software
Choosing software to use for web design can be a compromise between
features, cost and time to get to know the product. You can of course
always hard code using Notepad, and knowing HTML is useful, but these
days there is no need to be a purist!
Common choices are:
Macromedia Dreamweaver:
Dreamweaver is a WYSIWYG editor (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get), with
a user-friendly interface, that allows you to make Web pages in an
easy drag-and-drop fashion. I had previously used Word '97 to make
web pages, which generates very dirty code, but Dreamweaver writes
fairly clean code. I hadn't really used HTML, but Dreamweaver allows
you to watch the HTML develop as you insert/format elements. Templates
are a very useful tool, allowing changes to be made in an external
file that is then applied to all associated files: no need to check
files individually! Dreamweaver also provides tools for performing
sophisticated tasks such as creating cascading stylesheets, dynamic
HTML, and JavaScript. There are plenty of options for 'extensions'
available on the Macromedia site that allow an even wider range of
tasks.
Purchase
Dreamweaver
Microsoft Frontpage:
FrontPage 2002 allows you to easily set up a website with a consistent
and professional look. You can work with pages in clean tabbed format
in a programme that allows you to set up email response forms and
discussion groups. However, Frontpage produces dirty HTML that can
bloat pages, increasing download time. Being an integrated Microsoft
product, this very much leans towards what Internet Explorer supports,
which can cause problems for visitors trying to view your site in
other browsers.
|
