Anyone know a reliable program to make a website

Ladybirds

Hi there,
The website I have was built back in 2006 and was built on tables, I am unable to do anything regarding changes unless I ask my webmaster. I would like to know of a reliable program which doesn't involve knowledge of HTML etc. I will also need to accomodate my blog (seeing more and more websites now with a blog tab) and it will need to accomodate a commerical webshop.
I want to have full control over what I want to change and when I want to change it on my website.
I have heard good and bad about Joomla. Does anyone else have any other experiences with other webbuilding sites for a novice.
thanks in advance.

RussJK

Do a search for WYSIWYG website makers.

WLM21

Hi

I had an idea last year about starting website design but I had no idea at all but with the help of a few internet tutorials and videos on Youtube managed to learn

I wouldn’t worry about using Dreamweaver or any other specific program initially .. you really do need to know the basics of the code used, to eventually get the best from Dreamweaver. (xhtml and css)
Therer is a free 30 day download though, as a trial .. but far better initially is ..

For the coding, download the excellent free Notepad++ from

http://notepad-plus-plus.org/


For learning .. use


http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp


http://www.htmldog.com/guides/htmlbeginner/


or using this Youtube series ... it's vg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwQMnpUsj8I&feature=related

Bollotom

Try having a look at Joomla. It is free, simple and virtually drag and drop. I tried it and it worked first time. Just follow the simple instructions and try it as a stand alone on your computer. If you are happy with it then you will have to get it hosted.:cool:

Silver-Cat

I use Web Page Maker which is a bit like using power point! They have a 15 day free trial so might be worth giving it a try.
Took me minutes to create a website which is creating a lot of business. I can PM you the site I made if you'd like to have a look at what it can create.

paddyrg

Seriously, use a hosted CMS service. If you can find a pre-installed Joomla, it is a good choice. Even easier is DrupalGardens.com, but look at 'google sites' too. Nothing to install, no ftp passwords and hosting providers to worry about, just do it all in your browser, modifying templates, make your life easy and get better results faster.

mrmarble

You may also want to take a look at WordPress.com - never used it myself, but it's the world's most popular blogging platform, with all the techy stuff taken care of...

Ladybirds

Silver-Cat wrote: »

I use Web Page Maker which is a bit like using power point! They have a 15 day free trial so might be worth giving it a try.
Took me minutes to create a website which is creating a lot of business. I can PM you the site I made if you'd like to have a look at what it can create.

Yes please that would be helpful. I use powerpoint a lot. What is the webpage maker called? Can I add a shopping cart to it?

Ladybirds

paddyrg wrote: »

Seriously, use a hosted CMS service. If you can find a pre-installed Joomla, it is a good choice. Even easier is DrupalGardens.com, but look at 'google sites' too. Nothing to install, no ftp passwords and hosting providers to worry about, just do it all in your browser, modifying templates, make your life easy and get better results faster.

Thanks for this, now for the bit which shows my total ignorance. What is CMS service? I will certainly look at what you suggested. Thank you

Ladybirds

mrmarble wrote: »

You may also want to take a look at WordPress.com - never used it myself, but it's the world's most popular blogging platform, with all the techy stuff taken care of...

Hi thank you. I use wordpress a lot and have a few blogs, the only downside with wordpress is to add a commercial shopping cart, I know it can be done but I have heard from people who have done this that its not the best option.

dug123

Serif Webplus. Now X5 is out you may find a cheap copy of Webplus X4 on ebay. This is excellent software.