New to web design. What is some great software or scripts for website building?

Question

I'm a little bit familiar with web design, I once built an online store using zencart, so I at least have a little experience. But when it actually comes to developing a website I'm really out of the loop, and only know just a few basic html commands. I'm wondering if anyone knows any real good programs for building a website without needing to know much html. Preferrably free, but would also like to know about non free ones.

I'm wanting to build humor, news, etc site similar to ebaumsworld.com, collegehumor.com, and similar ones. So any advice on the best way to do it would be nice.

It would be nice if there was a script that works similar to the zencart script, where you basically upload and install it on the server. So that once you get the basic layout, adding, deleting, rearranging, and archiving, content and extra pages is super easy.

Thanks.

Thanks.

Also, besides programs, I'd like to know if there are any

Answer 1

Sophisticated sites like collegehumor is developed by real programmers who code the site software themselves.

If you want to make your own site without learning to code, it's going to be limited in how sophisticated it can be. The most widely recognized and appreciated program among professionals is Dreamweaver (http://www.adobe.com/dreamweaver )

Do not use FrontPage - it is universally reviled by everyone who understands web development. Once you learn what goes on under the hood - the actual coding of sites - you will realize how terrible FrontPage is. It creates embarrassingly bad code that is miraculous if you can get it to work well in any browser other than IE.

NVU (http://www.nvu.com/ ) is also popular - it is free, which is the biggest selling point. It's not quite as powerful or elegant as Dreamweaver though.

Answer 2

For web designing, the main language that you need to know is HTML (hypertext markup language). HTML is the basis of all web design, and that's how you get your content onto the website. While HTML is good at placing content, it looks very boring. So to style your sites, you'll need to learn CSS (cascading style sheets). With CSS, you can define how the various tags in HTML look and are positioned. With these two, you'll have a decent website. But the problem is that it's static. It doesn't do anything. To add animations and effects and changes to your site, you'll need to learn Javascript. Javascript is responsible for all of the changing things in your site. Javascript is known as a "client-side" scripting language. It's called that because all of the things it does happen on your computer. When you request a website, it gets sent to you, then Javascript does its magic. There are times when you want things to happen BEFORE the website reaches you, while it's still on the server. For that, we have "server-side" scripts which are usually written in PHP or ASP. PHP is a bit more popular because it's free and open source, while ASP is proprietary and owned by Microsoft. There are other languages, too, but these are the main ones to create websites. I hope I helped.

Answer 3

All serious Web designers and developers use Dreamweaver as their WYSIWYG editor. Anyone who tells you to use FrontPage is clowning.

Answer 4

The best are Dream Weaver and Front Page. Personally I use Front Page. They both take time to know and get used to all the bells and whisltes but they both are fine.

Answer 5

Notepad and knowledge are still the best way if you want it to look good.