I'm in need to create a website and want an easy to use web designer that won't take me long to get right into it. I've used Adobe GoLive and although it works for me I want something easier. I work full time, do photography as a hobby today but gearing up to start photography full time as a career in the next year. With that I do want to be able to update and maintain my own site without too much complexity.

So, your thoughts? What is there that's easy to use, supports CSS, where I can eventually create Galleries quickly & easily from other tools, etc. It can be Windows or Mac as I'm going to evaluate my computer upgrade later this year.

Thanks,
Kelly

Notepad?

Dreamweaver is supposed to be nice and since adobe owns them now I should think that they would have a demo.

I use MS Frontpage. I find it much easier to use than GoLive or Dreamweaver, and I can still put together a reasonable site, even though I can't code in html. I downloaded a free java menu from somewhere on the web called topmenu3, and while I cannot program in java, it is easy enough to edit it in Frontpage. I use the Photoshop Web Gallery (using a slightly modified theme) for my photo collections. Recently, I have been demoing iView Media Pro for DAM use, and if I buy it, I'll probably use its web galleries and and slide show generation features. I have used GoDaddy as a host for the last year and they have worked out very well, and are also pretty cheap.

Have fun,

Richard

Great suggestions, above. I too am looking for an easy solution to web galleries and slde shows outside of iphoto.

Theres a PS plug in that allows design of Web pages. It looked v. easy, but I just can't remember the name. If someone who uses it has the URL and opinions to report that would be great.

The idea is that if you know PS, then there is little extra to get used to.

Re: iview for web galleries, I have iview, which I like, however have not yet reached using the gallery/slide show features. I have seen a number of great sites that below the gallery/slide show have an "iview" symbol. So I know the features work. Would also like to learn more!

Asher

Take a look at http://jalbum.net/. The templates are quite easy to modify to fit into your site theme.
Peter

I know a number of photographers who have used www.sitewelder.com and rave about how easy it is to use. It's a little pricey but the results I've seen look good.

I'd recommend GoLive anyway. It's not that hard to learn and is an excellent full featured program.

Thansk... I searched the web a bit and found a good GoLive video tutorial that will help me get over some of the challenges I'm having using it. I didn't really want to buy something else as GoLive came with the CS Premium package and may as well use it.

I just started using Namo Web Editor, and it seems to be a reasonable package for what you want. Also was easy to learn and makes management of a website fairly simple.

Have a look at http://www.golivecentral.com/pages/tutorials.shtml. Some good tutorials there

If you want something quick and slick check out

http://www.fluidgalleries.com

Shutterbug is my tool for web page development. Version 2 was just released. You can sheck it out at Shutterbug

I've developed sites for our store too.

MS FrontPage is a poor app. MS is inept when it comes to building well coded sites and FP just reflects that inability. It spits out the most jumbled code I've ever seen. It's remarkable the web-pages made with it ever work. Very basic layouts (such as the LL) may be fine, but as soon as the site becomes more complicated with design...

For less money, you can get far better web design tools such as Dreamweaver. It's one of the better WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get, pronounced "Wizzy-Wigg") editors out there.

For my editing on the PC, I used TopStyle. I can't recommend it enough. It is not a WYSIWYG editor, but it has lots of tools to help you code a clean, well functioning site using XHTML and CSS. On the Mac, there is no HTML editor as good as TopStyle but there are good text editors such as BBEdit or what I use, TextMate. These aren't for the uninitiated but I thought I'd mention them for anyone else out there.

If you are on the Mac, you might want to check out Sandbox. It is a WYSIWYG that is simpler than the likes of Dreamweaver but may not be as functional. It's has gotten allot of positive press however as being like Apples iWeb but more flexible.

I use Dreamweaver (older version) and have Go-Live as part of the CS2 suite. I expect these two tools will converge in the next release now that Adobe owns Macromedia. However, for more complicated work, I typically resort to a code-level editor and tweak the html directly all the time.

If you're going to do a fair bit of web work, for a long time, then it's probably worth getting over the learning curve and using a common, pro-level tool (same argument for learning Photoshop rather than a simpler tool).

However, if what you want to do is primarily galleries, then you might want to see what other photographic tools might be able to do in the way of gallery generation. Bridge does some of this, Lightroom/Aperture have web gallery generation capability as does ivmp.

Though I am well versed in web design, I want a good tool where I can create a custom template (with CSS and javascript as needed) then use a DAM tool like ivmp to generate new galleries for my site.

Since I have ivmp and that will be my DAM tool for the forseeable future, I'll be investigating closely whether it will do the trick. I've heard it's pretty powerful in that regard.

Topstyle is a great way to create style sheets. And I prefer to use the term WYGIWYG. (What you get is what you get.)

This site/tool claims to be for professional photographers. Sounds great. But their sample sites take forever to load; probably due to flash.

Many want to build a "slick" site with ease, but few bother to take the viewers' experience into consideration. The photo sites I like load fast, do not require plugins (or even javascripts), look good on different window/monitor sizes, and run well on different browsers. I would much prefer tools and web designers who can claim such capabilities above and in addition to producing "slick" sites.

I've been using GoLive (Mac) since it was GoLive CyberStudio. I've tried Dreamweaver but didn't like it as much. I also have Freeway, etc., but keep defaulting to GoLive. I need to work in WYSIWYG (being a right-brainer), though I can tweak the HTML as needed.

If you have Photoshop, you might look into SiteGrinder, which is pretty cool. For quick and dirty sites based on templates, there are a few small web apps. See http://www.plugsnpixels.com/webdesign.html for the list.

I appreciate what Flash can do but I've yet to see a decently designed Flash site that isn't showing off and only delaying the visitors' access to the desired info. The worst Flash experience I have ever had? The Beatles' own website! Go to http://www.thebeatles.com/ then click on The Sites>006: One. This used to be their main page a few years back. Too small, and weird. What are you supposed to do with the swirling song titles? I finally figured it out; let's see what you think.

The same designer must have done George Harrison's site as well (http://www.allthingsmustpass.com/), though it's a little more fun.

For web galleries I second the suggestion for using JAlbum (http://www.plugsnpixels.com/jalbum.html)! Once I discovered it I gave up on Photoshop's Web Gallery pronto, and I've only used its default theme so far. And it's free. Open source software is becoming quite serious (GIMP, Audacity, etc. etc.).

Like you, I prefer to do it myself and get it done right! I've used Edit Pad Pro now for 5 years.

For my gallery, I use MG2.

One thing about galleries - you want them to be dynamic. In that respect most standard tools are not enough. So MG2 suggestion looks like a post in the right direction.

Could you provide some links to tutorials on getting started with something like MG2? It looks cool but you probably need to be pretty advanced at web developement, PHP, databases and all of that.

To me Flash with XML looks like the simplest way of building a semi-dynamic gallery. I have yet to do it though, but it's not too intimidating.

i don't know which design tools other people use, but i just want to say mine design tools are all found at http://www.yaodownload.com/video-design/an...iondesigntools/ , every time i choose my design tools based on my need.