I've been tasked to do a web page.

Can someone suggest a free/shareware program for web design? I'd prefer to use something inbetween writing my own code from scrach and the cut and paste of Front Page. I have FP2002, but I'd prefer not to use that. While I'm familiar with it, the code tends to be clunky, and the pages load slowly.

Going to Office Max and buying a package isn't an option for me... so something I can download would be best.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

TIA!
-Rusty

Take a look here:

http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/webpubli.../fweditors.html

These are all freeware HTML editors. You should be able to find something that fits your needs.

I'm not terribly sophisticated when it comes to page design, content and layout. Look at my pages and you'll more than likely agree. But I just use Netscape Composer.

Thanks for the link Paul. One of these days when I get some free time I need to redo my stuff. I kinda want to step out of the mid 90s when I do.

macromedia dreamweaver is the best, high end. I have a cracked version if you want it. it's 75MB.

FrontPage is the spawn of satan

Actually Frontpage 2003 is hugely improved and is pretty nice. I agree that the earlier versions (esp before 2000) sucked donkey dick, as Zois would say.

FYI...I read a good book about the guy who's company developed Frontpage. He was on the verge of selling the company to TimeWarner/AOL/Netscape but then Bill Gates stepped up with approx $133mil. Not bad for a couple year's work.

Dreamweaver is popular with the "pros" but may be major overkill for your project, as would the expensive Adobe stuff.

One of my guys at work is a big fan of one of the freeware editors and uses it for some pretty hardcore projects (for work & school) but the name escapes me; I can ask Monday if you'd like.

I like Homesite by Allaire --> Macromedia. Pretty simple, color codes the code, some shortcuts and snipets, built in browser, nice interface. Not as complex as Dreamweaver. I also like Macromedia Fireworks, not as hardcore as Photoshop but does the job very well.
HS's like $50 or Kazaalite it.

Chris

notepad

actually, i use UltraEdit, has a few more features than notepad, but is still just a good ol text-editor ...

i have yet to see a WYSIWYG web-design editor that creates even remotely clean code and more importantly, DOES NOT fuck up inline scripting ...


moah power to VI !!!!
Andy

LOL, Andy you can do better than Notepad...I use a pretty nice n' cheap text editor called TextPad.

My current project is kicking my ass. I have a demo at 11am tomorrow. Yikes.

Chris

VIVA VI!!!

If I was making a web site for someone I didn't like, I would use a WYSISYG just to piss them off. If I'm designing something that I intend to keep up or that my name will be associated with, Notepad gets the job done just nicely in Windows. VI in *nix.

vi

I like Textpad also.

I also like netscape composer. Free download at netscape.com I believe. See my site below created with composter only.

I'm no geek, but I get by

Actually most of the code that I (er, "we") build is generated programatically. That's the ticket for any large-ish sites. The new version of our software I am working on now has approx 1300 pages with a back-end of about 200 Oracle tables and 5000 program modules/methods. It all has to be able to run fully distributed across multiple servers and platforms.

At least 2/3rd's of the code will be generated from the metadata repository in the database. In other words, the software basically "describes" and "generates" itself.

It's a friggen monster and I have a nasty headache 24x7 lately.


BTW it frightens me that you young guys know about vi. I first used vi in the early 80's and still use it almost daily. The commands become finger reflex actions after a while, kind of like DOS WordStar used to be on PC's....

Sounds like a lot of fun.... not!

Is there any other editor then VI?

The only other "universal" one I'm aware of is EMACS. I never went there as the vi commands were already programmed into my fingers.

I haven't had a chance to actually try it out, but OpenOffice.org also has a composer built in and the whole suite is free. It's gotten pretty good reviews. My own time factors have kept me using FrontPage for now because there is no time to learn something else. I hate FrontPage, but for now it gets the job done.

I sat back to watch replies... Thank you for all the information on this. I'm going to download a couple of the suggested applications and give them a try.

-Rusty

If you are looking for something that is easy and fast. Also simple to understand and upload, let me know how you like Netscape Composer.