Re: Web Page Design Software

On Sat, 13 Mar 1999 09:10:24 -0500, "William G. Burgess"
<wgb(at)usol.com> , late of Pablo Fanques Fair wrote:

>I don't know about Kathy, but I am finding this useful.  A lot of different ones
>to check out!  I find that very useful.  And considering the topic, I am AMAZED
>that it hasn't broken out into a flame war by now! <G>

He, he, he.

One aspect that is worth mentioning is that people work differently,
so what feels right to me may not be the best for you. One big
divide is between those who come to it from a page layout/graphic
design perspective, who will probably be more comfortable with a
WYSIWYG editor, vs. those who are more programming/coding oriented,
who will feel comfortable with a code editor like Homesite.
Even in programs that offer both it is interesting that how you use
the tool will often break down that way. For instance, my wife and I
both Dreamweaver (an excellent program, BTW), but she does
everything from the WYSIWYG view. And she is the one with the degree
in graphic design, the years of print and graphics experience, etc.
I am more the technical kind, and whenever I need to make a change
to a page, for instance, I go right to the HMTL code view and change
the code.

Given that people use tools in different ways, and have different
preferences, I think it is important to do some homework. The
original poster implied that money was an issue, so buying six
different programs and waiting to see which one stays on your hard
drive may not be a sound approach.<g> But many companies do let you
download a demo or 30-day trial version that you can install on your
computer, use, and see if you want to spend money on it. Some
excellent programs are shareware, as well, and there are even
freeware programs worth looking at, such as Arachnophilia.

My two favorite editors, Dreamweaver and Homesite, both have demo
versions available for download. And if you buy Dreamweaver for the
PC, it comes with a copy of Homesite as well, which makes the $250
price a little easier to swallow.

One last financial matter: Some programs come with a graphics
program bundled. This can be important if you are trying to get a
complete package without spending a lot of money. At our college we
looked at several packages that have this feature:

1. FrontPage with Image Composer
2. PageMill with Photoshop LE
3. HoTMetaL Pro with Ulead

We evaluated these programs from the standpoint of putting copies on
each desktop so that faculty and staff could put content on-line,
both for classes and for a budding Intranet site. The people using
these tools would be beginners, and we took that into account. In
our evaluation, we liked Image Composer, but hated FrontPage because
of what it did to the code and the way it forced you into things we
didn't want. Some liked HoTMetaL Pro, which was a perfectly good
package. But the winner was PageMill, which gave us a decent
all-around package without charging a price that would have required
a tuition increase.


-- 
Kevin B. O'Brien                  TANSTAAFL
kob1(at)ix.netcom.com
Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.
 -- John Archibald Wheeler 

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