Web Design Software for Drooling Idiots

Okay, I’m in need of a website. Because I’m poor, I’m going to have to do the work on it myself, so I need some kind of software that can let me put together something which looks vaguely professional, but doesn’t force me to actually spend a lot of time (or any, ideally) learning how to use the program. I do know a bit of html so the ability to edit the code in spots would come in handy, but isn’t completely necessary. Presumably there’s something out there which is relatively inexpensive, doesn’t scream “amature” with it’s output, and doesn’t require 100 hours to learn. Any recommendations?

I’ve heard reasonable things about NVU - open-source, WYSIWYG and code interfaces.

For graphics, I’d recommend you [del]steal[/del] use someone else’s ideas as ‘reference’, and use The Gimp to create your own.

Apple to the rescue.

Of course, if I could afford a Mac, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

The easiest way, if you’re not prepared to spend money or take time to learn anything but already understand basic HTML, is to use somebody else’s freely available templates, and fill in the blanks.

Haven’t used Arachnophilia in years, since I got Dreamweaver.

But it was the easiest freeware app I found. Give it a try. It is Java based, so it will work on any platform that supports Java.

That looks interesting. I’m currently between Dreamweavers (I just switched to a Mac, so I’m saving for the Mac version), so I think I’ll give it a try.

Google Page Creator is a handy free tool. The interface is similar to PowerPoint and it doesn’t require any knowledge of HTML.

I downloaded the Java version of Arachnophilia (the .jar file), stuck it in a directory (I createde a java directory under /Applications), opened Automator to make a workflow, entered the launch command for Arachnophilia (java -jar /Applications/java/Arachnophilia.jar) into a ‘Run shell script’ action, saved the action as an app, and now I have a little app that will launch Arachnophilia! :slight_smile:

I like the Mac. There’s no way I could have done that under Windows without a lot more research.

I’m hoping for something that looks better than what that looks like.

You are right. I had to download the executable file, double click on it and let it install the program, then go to my program list and click on the icon to launch it. Ever so much more difficult than steps you had to go through. :dubious:

I have been trying Topstyle. HTML and CSS both, works well, but does have a learning curve and only a 20 day trial before it costs.

Ah, but you were using the Windows installer, not the Java version, weren’t you? There’s no Mac installer.

Sure I used the executable. But it was still easier than what you did and required no research, despite what you said. And if I had downloaded the .jar file, I would not have had anymore steps than you to get it running. Actually less, after it was in the directory, I just need to right click and create a shortcut on my desktop, double click to run it. There is nothing wrong with Macs, but they can be just as complicated as Windows machines to run if you don’t know what you are doing.

:: nods ::
Now that I think of it, I believe you can put a command in a Windows shortcut, even if the system is not set up to run .jar files as Java executable automatically. (I should test that on the Mac.)

Edit: I just did precisely that on the Mac as well: create alias of .jar file, move to desktop. Double-clicking launches the program. So I didn’t need the Automator app.

But I’m not certain whether Windows has an equivalent system-wide scripting facility as Automator and AppleScript. I have heard of Windows Scripting Host, buty I think it may be optional.

With a browser and an e-mail client, it’s more than you need, but Mozilla has released SeaMonkey, an update of the old Netscape Communicator package, complete with page editor.

I was actually wondering what happened to Netscape Composer. I used it for quite a while to make web pages, after graduating from Notepad and before I got Dreamweaver.

:: downloads it and installs it ::

Not bad. I’ll have to experiment with it a little. It starts with the browser, but then you can say, “Edit this page,” and the Composer editor starts up.

And you can set it to open in the Composer and ignore all the other stuff. There’s a tutorial in the Help as well. Tuckerfan, I’d give Composer a try to start off with, then NVU. Arachnophilia seems a bit unpolished, though a lot of that is due to the constraints of Java.

One important thing that the expensive programs like Dreamweaver do is, they keep track of all the links within a set of pages. When I was using Composer in the old days (around 1996), I had to keep track of all that myself; when I changed the name of a page, I had to change all the references to it in other pages. Dreamweaver changes all the references automatically, as long as it knows where everything is.

Edit: Looking at NVU, it can do this as well.