Design it in photoshop, then cut it up and bring it into dreamweaver to wire it. Or use flash. The pros and cons: pro: dreamweaver, you can make a standard .html, .php, .asp site, that can be searched by search engines. con: none really, other than your site won't be "dynamic" (animation, interactivity, etc.) pro: flash, you can have animations, and more multimedia abilities con: not everyone will be able to see it and there's little to no SEO capabilities.
What kind of site? Dreamweaver if you want to code the site in HTML but have little experience in HTML or PHP. Overall, I'd point you to WordPress you want an easy to use, pre-built site.
I'm looking for a program that will let me build tables, display statistics, tabs, forums, etc. I would want it to be html so people can google it and I can have ads on it. And no it's not going to be a Miami Dolphins website lol.
Dreamweaver is great for building a site, however it takes a little bit of knowledge to use it. No idea what your coding skills are, but you'll need a little bit of coding knowledge. Flash is another one that could be used, but like Fin D said... I forget why exactly, but it doesn't come up on search engines as much. So I would avoid this, if possible. The university I go to has started to use Drupal to build their websites. No experience with it, but I've heard it's easy to use. Drupal is free also, so that's a plus.
I have some basic experience with code. I'm sure I could figure it out. But I really need whatever program gives me the options I need. If Flash doesn't come up on search engines then that wouldn't be a good idea since the website is going to be commercial.
Then yes you should stick with Dreamweaver. If your code experience is or meshes with php, then you'll find that an easy integration for Dreamweaver. Understand though, Dreamweaver isn't like a Microsoft program, it doesn't hold your hand. Actually, you could technically build parts in flash and drop those into an html page. 2 things: 1. Watch your file sizes on the flash and 2. Put effort and thought into the html's meta tags to compensate for the flash components lack of searchability.
here are my 2 websites: www.photoselby.com www.phinvaders.com both done on the Website Tonight site builder at Godaddy.com. (I know I need to put up a real slideshow on the photography website lol)
From what I have seen and read, you're best option is to use Wordpress. There are plug-ins available to do anything you have mentioned, it is user friendly and it is free. SEO is kinda' my specialty and there is nothing about Wordpress that is SEO unfriendly. For a great, free messageboard, I recommend SimpleMachine or phpBB
Brother I am not a Techy like brothers Celtkin, and Muck, but another ingredient is great people. I have known Brother Celtkin for several years. He believed in me, and he has been stuck with me ever since.
I don't have any formal training setting up a website, but have set up a few with the help of some friends. First thing I would suggest is if you're going to do it commercially get a handle on enough Apache, MySQL & PHP to be able to run something similar to a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) setup. Enough in that you can set up a database, add users, add databases, etc. I also second what Celt said in that Wordpress is incredibly user friendly. Not only is it SEO (Search Engine Optimized IIRC) it is highly customizable including themes and plugins that you can use. I would also recommend learning Joomla! as it creates some nifty websites like the frontpage of this website (you guys still using Joomla! ?) and I think you can stick wordpress inside a given spot.. which makes it ultra cool. Also! I would recommend learning enough code that you can do it by hand. Yes, there are programs out there that do it for you, but debugging is an incredibly important process that I feel is getting pushed aside by these programs. Learning how to code by hand can circumvent some of these issues. As far as programs here is what I use when I do this sort of thing.. SciTE for programming http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SciTE GIMP for images http://www.gimp.org Joomla! for Content Management System http://www.joomla.org Apache http://www.apache.org/ MySQL http://www.mysql.com/ PHP http://www.php.net/ CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) for design which can be learned (along with a lot of other things) here http://www.w3schools.com/ I recommend a linux dual boot or mac setup if you are going to host the system locally to try out as windows is generally unstable with that sorta stuff (IMO).
Def, man. I'm starting the site with a friend who I've known for almost 20 years. I'm def going to be looking for a great member base and I'll be sharing the finished product with all the great people from this site.
No, brother. We use Wordpress now. We moved away from Joomla because Wordpress was much more versatile and allowed our bloggers a degree of freedom that they would not have had if we had stayed with Joomla.
fyi you can buy templates and probably even find free templates to use with word press. So then you will just have to fill in the rest.
I don't think you will be sorry. FYI: We use this very versatile theme: http://diythemes.com/thesis/ Here are some reviews: http://www.wolf-howl.com/blogs/thesis-wordpress-theme-review/ http://www.sugarrae.com/a-review-of-the-thesis-wordpress-theme/
One other question. Which ads would you recommend? From what I've read, Adsense seems to be the best. Especially CPMs. I'd never want any intrusive or annoying ads like popups or the ones that play sounds whenever you view the site.
There are so many cool tools out there. I've used a little of Dreamweaver and liked it. Currently I'm hacking up a page for some Cub Scouts using the Free MS Sharepoint Designer 2007. Free. Yes, FREE. If you're running a Sharepoint Server it integrates well. But I've found it's just as useful as a straight HTML editor. There are lots of good tools out there. Just wish I had the graphics skills...
Thanks for asking this question. I was going to ask the same thing eventually. I want to start designing a web page for my father's business. It's a fishing camp with some cabins available for rental. It doesn't need to take reservations. Just some pictures, contact info, rates, etc. Searchability will be the biggest thing so sounds like this Wordpress might be my best bet. Thanks for all the info!
Sorry for the consecutive post and for digging up an old thread, but since it is still "unanswered" I hope this is ok. I'm still looking to throw together a basic website for my dad. It just has to show some pictures, have contact info, rates, other basic info and hopefully be pretty searchable. It seems like the Wordpress site mentioned here is more for blogging and such. Is that correct? Anybody have any recommendations for me? I'm not very technically inclined when it comes to any kind of web coding except for the absolute basics. Thanks in advance!
Will the site be just for displaying information about his business or will it also be for people to come and buy things? From your description it sounds like it'll just be for displaying information. If it's just for information then I think a CMS like Wordpress, Drupal, or Joomla would be fine. Then like others have said you can customize the template as you want. If you want people to buy stuff I am unsure what you'd need to be honest. I know that anyone can install a Paypal pay option on their site if PayPal approves you and it can be put into a CMS. Hopefully that helps somewhat as I don't claim to be an expert in any way, shape, or form on websites. I'll try to pass on any knowledge I have though.
I just need it to display information and pictures. I installed WordPress yesterday and started reading through the information, and everything seemed to be detailing how to make posts, ect. Not looking for a blog. I guess I'm just not even sure where to begin with WordPress. It doesn't seem to be very intuitive at all.
I personally haven't used WordPress so I'm not sure how useful I can be there although I assume Joomla is rather similar lol. Essentially when it talks about making posts it should be talking essentially about posting articles. You will have various options on how to format these articles and you can make them look like anything you want so it doesn't have to look like a blog. In the end though if you play around with WordPress and it simply doesn't do what you need you may have to try some of the other options people have mentioned. I wish I had more information for you.
Can Wordpress be used for 'regular' sites? http://www.racing.ups.com/ http://www.streamys.org/ Any questions? My point is, there are lots of professionals out there that build non-blogging websites on Wordpress.
Answered already, but I want to add, Wordpress with a good theme. Thesis is popular. Check out Headway too. http://headwaythemes.com/ A site without a blogging front: http://clarkgriffiths.com/ Many more too.
