RE: [WEB400] Web Page Design Software

[Evan Harris <spanner@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Justin

I would heartily agree with this recommendation - a tool for CSS coupled
with an editor (I use TextPad) is much better long term than a HTML tool.
You ought to incorporate CSS from the beginning and the web page tools I
have seen all work against this by encouraging the idea that all things can
be specified on the fly, rather than having an overall design
philosophy/layout.

While something like Frontpage can give instant gratification, the next
step is utter frustration as you try to understand what the hell it is
doing and why. in contrast I started with the O'Reilly HTML book and just
experimented - look at the pages you like *and* the ones you don't like and
make a habit of checking out the source of the parts of the page you think
are well done. This is not foolproof but is certainly helpful.

Experiment with tables to the max just using a text editor - you HAVE to be
proficient with tables to achieve anything worthwhile in my opinion.

Of course, it all depends on how much time you are willing to invest :)

Regards
Evan Harris

>I wouldn't spend hundreds until you know what you want.  There are **a lot**
>of free editors available.  The best I've found is a simple text editor
>coupled with a CSS editor such as TopStyle (www.bradsoft.com), which is
>inexpensive.
>
>Once you know what you want you'll be able to easily figure out which editor
>is worth the bucks.
>
>My .02
>
>Phil