What is the easiest website builder to use?

[sam68]

I'm new to website building and I'm having difficulty achiving the website look that I want with the cpanel builder and the magix.com builder. I'm getting very fustrated with it all. What program is the best and easiest to use?

Dreamweaver? something else? what?

-Steve M.

[txdon]

I'm new to it too but have used FrontPage before and found it relatively easy to use. But for simplicity, the cpanel builder is about as easy as it gets. What are you wanting that you are not getting from it? Dreamweaver seems very capable but with a steep learning curve for the newbie.

[KMyers]

I like NVU myself. But nothing beats Notepad

[charlesgan]

you can use the free coffeecup software.
i think dreamweaver is the best

[Chella]

If price is a factor in what program you're using, NVU is open-source, and free for download at their website: http://www.nvu.com/index.php

It's similar to Frontpage, if you've ever used it before, and are unfamiliar with HTML.

I wouldn't recommend Notepad unless you know basic HTML, PHP, etc.

[E.M.P.]

Thank you for that information I will give it a try. I have been using a manual basic knowledge of HTML, PHP and premade templates. I have dreamweaver but the learning curve is huge for a noob like me.

[Paradox]

Dreamweaver CS3 is a developers dream come true, fully loaded with Ajax support and a much improved workspace its the only thing I can recommend.

[sbea]

I am a new user of Dreamweaver CS3 and it is wonderful. However, I'd be totally lost without the teaching videos available on www.lynda.com. For a fee of $25 per mo. you have available teaching videos to about every program out there... it had been great! Lucky for me I stumbled across it.

Sandra

[skywalker099]

The question was what web-builder programs are best and easiest to use, not which ones will do the most things. Dreamweaver may be great if you have the money to buy it and the time to learn it, but it is far from the easiest or most efficient program.

These are my three nominations:

Namo WebEditor 2006 (basic version about $60, suite with Namo WebCanvas and other free tools, about $80, available retail and on-line) is very easy to use and you can work in either plain copy or HTML and you can see both at the same time. Since it works in standard HTML you can use it to edit most templates, which many beginning web builders will want to do. The more you learn about HTML the more you can both understand and manipulate the results. You also can use it to build snippets of code that you can implant into sites, emails, etc. BTW, I used Namo and a template to build my 40-plus-some page site at www.alphaopportunities.com . Namo also has a WebEditor Professional suite (about $100 on-line) that includes both Namo WebCanvas and Namo FreeMotion, which also allows you to work in Flash.

XSite Pro (about $197, available on-line, and many resellers also include a list of bonus software with it) claims you can build and upload a basic web site in under two hours with no prior experience, and they are right. Their excellent tutorial leads you through the process step-by-step and at the end you have an actual functioning web site. There are some limitations, though. For one thing, the code used is a proprietary variation on HTML so it does not read all standard HTML coding making it difficult or impossible to edit most templates (although there are people out there building and offering XSite Pro templates and the number is growing). Also, its strong suite is in building single-page sites, such as many sales sites are. Not that you can't add as many pages as you like, which you can, but the format choices are fairly limited. You can ad Google AdWords links easily, and if you're selling a product or service on-line this may be the program you want.

Serif WebPlus 9 is my most recent acquisition (note that WebPlus 9, which Serif sold on disk for under $20, has now been replaced by WebPlus 10, available on-line for about $80) so I have not had a lot of experience with it yet, but it seems like another really easy to use program. Like XSite Pro, it comes out of the UK but is available to U.S. buyers and is designed for the rank neophyte. The program does seem to have a lot of flexibility, so you can put together a basic site in no time at all and with no prior experience, or go for a more elaborate design. You also can get a free download of WebPlus 6.0, an earlier version of the program, if your budget is very tight.

Along with a web-builder program you're also going to need a graphical editing program to manipulate images, change or add type on template banners, and so forth. If you have the money and patience for PhotoShop, fine, but if you just need the basics and don't have a lot of image-editing experience I would strongly recommend the free download of Serif's PhotoPlus 6.0 (upgraded versions are available at a price). This great little program will do most of the key things that PhotoShop does but for free. Although I have not worked with it, Namo's WebCanvas probably also will fill the bill nicely and is included with the suite verions of Namo web builder products. Once you buy any of these products you're likely to receive some great offers on steeply discounted or free programs, including some of these download items on disk.

I could have written the book "Web Building for Idiots" (but unfortunately did not) so these things HAVE to be easy to use. They won't build the most sophisticated or elaborate sites or designs (although some can do pretty well in that regard), but for basic web site building they are great (but you'll still need to learn to integrate special features like sign-up forms, autoresponders, etc.)

Also, like most of these basic programs, they only work on Windows and not Mac, which is perhaps their single biggest drawback. I do have the free Nvu site builder for Mac but have yet to be able to get my head around it and actually begin using it.

And no, I am not selling any of these recommended programs (at least not yet!) so have no financial dog in this fight. I just think for the neophtye web site builder they offer some of the best choices to get started and to stop putting off building that site, at last!

[cbirdt]

Dreamweaver CS3 is the best.