newbie wants to avoid frontpage

i am looking for a alternative to front page to make a doctor's office website. frontpage templates are ugly and make a lot of blech code. i only know html...i have rudimentary knowledge of css. any ready made solutions that will also help me learn will be greatly appreciated. i want something that will help me make a slick informational website in a weekend. a form would be nice to collect user contact information and input that into a database for mailing labels. i have no idea about that part. thanks..

Well, there are other HTML editors, like Dreamweaver. I use a text editor named 1st Page. Although I've never used most of it's abilities, you could, possibly, benefit from the ready Javascripts, and Perl/CGI scripts that it contains. There are even easy-to-use wizards that allow you to customize the scripts to your site. Very easy to use.

I'd say Dreamweaver, as per above, would be your best bet although it is very expensive, about 3 times more than Front Page I think, but worth it!

Then for your Server Side language, Notepad, Homesite, ConText

Search, theres loads mentioned

how do u define a newbie?

I don't, personally, like the word newbie. I'm guessing that it's synonym for beginner or a just a word for something similar.

I'm a big fan of Homesite. Although it has a WYSIWYG mode, you don't want to use it. Instead, use the wizards in edit mode for the actions/coding you don't already know. You will then see exactly what code is produced, and, by switching to browse, what results from that code. It includes wizards for tables, frames, lists, forms, Javascript, applets, and ActiveX scripting, CFML (a ColdFusion language), and ASP. It's a great way to produce and learn at the same time. (IMHO, of course)

Check it out at http://www.macromedia.com/software/homesite/

Karen

I'll second the pro for Homesite. That program absolutely rocks if you know your HTML.

Well, IMO, there really is no point of building HTML pages if you don't know, at least some, HTML. A non-skilled HTML writer is only dooming the page by using Dreamweaver to do something he has no comprihension himself. At some point, there will be a problem, which the editor can't fix nor explain. What will he then do? He will buy a book on the subject

Now let me see. I've used Dreamweaver and Homesite and Frontpage and HotMetal and various others, and what do I use.... notepad. Yeah I know it's not 'normal' but at least it means I have control of the code. The output from Dreamweaver, as I've seen it on other peoples sites, is terrible. You could known 4k off a 10k page just by taking out the extra tags it puts in. Frontpage, was just nasty, the output wouldn't load into another editor, eh? HotMetal, well that was a joke, the thing wouldn't let me edit things in WYSIWYG mode. Homesite though, ahhhh lovely homesite. It's easy to add extra tags for doing ASP/PHP etc.. and it has a function to check code validity. The button is easy to get to and the output sensible. I'll still use notepad though!

If you know at least some basic HTML, 1stPage is really good - it helps with programming wihtout putting any code in that you didn't ask for. And it comes bundled with TidyHTML, which analyzes your code and, if you wish, makes it e. g. XHTML compatible. Not to mention the nice scripts library and the good docs.

I do 99% of my development on and for linux. I use the GIMP, quanta, bluefish, and emacs for most everything.

I periodically boot windows to use Fireworks for creating sliced roll-overed images and nav bars. I then put the javascript into a separate library and do the <script language="JavaScript" src="/js-lib/mlri.js"></script> to include it and maximize browser caching. No point in reloading javascript for every single page.

Unfortunately, I can't get Fireworks working in WINE. When/if I do, I'll have no reason to boot windows. For a windows editor, I like Dreamweaver, though if you don't know HTML you're gonna make crap no matter what. Dreamweaver is nice enough to leave your handcoding alone, which I like.

Bluefish is an incredibly well-done and slim editor, and I love emacs simply because it has excellent syntax highlighting and is incredibly responsive, in terms of speed. I type fast, and need an editor to keep up with me.


my $2X10-2

text editors. edit, save, (upload if necs.), refresh browser, repeat.