretty much at the point where I don’t need a WYSIWYG generator, I can work up designs from Photoshop to Dreamweaver very quickly, but I’m always interested in that magic bullet. Thanks for posting this - I had forgotten all about it.
Actually, now that my memory is jogged, there is a German Java app out there that looked interesting. If I can find a bookmark for it, I’ll post it here.
Artisteer is dumb easy to use. It’s just a matter of changing various CSS profiles and such. All drop down menus. Should be super easy for you. The Mac Beta crashes a lot. I am going to get the PC version I think. But for a basic turnkey site, there is a lot one can do with it. I’m thinking I want to work primarily in Joomla, though I am learning all three Joomla, Drupal and WordPress. At this point in time I have the most experience with Drupal.
I’d like to put Artisteer on my pc and screw around with it a bit. As for CMS flavors, I’m finding more and more, that it’s more than enough of a CMS for 90% of my client’s needs, and it’s so much easier to work with than Joomla or Drupal. My gripe is that I just don’t get enough Joomla and Drupal work to keep up a really strong proficiency, then when I do need it, I’m a little rusty.
I can’t find the link to the java-based theme builder. I probably thought “hey I should bookmark this” but didn’t. I do that alot.
In case you’re not familiar with this site, check out www.themeforest.com
Really nice stuff and dirt cheap.
I tend to use ModX for CMSes, and Gimp/Inkscape for design work. I wouldn’t use a tool like artisteer - mostly, because I can do what it does just as quickly myself, but also because I find generated sites tend to have a certain, recogniseable “look” to them that I don’t like.
I have recently discovered ExpressionEngine, but apart from a few pre-made templates, it doesn’t have a fancy automatic doodad to mix and match one.
Which is why I chose it, as it has total freedom of design using regular HTML and CSS. Though that can be both a blessing and a curse. Some of the pages could do with a little more automation and a little less freedom, to make some things less clumsy to piece together.
Well Artisteer has the capability to open other themes. I haven’t mucked about with opening a theme and messing around with it. Your gripe with Artisteer is precisely the same gripe I’d use, but if you are working on cheap and easy sites for people, then sometimes that’s exactly what they need.