Web Site Design Program

[SamuiRes]

Following a computer crash we re-installed Dreamweaver on line. It of course downloaded the "new improved" version which we have found to be a nightmare. They seem to have made it unnecessarily complicated. Try changing a font size! There are quite a few programs out there but would appreciate any feed back on which offer an uncomplicated method to update an existing web site on a regular basis.

[Somtamnication]

I agree. I have been a Dreamweaver user since mid 90s. Yesterday, I downloaded the 30 day trial version of Xara Web Pro 8. Well worth a try. They make is so easy. Go to xara.com. They have videos for everything!

[KRS1]

Have you tried switching between CSS and html in the properties tab?

I still like Dreamweaver, but it freaked me out to when I switched to CS5 and the standardization of CSS. Its kinda good though because it forced me to learn CSS, and now Im a CSS ninja.

The Find and Replace function just made my life 1000 times easier. Wish I would have implemented its use earlier, instead of editing pages one by one to change links. What took me 6 hours took Dreamweaver literally 3 seconds...dam_n (shaking head)

Edited April 5, 2012 by KRS1

[SamuiRes]

Have you tried switching between CSS and html in the properties tab?

I still like Dreamweaver, but it freaked me out to when I switched to CS5 and the standardization of CSS. Its kinda good though because it forced me to learn CSS, and now Im a CSS ninja.

The Find and Replace function just made my life 1000 times easier. Wish I would have implemented its use earlier, instead of editing pages one by one to change links. What took me 6 hours took Dreamweaver literally 3 seconds...dam_n (shaking head)

I am not a web guru by any means but with the old Dreamweaver we could make changes easily, add pages, amend pages, use different fonts with different sizes. I just went to look at what you referred to and I still do not understand. I can see the code and highlight text but it will not change it to what I want. I have had pictures appear out of place and identified the code but it will not let me delete them. I do not have time or inclination to learn CSS or whatever, just need a simple tool to do the job Dreamweaver used to do.

[KRS1]

Try using MS word then and save the file as html.

[Phil Conners]

Rather Notepad than Word. Did you ever view the HTML Word generates? Nothing short of awful.

If you just want to modify an existing website you could just use Notepad (assuming of course you know basic HTML). Otherwise try an old copy of DW or Coffeecup, or there is a ton of free html editors available from download.com you might take a look at.

Xara looks interesting too, at least if you are starting a new web design project. Not sure how useful it is for editing an existing site. Seems to be more of a website builder than design tool.

[SamuiRes]

Rather Notepad than Word. Did you ever view the HTML Word generates? Nothing short of awful.

If you just want to modify an existing website you could just use Notepad (assuming of course you know basic HTML). Otherwise try an old copy of DW or Coffeecup, or there is a ton of free html editors available from download.com you might take a look at.

Xara looks interesting too, at least if you are starting a new web design project. Not sure how useful it is for editing an existing site. Seems to be more of a website builder than design tool.

I downloaded the trial version and so far your analysis is correct. For a new web site it seems fine but for playing with an existing web site not so good. I tried downloading pages from our web site and they only partly downloaded and were difficult to edit and also tried using a page from my hard disk and that just would not load for some reason. As I said in a previous post I am not web guru so maybe I have to keep experimenting.

If anyone knows how I can get a copy of a previous version of Dreamweaver, please let me know.

[ianwuk]

Try Microsoft Expression Web 4, MS's take on Dreamweaver whilst still trying to retain the friendliness and WYSIWYG nature of FrontPage.

[Somtamnication]

With the newer web design programs, it does save the sites with the new techonologies (html5, css, java, mobi sites, etc etc). It is better to use these newer programs than outdated ones.

If your old site fails to load properly while being edited, perhaps it is outdated? A question to ponder, I hope. I use Wordpress for some of my sites and then I use some really easy do it yourself sites for clients who want a new site, but that they can edit themselves once I leave the scene. Tons of them out there.

[Phil Conners]

Try Microsoft Expression Web 4, MS's take on Dreamweaver whilst still trying to retain the friendliness and WYSIWYG nature of FrontPage.

Having learned the lessons from FrontPage, MS is probably not the way I would go for a website editing tool. They have consistently shown a complete lack of interst in following any Internet standard. Even CSS3 is still unsupported by the latest MSIE.

[h90]

Rather Notepad than Word. Did you ever view the HTML Word generates? Nothing short of awful.

If you just want to modify an existing website you could just use Notepad (assuming of course you know basic HTML). Otherwise try an old copy of DW or Coffeecup, or there is a ton of free html editors available from download.com you might take a look at.

Xara looks interesting too, at least if you are starting a new web design project. Not sure how useful it is for editing an existing site. Seems to be more of a website builder than design tool.

A while ago I needed a quick page and thought I save it from word in html and just clean it up a bit manual. What words generates is so bad that don't have a word for it.

Way faster to write it complete per hand in notepad.

[innerspace]

Agreed.

If the website is even slightly important then learn at least the basics of html and css.

Dreamweaver is ok for making changes but the code quality is average when in wysiwyg mode.

Word for websites, no. Just no!

If you liked the old Dreamweaver better, just use that! No need to run the latest.

[ianwuk]

Try Microsoft Expression Web 4, MS's take on Dreamweaver whilst still trying to retain the friendliness and WYSIWYG nature of FrontPage.

Having learned the lessons from FrontPage, MS is probably not the way I would go for a website editing tool. They have consistently shown a complete lack of interst in following any Internet standard. Even CSS3 is still unsupported by the latest MSIE.

That is true but at least Expression Web seems a step in the right direction. As with everything MS just takes time to catch up with everyone else.

[Phil Conners]

I don't know - it's not just a matter of technically being able to, they surely have some very good programmers in that huge army of staff they employ - but they just don't seem to care. It's like the attitude is "We're MS, we define our own rules".

MSIE *still* is not CSS3 compliant. All the other major browsers are (Chrome, Firefox, Opera, even Safari).

[Tywais]

Did you ever view the HTML Word generates? Nothing short of awful.

Must be why DreamWeaver has a Word HTML cleanup command. I've used it in the past when I needed a quick and dirty HTML copy of a word document. I have DreamWeaver CS5 and don't have any issues with it over the older versions. But as mentioned, a bit additional learning curve for the CSS section but worth it.

[innerspace]

MSIE *still* is not CSS3 compliant. All the other major browsers are (Chrome, Firefox, Opera, even Safari).

Im not one to speak up for IE, but..... IE9 has caught up with css3 and getting there (just like the others) with html5.

I know its not 100% but I do now include it when talking about standards compliant browsers.

Now just need to eliminate 6,7&8 and I can just write good clean code without worrying about cross browser issues.

[KRS1]

Did you ever view the HTML Word generates? Nothing short of awful.

Must be why DreamWeaver has a Word HTML cleanup command. I've used it in the past when I needed a quick and dirty HTML copy of a word document. I have DreamWeaver CS5 and don't have any issues with it over the older versions. But as mentioned, a bit additional learning curve for the CSS section but worth it.

yep