Software?

I'm a new to WD and have been using WebDwarf just because it was free. I am going to be taking a couple WD classes starting next month and just wanted some ideas on what software i should start looking at? i.e. Dreamweaver, Frontpage, whatever... Thanks

liquid

I'd wait to see what your class uses, most likely Notepad. As for free editors, I like 1stPage by Evrsoft - it's a very nice code editor. For WYSIWYG if you've got a little money the standard it Dreamweaver, I wouldn't bother with any of the others.

I have to agree with Catalyst. 1stPage is the one and only Free Web Editor out there I would ever trust/use . It has different difficulty levels built in so that as you learn you can change the features/capabilities of the program. I highly recommend Dreamweaver too. I have had it for a year and am learning new things about it everyday.

Notepad is fine for learning any aspect of HTML and I would suggest against learning with any WYSIWYG programs. I use MetaPad (just because it's better than notepad lol) when it comes to quick alterations, but Dreamweaver is a must if you plan to do this professionally and use a WYSIWYG editor. It's the best out there in that it produces neat, tidy and concise code (Unlike Frontpage) and has excellent tools built in and good integration with other macromedia products that you or others you work with may be using.

I would recommend Macromedia's Beaver. The WYSIAWYG features provided are awesome. It supports rendering of CSS pages in itself ( CSS is a web standard fast gaining popularity over tables ) although it ain't exactly accurate. There's also database integration. The code 'view' is also very autma

If you are planning to do web design for quite a long long time, I would suggest investing in beaver. ( its very expensive so try to get some student version or something )

Some people say that the learning curve is high, but I feel exactly the opposite. To me, its as easy as saying 123. However, if you try out their trial version at www.macromedia.com and find out that its too hard, you might want to try out Adobe GoLive CS.

I've not tried the CS version but yes, I've tried Adobe golive 5. It was *VERY* hard to learn for me, but if you care to find out others opinions, most of them would say its much easier than beaver.

For coding/CSS stylesheet editing ( you should learn that in your wd classes ).... use Bradbury TopStyle. It combines all the dreamweaver's coding features, PLUS a live rendering engine ( mozilla n IE ).

Both software are available for Macintosh and Windows. Now, I would recommend you use Macintosh ( esp. mac os x ). You can acheive tons better in a Mac than in Windows.

If you have the money or like macromedia's style, get beaver, TopStyle... ( or maybe Fireworks for graphix editing ).

Else, if you have a huge hole in your pocket, you can safely settle for Adobe's GoLive, topstyle/homesite and adobe's photoshop.

Adobe Golive and photoshop make a great couple and so do macromedia's beaver and fireworks.

Just to add... Crimson editor is a nice free editor to use, but if you got cash, I would go for Homesite. I have been using it for years, and swear by it!

HTH
u2o