# web publishing software help needed **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 30, 2004, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-publishing-software-help-needed/226815 "2004-01-30T20:09:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![verbenabeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@verbenabeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/verbenabeast)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-publishing-software-help-needed/226815/1 "2004-01-30T20:09:52Z")
Hiya, all… I am creating a website for my church and need to find some some cheap functional publishing software. I \*\*\*could \* \*\* write the code myself, but… damn. Mainly I am lazy and do not want to be bothered with troubleshooting my sloppy coding, but I would also like to be able show my Pastor or someone else at the church how to do updates and what-not… So… criteria would be cost, functionality, ease of use/shallow learning curve (for non-geeks at the church) all advice, hints, tips, etc. are welcome. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![RainKing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@RainKing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RainKing)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-publishing-software-help-needed/226815/2 "2004-01-31T04:43:37Z")
Macromedia Contribute is supossed to solve your problem. I think the price is ok (99$ per copy). I’m shure there are a lot of freeware software to edit HTML but you’ll have to try them first, also you can use [OpenOffice.org](http://OpenOffice.org) text editor to save as HTML file. If you can use Flash try to make text windows that use external .txt files, that’s what I’d do. Or keep a frame-based design so they’ll just have to edit the most simple frame, and even MS Word can do that. ---
**Author:** ![mudcrutch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@mudcrutch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mudcrutch)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-publishing-software-help-needed/226815/3 "2004-01-31T05:03:21Z")
[CityDesk](http://www.fogcreek.com/CityDesk/index.html) might be good in this situation. It is not cheap (to me anyway) at $299, but if you are working with a small site that has 50 files or less, it is free. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-publishing-software-help-needed/226815/4 "2004-01-31T21:01:03Z")
What kind of updates would other people be making to the site? Mainly text changes or will they need to be able to overhaul a page or create a new one if necessary? Also, how complex is the site going to be (how many pages, do you think you’ll create templates, will you be adding a database, etc.)? ---
**Author:** ![verbenabeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@verbenabeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/verbenabeast)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-publishing-software-help-needed/226815/5 "2004-02-02T03:13:35Z")
the plan right now is for a very simple, straightforward design… maybe 15 pages… updates done by anyone other than me would probably be limited to text (depending on how hands-on my pastor wants to be)… I know MS FrontPage has built-in templates, but I really dont like their interface. I am gonna go check out CityDesk if I can get it free… maybe I can keep it small! ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-publishing-software-help-needed/226815/6 "2004-02-02T04:10:49Z")
You could just use Composer, which comes free with Mozilla. No, it doesn’t have templates, but IIRC it has simple WYSIWYG functions.