Good Beginner Website Software

platinumLLC

What is a good beginer website design software. I got a website up a month ago using website tonight but it is very limited and only can have 5 pages. I would like to design a website using something with a little more options. Also looking for good books or other sources that i can learn all the details about building a good website. Thanks for any help with this

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http://www.platinumcontractingappleton.com

SquirrelNmoose

Check out http://kompozer.net/ , it's free.
Download a XHTML/CSS template and try it out.

Free templates
http://www.opendesigns.org/view-designs/
http://mitchbryson.com/free-css-templates (a little more advanced CSS than usually found in the previous linked templates, but a blank slate for you add your own style)


HTML and CSS
http://www.w3schools.com/


That will get you started I'll post some more links later.

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Len,
"There is no charge for Awesomeness"
A view through the eyes of SquirreNmoose

MALCO.New.York

Two "N's" is a good place to start.............

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Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
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platinumLLC

malco...two "N's"? Sorry i am new at the website scene and trying to learn. I have some time this winter to sit down and learn but just don't know where to turn to learn. And don't want to buy some software that is either way to limited or way to complicated to use. I ordered a couple of books on building websites to try and get some info from but if anyone has any names of books or other sources for beginners to read. Thanks for your help

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karunnt

Learning web design will take time. In the meantime:

1) get a hosting account with a company that offers Fantastico Wordpress install
2) Install wordpress
3) Find a free wordpress theme that you like and install it.
4) Add content

All this can be done very quickly. At least this will get you on indexed with the search engines until you have time to get a better site.

platinumLLC

Thanks karunnt..I have web hoisting and have a site with website tonight for now just to get something up and running like you mentioned but now i would like to take it the next step and build a nicer website and just looking for suggestions for software that is decent but not way out of my learning curve. Don't need anything super fancy, just looking for something that i can keep building on and improving as i learn more and just don't want to buy some crappy software or one that i can't even start to figure out!

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karunnt

Have you seen these free wordpress themes:

www revolutiontwo.com
themehybrid.com

Instead of starting from scratch you can try modifying one of these themes.

SquirrelNmoose

http://www.cssbasics.com/

Book suggestion.
After you learn the basics HTML and CSS skills , here is a good CSS book for furthering your understanding of CSS and techniques.
CSS Mastery, Andy Budd

Here are some great cheat sheets to print and keep handy while your learning.
HTML Cheat Sheet
CSS Cheat Sheet
And if you're going to mess with Wordpress templates.
Wordpress Cheat Sheet


Web Developer Tools add on for Firefox

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Len,
"There is no charge for Awesomeness"
A view through the eyes of SquirreNmoose

MALCO.New.York

Just being me............

Two "N's" in "beginner"!!!!

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Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-cnizLDEE

Bidty

A lot of people knock it, but for beginner learning to design websites, microsoft frontpage is easy to learn and understand. If you are looking for free software, you can search google or downloads.com for free wysiwyg editors.

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SquirrelNmoose

There are some interesting ones here.
http://webdesign.about.com/od/htmled...freewyswin.htm

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Len,
"There is no charge for Awesomeness"
A view through the eyes of SquirreNmoose

Ed the Roofer

Here are a few I previously checked out.

Ed



http://www.avanquest.com/USA/small-b...FRlRagod5UD5YA

http://www.xsitepro.com/home-.html

http://tools.sitesell.com/



Then these others.

http://start.websitebaker2.org/en/introduction.html

http://www.homestead.com/

http://www.bruceclay.com/web_design.htm

http://www.irt.org/software/sw012/index.htm

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SLSTech

FYI - Frontpage is now Expression Web, the only thing missing in the program is the making a contact form which used to be in Front Page

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HousieG

There are several "Wikis" for this task. Just google "Wiki" + "Web-site creation" and you should find some.

siteturbo

Go with wordpress. It's pretty simple, and a large user group.

Amber Hunter

Dreamweaver is good for assembling your site. I like building and editing sites with Photoshop, splicing to Dreamweaver for my final touches and move it online. There are tons of tutorials on youtube for beginners. That's just my suggestion.

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MOTB

Ensure to have SEO (Search Engine Optimization) on your mind. Rarely will people look at your site as much as you do. Never forget, your site is designed to get someone to contact you for a job. You can spend all day making it nice ... and it means nothing if people do not find you when searching for a tradesperson in their vicinity. Ensure each page is linked to your Contact Us page. Then play with all the graphics and wording and never have the SEO issues out of mind. I have seen some really pretty sites never generate leads, and some not-so-nice sites generate a ton of leads. Keep in mind that the Job Search providers know that most contractors do not spend money on this area, which is why they generate so much money reselling the very leads you could capture on your own.
Best of luck and you are in the right direction.
Brian

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Helping contractors find work, manage jobs, communicate with others and get paid quicker using software over the Internet

JoeM

Another one to look at is Visual Web Developer 2010 Express. It's a 'limited' version but free. The limitations won't be noticed unless you're a programmer and need a remotely hosted database server.

Check it out by going to the microsoft web site and type Express in the search box. You're looking for Microsoft Express Home (should be in the top 3 search results).

JustaFramer

Try Bluefish

Solar Control

The link to your website doesn't work for me. Here's another angle...

Are you swamped with work -- too many customers and projects to handle? Would your time be better served selling and marketing your business than dealing with the nuances of building a site?

Building simple websites is becoming a commodity skill and while (for some) fun, it doesn't improve your particular building or contracting skills at all. While the site is being built, you have potential customers finding your competitors' sites and spending their money with them. It isn't a matter of not having the money. It's the same as tools or gas, you find/earn the money you need to run your business.

My recommendation is to find someone local where building websites is their business and let them do a complete one for you. You can learn from what they build and make modifications down the road. If you live in an area where there are no underemployed web designers, go to elance, rent a coder, freelancer or other and find someone. You can request your chosen designer build a Wordpress site or any other content management system, though I agree that Wordpress is probably the best choice.

The recommendations from other posters above are good and well intentioned. I just wanted to say that sometimes you need to work on building your business and not be mired down in all of the small details. It is a problem I have, perhaps most don't.

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