Website development software

[Ritchie200]

I need to get moving on my new website.  My local IP is a group that I trust and he said the only guy local he would recommend for website development is 6 months out.  That got me thinking about trying this on my own again.  Someone gave me a Vista era copy of Intuit Website Creator.  They bought it new from Wally World about a year ago for $89.92 and never used it.  I've been dorking around on it and it looks pretty simple and easy.  Lots of templates.  HOWEVER, it looks like it will only work if Intuit hosts it!  Is this true or am I missing something.  I also read that for them to take their ad buttons off they charge you per month.

The reviews look pretty good for this thing, but again, I would want it hosted where the heck I want it hosted - without Intuit's name plastered all over it.  Is there something better for a noob like me?

The last time I brought up this question you guys suggested possibly IXsitestudio (Doug), Web Expressions (Doug).  What about Webeasy or Webstudio?  What is the difference between development software and content management tools?  Can you make upgrades/changes with your development software and just drop the new version in?   Or is it more involved.  Sorry for the silly questions....  Should you get a certificate for https for secure shopping cart transactions?  What is the cost?  What about website compatibility with Chrome, Firefox, and IE?  AAAHHHH!!! so many questions!  

Thanks guys!
Jim

[tubesornothing]

Take a look into "content management systems".  Usually your ISP will host a number of various brands, lots of which are free.  WebSite Baker, Joomla, wordpress, etc.

Basically you dont have software on your computer, you use a WYSIWYG editor on the server to create your website.  If you dont like the look and feel, change a template, and immediately all your whole web site changes.

You chouls not have to pay any money for this.  There is lots of free stuff out there.

[simonallaway]

"Development software" is focussed on giving you the ability to write code (whether that be static HTML or driven by a database), test that code and deploy it easily to your chosen web server. They're mostly called Integrated Development Environments (IDEs). The best one by far for that kind of work, is Eclipse. In recent years it's been including many more design oriented elements; especially with web development plugins such as MyEclipseIDE. Just remember its all about software development.

On the other hand are tools focussed more on design and page layout. I don't know anything about the ones you listed, but my recommendation would be Adobe DreamWeaver. It began years ago as a design oriented program, but has evolved into something resembling an IDE. It's very nice, but again it might be considered software development these days.

Now content management tools are a different beast. They're based on an application running on or near a web server. Similar to forums like this your actual content, and the concept of a 'page' is kind of abstract. In other words the application knows how to display content that is stored in a database using canned or custom 'templates'. You used to have to build all this kind of crap yourself using a combination of an IDE and something like Dreamweaver. But free or off-the-shelf 'apps' like Wordpress or Drupal can be customised easily to do what you want.

In this day and age it'd be odd for you to be coding this kind of app yourself as there are so many decent (and free) alternatives. It sounds like you'd get further, faster with a content management system. You'd be focussed on content, not code.

[PRR]

Facebook and eBay.

Post your photos and puffs on Facebook (if that's still hip this week). Take money through eBay.

Anything else is a time-sink, absorbing time you should be using for building and tweaking. (I know: I was paid a lot of salary for sinking time into a school's self-puff website; anything smaller does not justify that kind of time.)

[PRR]

89 bucks??
Intuit Website Creator:
http://www.intuit.com/website-building-software/
"That's right-it's free for 30 days, so you have nothing to lose."

> work if Intuit hosts it!  Is this true or am I missing something.  I also read that for them to take their ad buttons off they charge you per month.

I dunno if the naked code is portable or needs to snuggle Intuit servers.

The key reason to work with Intuit is: they are very good with money. And while web-host costs keep dropping, secure financial transactions are still real cost. Intuit is also good about business software that does not get in the way of business. You didn't have to be a geek to use QuickBooks, and I bet this site creating and management and money-laundering is also business-friendly.

I'm not saying Intuit is the best idea. Some of those layouts are gorgeous; awful hard to find content to fill them well.

I had been networking for 20 years before Al Gore invented the WWW mid-1990s. It was pretty intense learning how to set up a website, and the world has changed a few more times since then (and commercial sites are very different than school sites).

You are going to need to keep it VERY simple (FaceBook), or pay (money or embedded ads) to do something else.

Yahoo Stores is a major player in small and large e-commerce.
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/ecommerce/
Hmmmm.... basically $40/month. That's a heavy nut for a small boutique.

[Ritchie200]

That's a heavy nut for a small boutique.

Oh no!  This is not for amp building!  This is for my real job/business of services and consulting.  Gotta look good and professional.  I would also like to sell video information, so a shopping cart is needed.

I need to make some phone calls.  IX sounds like a good hosting source per Doug's journey.  Plus I can buy my name(s) there too.  I need to see if the "management tools/editors" they offer are as good as Intuit or some of the other options out there to purchase.  

Intuit does have some pretty slick templates!  I can't really find anyone dissing them.  Maybe the purchased version is stand alone.  I need to see if it does indeed need to snuggle!

TON, Simon, and PRR - as always "Thank you!"
Jim

PRR - My kids just give me the eye roll when I tell them about how I thought the dumb keyboard with the phone in the cradle "talking" to the mainframe miles away was like magic!  The punch cards, the punch tape, the huge reels of magnetic tape,....  I'm beginning to feel like a relic!

[FYL]

I need to get moving on my new website.

Notepad rules. The equivalent of hand-wired when it comes to web sites...

Most editors generate crappy HTML, style sheets and JS code, turning pages into an ugly and slow mess. Using content management software for non-administered small sites is an open invitation to spammers and black-hat hackers.

[Shrapnel]

As I do websites as part of my current business, here's my $0.02.

IF you aren't going to be using any server side coding (I.E. JSP, ASP, PHP) you can get away just working on it and loading into local browser(s) to check up on how it looks in a real browser. Dreamweaver, version 4 at least (I haven't really played with the newer versions as I hand-code using a PLAIN text editor), includes hotkeys to do that too.

IF you are getting into all that scripting stuff, you will either benefit from the installation of a package like XAMPP on your computer for MySQL and Apache server software. Using jsp will require Tomcat added to the install. Javascript will have to be looked at closely to have it recognize how a browser does certain things to do it the proper way for cross-browser compatibility, something some so-called professionals totally ignore even today. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) will need to be tweaked as well, for each browser, if not multiple style sheets based upon the browser.

Having lean and mean page code means faster loading and greater cross-browser compatibility. Since IE is no longer the only browser out there, MS has had to rethink to keep their development software alive. One of those moves has been to kill off Frontpage in favor of Web Expressions. As I haven't really used that one, I can't say if it that much of an improvement over Frontpage and all its extra stuff and extensions. I know Doug here is already feeling the pinch a bit on those extensions as more and more hosts move away from them.

The library can be your friend on this stuff too, look for books on the technologies you want to use.

Drupal I know comes with shopping cart functions included so that might be a plus if you plan on taking web orders. I think it supports PayPal, Google's payment services, and other card services. I'd have to look at it again to know for sure.

If you have time issues, or feel over your head, definitely get some help as a bad functioning site will hurt your business more than help.