Website Building Software--Which is Right For You?

Dreamweaver (DW) is available for both Mac and Windows operating systems. Recent versions have incorporated support for web technologies such as CSS, JavaScript, and various server-side scripting languages and frameworks including ASP, ColdFusion, and PHP.

DW features a split view of the actual code and the visual page. This can come in very handy when you want to see where you are in the code and how it actually looks on the page. It now has integrated CMS support for creating sites compatible with Joomla, Drupal, Wordpress and the like and allows you to create/edit php pages.

It also has an add-on service called Browser Labs, which currently is a complimentary service. Using Browser Labs, you can ensure cross browser compatibility for your sites built with DW.

DW also has an extension pack for HTML5. This extension provides initial support for HTML5 and CSS3 in Adobe Dreamweaver CS5, and helps you easily create HTML5 designs and CSS3 styles.

DW allows you to create standards-based sites and one of the best features as far as I'm concerned is that compared to hand coding, DW allows you to make changes site wide. For example, let's say you need to change a link url, DW will do the work for you, whereas in hand coding, you have to physically change the link in each and every page.

The learning curve can be quite steep with DW but I guess it all depends on how much you want to put into it. DW can be an awesome tool. The current price of DW full commercial version at the time of this writing is $399 from the Adobe online store.

Microsoft Expression Web (Commercial)

Microsoft FrontPage (full name Microsoft Office FrontPage) is a WYSIWYG HTML editor and web site administration tool from Microsoft for the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems. It was branded as part of the Microsoft Office suite from 1997 to 2003. It was discontinued/replaced by Microsoft SharePoint Designer and Microsoft Expression Web in 2006. Microsoft SharePoint Designer allows business professionals to design SharePoint-based applications. Microsoft Expression Web (MEW) is targeted at the web design professional for the creation of feature-rich web sites.

MEW like DW, allows you to create standards-based sites. It also allows you to edit php pages and it supports W3C accessibility standards for designing pages for people with disabilities.

In order to run MEW, you need to have Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003 SP1 at a minimum, along with .NET Framework 2. There is no MAC version.

MEW also offers a split pane view of code and WYSIWYG and resembles a mixture of Microsoft Office and Dreamweaver put together. MEW seems to be more tailored towards beginning web designers than Dreamweaver. At the time of this writing, MEW full professional version sells for $149.95 from the online MS store.

Coffee Cup HTML Editor (Commercial)

The Coffee Cup HTML Editor also features a split pane view for code and visual page editing, code validation processes and is fairly easy to use. This software at the time of this writing can be purchased from the Coffee Cup online store for $49.

The newest version features and updated more user friendly interface as well as increase program performance and a quick start window. It also boasts a new CSS menu designer as well as a customizable workspace. Move over DW and MEW!

This software is also more tailored to new and beginning web designers but can be used by seasoned web pros alike. The price doesn't hurt either....!

HTML-Kit Tools (Commercial)

HTML-Kit Tools is the latest version of HTML-Kit. Light enough to carry on a portable USB drive and heavy enough to manage multiple projects, HTML-Kit Tools was designed to meet today's demands.

Previously called HTML-Kit (build 292) with the latest version renamed to HTML-Kit Tools (build 300), this software has over 400 available plugins to manage how you work. There is a downloadable trial version and the full registered single user license runs $59 for a limited time. (Reg price is $79 currently they have 25% off registration fee, at the time of this writing).

You can download the previous version for free, (build 292). One of the unique things about this software is that it is portable on a USB drive. This software has a bit of a learning curve, but a decent price.

KompoZer (Free)

Key features of KompoZer include WYSIWYG editing of pages, integrated file management via FTP, as well as reliable HTML code creation that will work with all of today's most popular browsers. In KompoZer, one can jump between WYSIWYG Mode and Code View using tabs. It has powerful support for forms, tables and templates. KompoZer is available for Desktop Linux, Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh users.

KompoZer features a new color picker which comes in very handy, as well as being able to validate code through WC3 from within KompoZer. It contains a CSS Editor, customizable toolbars, automated spell-checker and table resizing rulers.

KompoZer is open source software and available for FREE download.

Notepad

And last but not least in my humble opinion, we have......(drumroll please.....) Notepad. For those of you who choose to do things the old fashioned way (such as myself) Notepad is the most viable option. Notepad comes preinstalled on all Windows operating systems and is a simple text editor. Notepad is great for hand coding due to it's simplicity. There is no code re-writing as with some of the above mentioned editors, as you the author are coding the pages. Once the code is written for your webpage, the file is simply saved as an html file and then can be opened with a browser and rendered as a webpage.

My preference regarding html editors is Notepad and Dreamweaver. I use both depending on what I coding or updating. I generally create my pages in Notepad and then when I need to change something, I simply drag the site into Dreamweaver so that I can update sitewide.

Online Site Builders

There are several good online site builders available, such as Yahoo Site Builder or SiteBuilder at Homestead, an Intuit Co. Some online site builders allow you to try before you buy so check them out.

Most online site builders require you to host your site through them which is one of the cons of using an online builder. This means that you are stuck with your hosting company.

This may or may not become a problem in the future but keep in mind, if you build it there, through them, and you decide for whatever reason you want to change hosting providers, you will not be able to move your site. You will be forced to start your site from scratch at the new hosting company.

One of the good things about using an online builder is that they generally do not require a person to know a single bit of coding. This also means that you cannot change certain things, meaning you may be limited on your search engine optimization, etc. I have seen some really beautiful, professional sites created with online site builders, so again, it all depends on what you are building and where you intend to go with it in the future.

If you have a small company and you want to do the site yourself, an online builder could be the correct way for you to go. If you are intending on learning how to create websites as a career, buy a good book on html coding and get busy! **See our list of books here.**