Need to know some good web building prog.

[TDY2KN01]

Im a newbie at website building. I would like to know some animation, graphic, editor that is easy to do but also deliver good result. Thx

 

[Henry Kuo]

I always think MS Frontpage is a very good starting point. Once you get familiar with it, Macromedia is the best (darn... i forgot the software name...)

 

[micron]

Macromedia Dreamweaver?

 

[Ladi]

For 2D gif animations, try Animation Shop from http://www.jasc.com, any of ULead's products, Adobe Imageready, or Macromedia Fireworks.

For 2D graphics (and 3D if you're talented), PaintShopPro, also from Jasc is a good starting point. Macromedia Fireworks does 2D as well, as does Imageready's companion, Photoshop.

The easiest is probably either Macromedia's or Jasc's products.

For html editing and layout, Macromedia Dreamweaver is great, but has an extremely high learning curve. Frontpage is easier, but it writes terrible code...I wouldn't recommend it. There's tons of HTML editors out there...just go and look.

Try http://www.stars.com and http://www.screamdesign.com as good general references.

~Ladi

 

[BCYL]

I would recommend Macromedia Dreamweaver also... It is a great program once you get familiar with it...

 

[eraser]

FrontPage is a very good starting point for an individual new to web page design. Macromedia Dreamweaver is fine as well, but its learning curve is a bit larger than FrontPage because of the wealth of features included in Dreamweaver.

FrontPage allows one to create effective websites very simply. If you have used their Office application then you will feel right at home with FrontPage. Managing and updating a website is a breeze with FrontPage. In order to take advantage of some of the more advanced features in FrontPage the web server in which your website will reside on must support FrontPage extensions, which is becoming increasingly common these days. FrontPage ships with Microsoft Image composer, which allows you to make web-graphics. Composer includes a gif-animator that allows one to make animated images. Can do lots with composer, but don't expect it to compete with the more exspensive graphics programs.

Dreamweaver allows one to make web pages that are a notch above FrontPage, but its cost is in the area of twice a much as FrontPage. FrontPage $150.00, Dreamweaver $300(These are suggested retail prices). I'm sure you could find them cheaper somewhere.

Dreamweaver ships with trial versions of their other sofware packages (Director, Flash. etc...). It also ships with a trial version of Homesite 4.5 which is a simple text based html-editor , but is has drawn a lot of praise for its simplicity.

I guess what it all boils down to is which web design program can you afford, and which fits your needs best. Dreamweaver and FrontPage are two of the best on the market, but they offer features that cater to two different crowds, and their needs. Can't go wrong either way in the end.

Eraser

 

[Ladi]

Just a few notes about the Macromedia products: full demos are available at http://www.macromedia.com (they expire after 30 days) and the version of Allaire Homesite that comes with Dreamweaver is a *full* version.

~Ladi

 

[gerbz]

Net Objects Fusion 5 is a powerful object based site builder.
It looks & works like page layout software, which is making it easier for me to learn.
download at:

http://www.netobjects.com/products/html/download.html

 

[eraser]

As far as Microsoft Frontpage generating terrible code that is depending upon which version you are using. I have used FrontPage since Frontpage 97. Versions 97 and 98 produced horrible html code. Am currently using FrontPage 2000, and the code generated is a lot cleaner, and more organized that previous versions. So the argument that it is no good because of the code it generates applies to versions previous of FrontPage 2000.

You can import, or work with a web page that was produced in another html editor in FrontPage 2000, and 2000 will not change the code to the way it thinks it should be. The code remains the same. Versions previous to 2000 would massacre your code. I use both FrontPage 2000 and Macromedia Dreamweaver together to generate the web pages I design for my place of employment.

In my opinion Microsoft has finally produced an excellent , as well powerful html editor(FrontPage 2000)that can hang with the best of them.

Eraser