Posted by Steve Konrad on July 4, 2006 at 12:26 AM
There are so many tools available to help with web design, that I would like to get some opinions from users. So far, I have evaluation copies of RapidWeaver, Sandvox, Freeway 4 Pro, and Dreamweaver. I've also looked at iWeb on my Mac, but that seems a bit too simplistic. My current site was put together with iWeb, but I want to add more content, so I need a more full featured tool.
So far, I have to say I think Freeway 4 Pro has everything I am looking for. Dreamweaver certainly is the most flexible, but it may be more than I need. What do you use? Do you like it? Does anyone have some good/bad experiences with Freeway?
- dreamweaver is the most full featured, but alot of those things wont be what you need/want, so its a bit bulky.
- rapidweaver & sandvox are pretty template based which can be frustrating when you'd like to do something slightly different than the template.
- freeway, is a great combo of features & usability, and is what i'd probably use and/or recommend... although it doesnt provide access to the code like dreamweaver does which for me is annoying (but on the plus of that is that the code is quite efficient with a small footprint)...
if you know stuff about html and new technologies than dreamweaver is gonna be the best, but i think freeway is a great middle ground on robust features & being simple to use. it also is the most like doing graphic design, its very WYSIWYG in that respect... you just design and it writes the code.
I haven't used any of these programs, but from Bryce's description, FreeWay sounds pretty good. Dreamweaver is highly regarded, too.
Sometimes. the more robust programs seem to be too much, i.e. having capabilities beyond your current skill or need. However, it is highly likely that one day you will need those capabilities and will have the skills necessary to utilize them. Therefore, such programs become more cost effective in the long run.
I currently use MS FrontPage, and am currently learning the free MS Visual Web Developer program and SQL, which are very powerful.
Whichever program you choose, I hope you have fun with it, learn a lot, and produce a great site!
My wife is a Mac-based Web designer and has used Dreamweaver exclusively, including for my own photo site, but is adding Joomla, a new program that is easier to use and allows site updating without as much work. I don't want to mislead you into anything. Joomla is not Web design software, but Web site administration software. Once your site is up and running, Joomla allows changes to be made more easily than in Dreamweaver and some other design programs. You might take a look at it. My wife especially uses it for her clients who, once the site is designed and functioning, want to make their own updates. Joomla is free and downloadable from the Web. A google search should find it easily.
I started out using Dreamweaver 4 for everything. Then I switiched my site from pure static html pages to a PHP/MySQL interface with CSS, and had to start hand-coding everything, since Dreamweaver essentially gave me a blank stare when I tried to work on PHP files there. And I hate how they deal with stylesheets. (I should note that I can be a control freak at times.) I now use Dreamweaver primarily for website management for a couple different projects, but not much actual design.
I'm not sure how the newer versions of Dreamweaver handle PHP, MySQL, or CSS, but I'd think about exactly what you might want to do with your site in the future, and whether the program you're looking at can handle it.
The Microsoft products I mentioned above handle CSS quite well. However, none of the web design applications write PHP, Java Script or SQL code, that I am aware of. There are lots of sources for code 'snippets' on the web that can be mosified to fit your particular requirements.
If you are looking to design a 'data-driven' site using either MySQL or SQL and PHP or another language, a pre-designed site template may be the best way to go. A good template will not be inexpensive, but may be very cost-effective in the long haul.
Discussion
5 repliesSo far, I have to say I think Freeway 4 Pro has everything I am looking for. Dreamweaver certainly is the most flexible, but it may be more than I need. What do you use? Do you like it? Does anyone have some good/bad experiences with Freeway?
- dreamweaver is the most full featured, but alot of those things wont be what you need/want, so its a bit bulky.
- rapidweaver & sandvox are pretty template based which can be frustrating when you'd like to do something slightly different than the template.
- freeway, is a great combo of features & usability, and is what i'd probably use and/or recommend... although it doesnt provide access to the code like dreamweaver does which for me is annoying (but on the plus of that is that the code is quite efficient with a small footprint)...
if you know stuff about html and new technologies than dreamweaver is gonna be the best, but i think freeway is a great middle ground on robust features & being simple to use. it also is the most like doing graphic design, its very WYSIWYG in that respect... you just design and it writes the code.
I haven't used any of these programs, but from Bryce's description, FreeWay sounds pretty good. Dreamweaver is highly regarded, too.
Sometimes. the more robust programs seem to be too much, i.e. having capabilities beyond your current skill or need. However, it is highly likely that one day you will need those capabilities and will have the skills necessary to utilize them. Therefore, such programs become more cost effective in the long run.
I currently use MS FrontPage, and am currently learning the free MS Visual Web Developer program and SQL, which are very powerful.
Whichever program you choose, I hope you have fun with it, learn a lot, and produce a great site!
-PB
I'm not sure how the newer versions of Dreamweaver handle PHP, MySQL, or CSS, but I'd think about exactly what you might want to do with your site in the future, and whether the program you're looking at can handle it.
Good Luck!
Martin
If you are looking to design a 'data-driven' site using either MySQL or SQL and PHP or another language, a pre-designed site template may be the best way to go. A good template will not be inexpensive, but may be very cost-effective in the long haul.
-PB