[duoikari]

I want to create my own website by i have no knowledge of html at all. I once used a program by a company called serif webpage creator(sp?) before which allowed me to just place the images and the text boxes on the page. But they did look rather crappy

But i wanna make graphics for the site in photoshop and then place them on my webpage without using code. I tried using frontpage on the pc but then i lost the software. So i need an easy to use software to create websites that doesn't use html code and that allows me to import stuff from photoshop for a mac.

I know it sounds impossible but if anyone would know it would be use

[onlyone-jc]

Macromedia Dreamweaver (now made by Adobe) is probably the best you're going to get. But, it's not quite as cheap as Frontpage. If you want something more similar to Frontpage, then try Macromedia HomeSite.

See: [Link]

You can download trials of both of them there, and try them out for yourself.

Good luck,
onlyone-jc.

[Railroader]

iWeb is actually pretty easy and involve no code at all. You can get pretty creative with it for basic web sites. Anything other than that will require some knowledge of HTML.

[hmurchison2001]

Softpress: Makers of Freeway - the easiest and best web design software for the Apple Macintosh or Mac
Freeway 4 for the more graphically oriented Web Designer.

Realmac Software | Made for Mac
Rapid Weaver for an even more simplistic approach.

[besson3c]

You cannot create a great website with a WYSIWYG editor, at least according to my definition of a great site. You can create cookie cutter sites with Rapidweaver and iWeb though. This is about as simple as it gets.

[digitalscrap]

For people who are more "design-oriented" Freeway 4 Pro as hmurchison2001 mentioned is a really great program. It still has a learning curve to it, but it does a great job. It also creates fairly good code as well. I definitely think that one can create "great", original, websites with it. No cookie cutter stuff there, because it is not dependant on templates like Rapidweaver or iWeb.

[Thorzdad]

Even if you use something like Dreamweaver or GoLive, it will really makes things go smoother if you acquaint yourself with some basic html and css. You can (and many people do) create quite nice sites using DW and GL. They don't have to be cookie-cutter sites, at all.

[onlyone-jc]

Originally Posted by Thorzdad 

They don't have to be cookie-cutter sites, at all.

Indeed they don't. Dreamweaver combined with something like Fireworks and/or Photoshop is an excellent and extremely efficient way of creating professional-grade websites. Knowing some basic code does help a lot, though. Even if it's just knowing what to look for, so you can iron out any bugs.

The good thing about Dreamweaver, is that if at some point you do decide you really want to learn how to code, you can just flip to its Code view, and code away to your heart's content. So, if you design something graphically, and then bring it in to Dreamweaver and don't quite like the way it's coded it for you, you can edit and refine it to behave just the way you want.

Good luck,
onlyone-jc.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by digitalscrap 

For people who are more "design-oriented" Freeway 4 Pro as hmurchison2001 mentioned is a really great program. It still has a learning curve to it, but it does a great job. It also creates fairly good code as well. I definitely think that one can create "great", original, websites with it. No cookie cutter stuff there, because it is not dependant on templates like Rapidweaver or iWeb.

My definition of a great site is a site with content that is easily maintained, and this means dynamic content. These tools are designed to create static pages. A great web site will also have great code that will improve search rankings in Google, as well as conform to standards and therefore be as consistent as possible across all major browsers. These WYSIWYG editors almost always create really lousy code.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by onlyone-jc 

Indeed they don't. Dreamweaver combined with something like Fireworks and/or Photoshop is an excellent and extremely efficient way of creating professional-grade websites. Knowing some basic code does help a lot, though. Even if it's just knowing what to look for, so you can iron out any bugs.

The good thing about Dreamweaver, is that if at some point you do decide you really want to learn how to code, you can just flip to its Code view, and code away to your heart's content. So, if you design something graphically, and then bring it in to Dreamweaver and don't quite like the way it's coded it for you, you can edit and refine it to behave just the way you want.

Good luck,
onlyone-jc.

Excellent sites consisting of static pages based on often lousy code, if that is sufficient for your site.

[onlyone-jc]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

Excellent sites consisting of static pages based on often lousy code, if that is sufficient for your site.

That's why I said:

Originally Posted by onlyone-jc 

Knowing some basic code does help a lot, though. Even if it's just knowing what to look for, so you can iron out any bugs.

Originally Posted by onlyone-jc 

So, if you design something graphically, and then bring it in to Dreamweaver and don't quite like the way it's coded it for you, you can edit and refine it to behave just the way you want.

I'm merely advising someone on what I think is a good route to go. It doesn't mean I stick with the code Dreamweaver gives me. This is an excellent reference site for keeping your website up-to-scratch.

onlyone-jc.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by onlyone-jc 

That's why I said:





I'm merely advising someone on what I think is a good route to go. It doesn't mean I stick with the code Dreamweaver gives me. This is an excellent reference site for keeping your website up-to-scratch.

onlyone-jc.

Yeah, a lot of people use Dreamweaver to mock pages up and then clean them up in DW's code view. To each their own, and no offense intended to you or anybody that does this, but I really don't see the point in doing this. I'm just not a fan of cleaning up turds, I'd rather design something clean from scratch.

