My mom is wanting to create a website for her little store, and is asking me which software she should use. I've offered to do it for her, but she is really wanting to learn and do it herself, so that she can update it frequently and easily without bothering me. (Good idea!)

I've been using Dreamweaver for years, but she is a little intimidated by the possible complexity, and especially the cost!

I'm curious to know what other people are using / recommend in terms of a free or cheap WYSIWYG Web page design software and FTP client for uploading pages to the server that are easy to work with / user friendly.

Any recommendations?

she could try http://www.nvu.com/index.php

My mom is wanting to create a website for her little store, and is asking me which software she should use. I've offered to do it for her, but she is really wanting to learn and do it herself, so that she can update it frequently and easily without bothering me. (Good idea!)

I've been using Dreamweaver for years, but she is a little intimidated by the possible complexity, and especially the cost!

I'm curious to know what other people are using / recommend in terms of a free or cheap WYSIWYG Web page design software and FTP client for uploading pages to the server that are easy to work with / user friendly.

Any recommendations?

I'm an old school IT guy, so developing web sites really isn't my my thing. In the few cases I had to develop something that looks better than my hand-edited HTML, I had found IBM Homepage Builder a really neat program, simple to use yet powerful, coming with a lot of (decent) templates to start with.

I know, an easy to use program coming from IBM sounds like an oxymoron, but it really is (or was).

Unfortunately they've pulled the plug out on this product

Maybe you can still find copies around...

--Lannig

My mom is wanting to create a website for her little store, and is asking me which software she should use. I've offered to do it for her, but she is really wanting to learn and do it herself, so that she can update it frequently and easily without bothering me. (Good idea!)

I've been using Dreamweaver for years, but she is a little intimidated by the possible complexity, and especially the cost!

I'm curious to know what other people are using / recommend in terms of a free or cheap WYSIWYG Web page design software and FTP client for uploading pages to the server that are easy to work with / user friendly.

Any recommendations?

Take a look at this one very easy to use and good after sales service, they also have a forum where the members are very helpfull. Cheers.

http://www.bluevoda.com/

CoffeeCup editors have been around for quite a while and inexpensive. You can download a trial to see if it is basic enough for her. Comes with several templates to get a quick start on her web page.

http://www.coffeecup.com/designer/

http://www.coffeecup.com/html-editor/

Might be worth looking at some of the blog software like Wordpress that takes care of most of the coding/design issues automatically. Or XOOPS.

No one mentions Microsoft Frontpage? FrontPage 2003 is very slick and they have continually worked on ease of use and I've always found it easy to begin with. They have tutorials for each thing you want to do. The tutorials are very interactive and fun; voice, practice sessions, etc. They teach simple through advanced topics and I used them to learn CSS among other things and it's awesome to go from not knowing anything to 40 minutes later knowing all the tricks wringing your hands ready to go. I haven't used any other programs, but I find Frontpage nice just like Word & Excel.

I'd agree with The Coder. MS Frontpage is a good choice for someone who doesn't want to be bogged down learning all the features in Dreamweaver.

Id say stick with dreamweaver...its still free to download (try) and there are plenty of keygens out there adobe

For ftp i would say use this FTP. Easy to add settings and to upload its just drag and drop.

Id say stick with dreamweaver...its still free to download (try) and there are plenty of keygens out there adobe

For ftp i would say use this FTP. Easy to add settings and to upload its just drag and drop.

I'd go down the CMS option myself - Wordpress or Joomla, depending on the site. Both are free software. Set it up once, and then update the site from your web browser anywhere in the world.

And yes, I can help to set up or customise either - in my professional capacity

What is more important than the choice is to either dump it quickly or stay with it to finish the project. She may have a very difficult time modifying a page or site that is partially complete with a progam other than the one she used to create it.

Peter

My mom is wanting to create a website for her little store, and is asking me which software she should use. I've offered to do it for her, but she is really wanting to learn and do it herself, so that she can update it frequently and easily without bothering me. (Good idea!)

I've been using Dreamweaver for years, but she is a little intimidated by the possible complexity, and especially the cost!

I'm curious to know what other people are using / recommend in terms of a free or cheap WYSIWYG Web page design software and FTP client for uploading pages to the server that are easy to work with / user friendly.

Any recommendations?

I use NVU, works fine for what I need it for.

I sent her the link to NVU... and she seems to be happy with that. Thanks to everyone for the replies!