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07/12/2004 08:48:24 PM · #1 |
Can anyone recommend to me what they consider to be the best inexpensive (or free) web-authoring software?
I am volunteering to assist a local not-for-profit group in redesigning their website, but I have a sort of snag. I use Dreamweaver MX for authoring, and at some point this site needs to be able to be turned over to someone else with the group, and at the very least I will be sharing the workload with another person in the group.
This introduces two problems: A) They would need to buy a copy of Dreamweaver, and B) I would need to upgrade my Dreamweaver studio for about $400 to keep pace with the current version they would buy (MX 2004).
This seems unrealistic to me, so I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions for inexpensive tools that are still good for collaborating.
I am asking in other circles as well (read: I am aware this is a photography site) but I know there are some very technical people here that are familiar with web authoring, so why not ask one of my favorite communities ;)
So, if anyone has any recommendations or suggestions, I am all ears. Thanks!
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07/12/2004 09:01:36 PM · #2 |
Shameless plug: Acuity CMS. This was created as a simple web based page editor. We sell a lot to not for profit groups including church groups and non-government organistations. It's a much cheaper alternative than buying Dreamweaver or Frontpage. PM me if you want any more info or just visit the site :)
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07/12/2004 09:02:00 PM · #3 |
| For a non-profit (a.k.a. largely volunteer) it needs to be simple, too. While not free, FrontPage is simple and less costly than Dreamweaver. And it has workflow built in so more than one person can share the work. |
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07/12/2004 09:34:30 PM · #4 |
I've used CoffeeCup HTML Editor before and really liked it.
I think you can get a free download version from Tucows.com.
Price of the software is $49 though...
Good Luck Rich! |
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07/12/2004 10:17:04 PM · #5 |
I use 1st Page 2000. It's free and works quite well.
//www.evrsoft.com
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07/12/2004 10:38:58 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by Digital Quixote:
For a non-profit (a.k.a. largely volunteer) it needs to be simple, too. While not free, FrontPage is simple and less costly than Dreamweaver. And it has workflow built in so more than one person can share the work. |
Front Page creates the most godawful amount of extraneous crap in web pages...
I have seen results from Front Page that could have been done with less then a half the amount of code with straight WC3 Compliant HTML/DHTML hand-written code.
Sure, it half the amount of code might not mean much to you sitting at your desk, but when you are on dial-up that half the amount of code loads up oh so much faster. Plus, if you are charged by the MB by your hosting company, you can save a significant amount of money. Then there is the fact that Front Page Extensions can bring an IIS server to its knees with its unnecesary bloat.
Take a look at the built-in editor that is available with Mozilla, look up Bluefish(?), I believe that there is a Windows port of that. I don't know what else to look at off-hand. I only manage one website and I wrote that all with 'vim'. |
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07/13/2004 01:06:08 AM · #7 |
If you're using Dreamweaver MX, you may look at Macromedia Contribute. It will let you develope the site in DW and then someone using Contribute can modify pages. When developing the site, you select the editable areas, like when creating templates.
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07/13/2004 01:32:49 AM · #8 |
Rich, there is a site where non-profits can get software almost free. I just checked and you can get Dreamweaver MX 2004 for a $35 administration fee. Plus there are other web authoring tools too. You can get Front Page 2003 for $7. In fact you can get most of Microsoft's main software for almost nothing.
You do have to have a 501(c)(3) to take advantage of this.
Check it out at: TechSoup
Good luck
Faye |
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07/13/2004 07:40:40 AM · #9 |
Originally posted by fayepek:
Rich, there is a site where non-profits can get software almost free. I just checked and you can get Dreamweaver MX 2004 for a $35 administration fee. Plus there are other web authoring tools too. You can get Front Page 2003 for $7. In fact you can get most of Microsoft's main software for almost nothing.
You do have to have a 501(c)(3) to take advantage of this.
Check it out at: TechSoup
Good luck
Faye |
Thanks for the tip, Faye - I am having someone from the organization check that site out and verify their eligibility. I appreciate the response.
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07/13/2004 08:07:04 AM · #10 |
NOTEPAD! I swear by it :)
Seriously there are heaps of HTML resources on the web. Just knock it up in notepad. Make sure you have an index.html. Go for gold!
Message edited by author 2004-07-13 08:08:17.
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07/13/2004 08:40:26 AM · #11 |
//www.arachnoid.com
It's not wysiwyg, but it's nice. I like it because it has guides for everything, but doesn't write FrontPage-like crap code. Just use Arachno 4 not the Java one! :)
M
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07/13/2004 08:44:42 AM · #12 |
Originally posted by BooZon:
NOTEPAD! I swear by it :)
Seriously there are heaps of HTML resources on the web. Just knock it up in notepad. Make sure you have an index.html. Go for gold! |
There is a lot of functionality available in a product like Dreamweaver and that notepad does not have (especially site-wide change methods using templates). Plus, not everyone who is going to edit this site is going to want to do it in markup. I am hoping to end up using a product that is fairly easy to use, but still has some robust features to it.
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07/13/2004 08:54:10 AM · #13 |
Another vote for notepad!!!
But then I'm a geek and a pro. web developer who prefers to do it by hand. I use dreamweaver now and again but I don't like the code it produces so I end up having to go through it in notepad to remove the extraneous rubbish.
I guess it depends on what kind of a website you are producing, if its just a simple HTML site then a simple text editor is all you need combined with some HTML tutorials off the net. If it needs to be more complicated but still have its content edited by non-webby people then a CMS probably is the way to go.
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07/13/2004 09:31:33 AM · #14 |
Originally posted by richterrell:
Originally posted by fayepek:
Rich, there is a site where non-profits can get software almost free. I just checked and you can get Dreamweaver MX 2004 for a $35 administration fee. Plus there are other web authoring tools too. You can get Front Page 2003 for $7. In fact you can get most of Microsoft's main software for almost nothing.
You do have to have a 501(c)(3) to take advantage of this.
Check it out at: TechSoup
Good luck
Faye |
Thanks for the tip, Faye - I am having someone from the organization check that site out and verify their eligibility. I appreciate the response. |
There are other programs on TechSoup such as Apache. Does anyone have experience with these other programs? |
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07/13/2004 09:43:42 AM · #15 |
Try Open Office / Star Office. It is very stable and it writes the cleanest HTML of any editor on the market. It looks just like Office and the menus are nearly identical.
I admire that a non-profit if looking at purchasing software instead of steeling it but Open Office is free anyway.
I'm just saying its worth looking at.
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