Also, like I said, if you have any ambitions for this site to be dynamic, you will need to learn a middleware language such as PHP, Perl, ColdFusion, etc. or use a CMS such as Mambo, Joomla, or WordPress (my favorite for simple sites). All of this will take you well outside of the boundaries of what Dreamweaver or any off these other tools are designed to handle.

[digitalscrap]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

My definition of a great site is a site with content that is easily maintained, and this means dynamic content. These tools are designed to create static pages. A great web site will also have great code that will improve search rankings in Google, as well as conform to standards and therefore be as consistent as possible across all major browsers. These WYSIWYG editors almost always create really lousy code.

You can use CMS systems with Freeway 4 Pro - and while I'll agree that most WYSIWYG editors do not create the "cleanest" code (they really can't, if you think about how they work), Freeway doesn't seem as bad as the others. Also, Freeway does in fact create standards compliant XHTML with CSS styling and layout. If you want to support really old browsers, you can also output your site as a table based layout.

For people who don't want to create their sites using textedit but want to create nice, functional, sites, a non-template based WYSIWYG program is not a bad way to go.

For others, a "bare metal" approach is the only way, and that's fine.

[Thorzdad]

PHP, Perl, ColdFusion, etc. are all fine solutions in their place, especially if your intent is to build any sort of commercial site. However, they are extreme overkill for anyone (especially beginners) simply wanting to build a small, personal website...which seems to be what duoikari wants to do.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Thorzdad 

PHP, Perl, ColdFusion, etc. are all fine solutions in their place, especially if your intent is to build any sort of commercial site. However, they are extreme overkill for anyone (especially beginners) simply wanting to build a small, personal website...which seems to be what duoikari wants to do.

I agree, although a WordPress site might not be overkill, and would be useful for managing news postings, providing search capabilities, archives, etc.

[duoikari]

Basically i have no knowledge of code at all and wonder which software can help me make a good looking website without doing too much coding. I mean i used frontpage once a created a, somewhat of a good website, but it wasn't really very good. This was because i found the code stuff on frontpage a little to hard to understand and the software didn't help me put all the stuff i wanted in the right place.

I have that one in front of me now, and it's a very basic site.

But a while ago (when i was in sixform) i created a website for a project i had to do and i bought a Internet Design suite which was by a company called serif. The website package was called 'Webplus 8' and i found it very easy to use and you could create very nice looking websites without know any code at all. So i am wondering if there is any software like this for the mac.

See this website is just for my artwork and maybe advertising a little scanlation group, so it doesn't have to out of this world. I did think about downloading a layout and then using that but that means that it has that persona name on it and not my own. Also if i am using it for my own site then it's not very personlity to me.

[Thorzdad]

I built my own website in GoLive. I used the project as a learning tool. My goal was to create a site that validates, and I was successful. It took awhile, though. Yes, GoLive does some things its own way. But, if you take time to ask questions and look-around on the web, you will find you quickly see how to do things correctly.

I would forget a lot of what Frontpage taught you. As far as wysiwyg editors, Frontpage is probably the worst of the bunch as far as producing bad code goes.

[simonm]

I've tried Rapidweaver and it seems to be really easy and fun to use. I hated iWeb, which seemed too design-centric whereas Rapid-weaver is a VERY content-centric website with the design layout done for you by the themes...this is great because you can easily switch themes and there are loads of free ones to download. Plus there are plug-ins to enhance functionality. And Rapidweaver lets you VIEW code but not edit it. This is probably safest for beginners but a limitation for intermediate or advanced designers. So for a beginner I really recommend it!

[Lee33]

If you have basic Photoshop skills then Site Grinder 2 is outstanding and very easy. I just found this prgm about two weeks ago. Check it out here: http://www.medialab.com/sitegrinder/

[typoon]

I'll second RapidWeaver. The community behind it s amazing and the plugins and other things you can get for it are excellent as well.

[besson3c]

Does RapidWeaver or iWeb have some sort of code view so you can learn a little code?

My problem with tools like this is that many embark on a learning curve with website development, and simply use WYSIWYG editors as a legitimate (and useful) stepping stone. However, for those that want to get into more advanced development, there is simply no getting around having to learn HTML, so I would hope that these tools don't intentionally keep what is going on under the hood away from you, as once you reach the limitations of what these tools will allow you to do, it would suck having to start from square one in learning basic HTML code.

[voth]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

Does RapidWeaver or iWeb have some sort of code view so you can learn a little code?

iWeb does give you the ability to look at the code, as for knowing what it's doing that's up to you (the person designing the site. if you feel uncomfortable doing the design work, I would suggest you get someone more knowledgeable (unfortunately that means you'll be shelling out some money (in most cases)).

If you're one of those gung-ho types who insist on doing your own work (and I applaud you for that) get a book, do a search for basic html via your favorite search engine, etc.

[Macola]

Originally Posted by voth 

iWeb does give you the ability to look at the code

Not hardly...there's no "code view". Of course, you can open the files in a text editor and read the code (or view source in a web browser), but you could say that about any web editor.

[earthlings]

Marcromedia software is good.