Web Design Software
Generally speaking, web design programs are really templates already prepared for you, into which you put content. Some allow you to extend those capabilities into designing your own templates, while others are so rigid in their design as to be practically useless for professional purposes.
There is a very general rule of thumb which I have found to be pretty workable in terms of assessing the usefulness of these programs.
Put simply, the easier a program is to use, the less versatile it is likely to be.
A lack of versatility need not necessarily put you off - everything depends on what you expect from the end result. Remember that your website is there simply to sell your goods. It's not intended to win design awards.
Having said that, there is nothing more frustrating than finding you really do want to use drop-down menus, mouse-overs or any other special effects, only to find that your software doesn't support them.
My recommendations are a choice of programs which I personally use, plus an affordable alternative.
While they may appear similar at first glance, they are in fact very different in both character and capability. One is certainly easier to use than the others but, as with my rule of thumb, it is also less versatile.
They each have a free trial period, so why not download them all and see what you think.
 is the program I used to build an earlier version of this site and you can see a sample of the old pages by clicking here. This will give you some idea of its capabilities and in fact I found it could do everything I needed it to, easily, quickly and efficiently. I still use it to build templates because of its inbuilt graphic design capabilities.
However I used Coffee Cup to edit the text because of its built-in programming features. The combination of these two programs achieves results you could spend hundreds of dollars trying to find elsewhere. I'm happy to recommend both items which are moderately priced and work together seamlessly. |
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 is a full WYSIWYG Website Creator and Editor that helps you make web pages with no experience or HTML knowledge. It's a sort of hybrid, filling the gap between a true html editor and a simple 'all-in-one' site builder.
There are over 70 templates to choose from and you can also use (or build) your own.
There's a built-in button factory and a number of clever little features which usually come in much more expensive programs. Take the time to learn how it works and you may find you never use anything else. Naturally it's fully compatible with all other CoffeeCup software. And of course there's a free trial. |
 is the internet equivalent of painting by numbers, while still leaving you a surprising amount of flexibility and personal choice.
It will even let you add your own html pages, but be warned. This is a kit for the absolute beginner and as such will produce excellent results - far better than most equivalent programs. But introducing html code or Java scripts from other sources can have unpredictable results and lead to considerable frustration.
Having said that, as a stand-alone program giving fast, neo-professional results, I doubt if you'll find much better. Once again, there's a free download and trial period. |
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