What program do you use for web design?

[gdm]

Title pretty much says it all.  I am wondering what most folks use for web design.  Currently my wife does our website and some friends using FP2003.  I tried to have use Dreamweaver 3 years ago and she didn't like it so much.

Current website http://www.ariussiberians.com

[ak732]

Honestly, from what I see at your site, I would recommend just hand coding the HTML and CSS using your (or your wife's) favorite text-editor.

[gdm]

Andy,

Thanks for the response.  I haven't done coding in awhile.  The wife has never done it tried to show it to her and she couldn't stand it.  That's why FP was used a friend showed her.

[ak732]

I understand.

So she also doesn't like FrontPage?  Why are you looking for alternate tools?

[gdm]

Sorry.  She does like Front Page.  I am just worried since it has changed / been discontinued that down the road she will need to use some thing else.  I just don't want to have her keep using it if it could cause issues down the road.

If it won't then that's fine to.  Does that make sense?

[ak732]

Sure that makes sense.

Expression Web is often touted as the replacement for FrontPage.  Perhaps she can download the trial and give it a whirl.

  http://www.microsoft.com/expression/products/overview.aspx?key=web

[gdm]

Thanks for the info!  I will have her try that and see what she thinks.

[CactusJuice]

I have used DreamWeezer for 10 years now.  I don't much care for it though.  I thin the reason I keep upgrading is to get the newest Fireworks.  I live in that program when I'm doing any graphic stuff.  What about Microsoft Expression?  If you're used to FrontPage then Expression would be the natural progression.  Or just stick with a free text editor like Notepad++

cheers,

Cameron

[gdm]

Yeah going to download expression and have her try it out.

[ESanchez [CT]]

Keep in mind that we are continuing to support Front Page extensions. We still have many clients using it and we would like to keep that available to the customers for as long as possible.

[gdm]

Thanks ESanchez that's good information.

[wfc2009]

Dreamweaver is a little advanced if you do not use it much. But it is a great web design tool that can do a lot for you. Good luck.

[KevinS]

Keep in mind that we are continuing to support Front Page extensions. We still have many clients using it and we would like to keep that available to the customers for as long as possible.

It might be worth noting that, even though we are continuing support for Frontpage, its like a 10yr old technology, and Microsoft does not natively support Frontpage on IIS7 (even though they just released a new version [Expressions].. wierd, but its microsoft).

I use Eclipse, CFBuilder, FlashBuilder (Flex), Notepad++, and VisualStudio Web Development Express.

Eclipse is a PHP enviornment (natively) however, it has many different 'flavors', to include java, and other different programming languages.

CFBuilder is a new IDE put out by Adobe for ColdFusion 9. Its actually built off of Eclipse, and its pretty sweet (as much as I am not a huge fan of CF, because it is not very forgiving)

FlashBuilder (Flex), is also released by Adobe. FlashBuilder 4 is in beta versions and is a fun tool. I am currently designing a navigation bar and some other things for a friend. Its worth noting that FlashBuilder builds its content into flash plugins, and therefor does not play nice with SEO. But you dont really need the SEO to pick up a navigation bar, so I like it for that.

Notepad++ is my choice of code editor. It uses color syntaxing, line numbers, and is extremely light weight. Its just all around good.

Visual Studio Web Development Express is my ASP/ASP.Net C# IDE. Im sure most of you are familiar with this.. Visual Studio 10 / ASP.NEt 4.0 is in beta right now... Im signed up for the beta program, so hopefully I can get into it... Maybe talk Ryan into throwing up a ASP.Net 4.0 beta server 

Also, Dreamweaver isnt terrible. I mean, its pretty universal, and it just uses FTP, so it isnt like we are going to get rid of that anytime soon.

[Micah [CT]]

Yeah, I haven't messed with the latest flavor of Expression. When it first came out I received a copy, and in the tutorials, one of their "experts" said there's no way to center objects in CSS. That immediately put a bad taste in my mouth, and the program didn't do alot to impress me (but then again I do most of my coding by hand). I'm interested in the latest because it seems Microsoft started realizing that instead of fighting the rest of the industry, they're starting to work with it and add new tools that weren't previously available, like Blend and Super Preview.

But yeah, what everyone else said: if she's comfortable with FrontPage, Expression might be the new step she wants to take.

[Zaki]

I like BBedit and use Dreamweaver too, especially when doing CSS. For graphics I like Illustrator and Photoshop. And the best software of all: MacOS X.