24 Feb 2006 - 13:21

question for the Kitchen Table Math brain trust

That's what Jo Anne Cobasko calls you guys — the ktm brain trust!

It's true.

Jo Anne's having trouble with her site, and the new software her husband, a computer programmer, bought for her is too complicated to deal with.

Here's her question:

I need to know the name(s) of an easy to use software which allows you to create your own website. I don't know any programming languages, and don't really want to have to learn them either. I need something that is idiot proof, and really easy to navigate and understand. I just want something basic. that can handle aproximately 20 pages.

If anyone's got any ideas, I'd like to hear, too.

Thanks!

-- CatherineJohnson - 24 Feb 2006

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Does she have a hosting provider already? Or is she starting from scratch? If she's starting from scratch, these days I'd recommend one of the various blog-in-a-box sites, rather than actually building a site and having to transmit it to a host server, etc.

-- GoogleMaster - 24 Feb 2006

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Thanks Catherine & Carolyn for all your help!

We already have a website that is up and running (http://socmm.home.att.net) but the problem is that the software I currently use has a terrible bug that will corrupt my files after a few updates. I have not been able to update since Sept. as we had another fatal crash of the files. I have had to rebuild my site at least 3 times. I'm looking for something more reliable, yet easy to use.

My husband is a programmer and can handle all the transmitting to the server etc. but he doesn't have the time to devote to learning a new program and then training me. I need something that is easy for a "non programmer" to use from just reading the manual, nothing to complex.

-- JoAnneC - 24 Feb 2006

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Joanne, what software are you currently using that's corrupting your files?

-- CarolynJohnston - 24 Feb 2006

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Well, the two biggies in that market are Frontpage and Dreamweaver. I'm mildly inclined towards Dreamweaver, but my experience with either product is thin.

-- JeffBoulier - 24 Feb 2006

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If you're limiting yourself to the universe of Frontpage and Dreamweaver, please by all means choose Dreamweaver. It's more expensive and has more bells and whistles, but it produces valid HTML, whereas MS Frontpage produces a steaming mound of crayola.

-- GoogleMaster - 24 Feb 2006

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Notepad? :)

-- TracyW - 24 Feb 2006

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Tracy -- I use a plain text editor myself, but the requirements were for something simple that a non-programmer could use. :)

-- GoogleMaster - 24 Feb 2006

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I'm a fan of Dreamweaver, myself. Slick and easy, and it produces pretty clean html.

Now you could produce html from FrameMaker^? with WebWorks^?, but that's not slick and not easy. The code's clean, though. And after the extraordinarily painful startup period, it gives you very nice output. Somehow I don't think that's quite what you're looking for, though.

-- DougSundseth - 24 Feb 2006

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FrameMaker! Is FrameMaker still out there? I used it on Unix, years ago.

-- CarolynJohnston - 24 Feb 2006

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Carolyn-

I'm currently using Printmaster Platinum 16, which is for making newsletters, business cards, greeting cards and the like. Unfortunately the web site builder has a bug that eventually corupts my web page master files.

-- JoAnneC - 25 Feb 2006

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OK, I was going to recommend DreamWeaver^? (I wanted to make sure it wasn't what you're using now). I've never heard of Printmaster Platinum.

Warning -- I don't think DreamWeaver^? is cheap, and it may be more than you need -- but everyone seems to like it who uses it.

-- CarolynJohnston - 25 Feb 2006

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Amazon has Dreamweaver 8 for $197 for the upgrade and $373 without upgrade. If Adobe has an educator discount for Dreamweaver, I can't find it on a cursory search.

FrameMaker^? is still very much alive, and arguably the best product on the market for hardcopy technical documentation. There are several better products for other sorts of DTP, and if you primarily want xml or html output, it's not the first tool I would choose, either. (I work on it nearly every day.)

-- DougSundseth - 25 Feb 2006

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Google Master

What do you mean by 'blog in a box'?

Are you referring to Blogger??

Does anyone other than Mac set up websites for people — I mean, does anyone provide the kind of service blogger does for people who want to blog?

-- CatherineJohnson - 27 Feb 2006

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Yes, Blogger and others like it. Personally I like Dreamweaver, but it doesn't fit the requirements for non-programmery and idiot-proof.

I was thinking the most idiot-proof and non-programmery way to put a website together is to use one of the blogging sites and its software.

You can set one up so that people can't comment, if you just want it to be a "display only" sort of site.

-- GoogleMaster - 27 Feb 2006

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You can try Nvu(www.nvu.com). I've heard good things about it, but never used it.

-- KtmGuest - 28 Feb 2006