I seem to have gotten in over my head.

I have spent the last few days lurking thru the different forums here looking for direction and I feel that I might be wasting peoples time by posting questions. I want to build myself a web site to display my woodworking products and possibly sell them. I am not looking to become a webmaster, just build a site and make editorial changes when necessary. I see that some of the web hosting sites provide different types of web site building tools with with capability of making html changes, etc. I'm sure that there are some out there (here at this site) that have used this type of building with quite satisfacory results. Who are some of those sites? I see this as a way to get my site built and then being able to utilize the vast knowledge base here to fine tune my skills. Am I wrong? Should I slink back to the nether regions never showing my face again by suggesting that on this forumz site? Thank you for any suggestions. Gregory V Alexander

Hi,
I am a new member here but I started out by using yahoo pagebuilder a long long time ago, and then from there I learnt html and I can now hand code my own sites. I do however prefer to design using a WYSIWYG editor but you cant fix glitches with WYSIWYG, which is when my coding experience comes into play, but even now I still have to ask for pointers on things.
The only silly question is the one that isn't asked. I am quite sure people here would be willing to give you some pointers to help you design and maintain a website.

David

David, thanks for the reply. I see the WYSIWYG way is the way for me for now. This way I can get my feet wet, then take the plunge and start hand coding. Thanks again.

Hello Gregory.

The best way to build your website is to hand code it using (X)HTML and CSS. There are many WYSIWYG and page builders out there but you will get the best results by hand coding your website. This may sound difficult but it pays of in the end.

Your other option would be to hire somebody to build the website for you.

I hope this reply has helped you.

Pádraig

Glad you posted. All questions are good questions!
If you are going to use a WYSWYG program and can afford it, I'd get Dreamweaver. It's one of the better. And you can slowly switch yourself over to handcoding if you ever find you have the time and energy. Dreamweaver can be used as an html editor in "code view" That's how I started.

Somehow I don't think I've completely answered your questions however. So feel free to follow up!

So, what makes DW a decent program to use? Is it the versitality, or templates available, or something else? Are some of the Web Hosts building tools that they provide do the same thing, but not quite as creatively, or not as user friendly (even tho the sites I've looked at seems to have UF tools, since this provision would help draw customers). Thank you for your insight. Greg

That's a tough question for me to answer because I haven't used any other programs for web design so I can't really tell you what the benefits are versus something else.

Dreamweaver is a fairly good WYSWYG in that it doesn't add too much code that is "shoddy". It's got a great CSS component to it, lot's of shortcuts (you begin to type code and DW finishes it for you), It's got a built in FTP (some people complain about it but I've had no problems with it).

It does have templates and as a beginner to this with no real interest in mastering it, you may find the templates handy. The list goes on and on.
Feel free to go to www.adobe.com and read about it.

Greg I haven't used the programs provided by hosts so I'm sorry I can't elaborate on that either. Others maybe able to however. I wonder however if it "you'll get what you pay for". You can't risk shoddy code, you need to be sure the site will display correctly in all browsers. I know the new Dreamweaver has a built in "supercharge" cross browser checker.

I've seen code by some on this forum that is produced by Microsoft Publisher and it's a foreign language. I would be fearful of other programs creating such bad code. I just trust Dreamweaver. Again.. this is not a commercial for DW, it's just what I'm familiar with.

Lchad, thanks for your reply. I DO realize that you get what you pay for. That has always been my motto when buying power tools... Since I'm JUST starting out, I'm reluctant to shell out $180+ to see if this is what I want or need. I will keep checking back to my post to see any and all replies. Thanks again. Greg

There is a 30-day free trial with DW. Forgot to mention that!

I strongly suggest trying to learn XHTML, even if you use DW or a similar program. Just remember to make proper use of h1 and h2 tags (it goes up to h6 if needed), p, ul, ol and li tags. Those are important!

I'm of the opinion that it is better to learn things the right way from the beginning. It will be easier to learn properly from the begining than to have to unlearn bad habits taught to you by dreamweaver. It has a good text editor built in to it but for me it's WYSIGYG capabilities leave a lot to be desired. It has a somewhat creative interpretation of the conventions. That said it is by far the best WYSIWYG available and I would recommend this over any others. But I am strongly against them as a rule and you will find numerous free html text edtors if you have a look.

As a side note, stay well away from the site building tools offered by hosts. They output some of the worst code I have ever seen. If you want something like this then just buy a template and put in your own information. It might be the best bet. You might at least be able to guarantee what kind of code you will have before parting with your cash. Templates can be expensive though, especially some of the better ones.

Pete.