#260726 - 18/07/2005 18:52
Simple Windows based web site editing software ?
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 10/06/1999
Posts: 5914
Loc: Wivenhoe, Essex, UK
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I'm looking for some cheapish/free, easy to use, website editing software. We bought one of our friends their own domain to celebrate her ordination as a Buddhist. Now she wants to start putting a whole lot of stuff on her website. To quote from her "statement of requirements": "Been thinking of all the things I can put on my website... party photos, ordination photos, articles, poems, talks... this evening, sitting in the Boston Tea Party we realised I could do my own on-line guide to the tea shops and cafes of Bristol!" She is a total newbie, she has never worked on a website before. So I am looking for recommendations on some easy to use website editor software. Ideally it should also deal with uploading to either my Windows or Linux servers. It has to run on Win9x. I was going to recommend Fog Creek's CityDesk to her, because I have played with it before and quite liked it. However their free starter edition only handles 50 pages, which I think she will run out of and the cheapest paid-for version is $299, which is a little steep (I'd be happier at $50-$80 or so). I guess another option might be a content management system running on my server. There seems to be a bewildering array of free content management systems out there (I'd prefer ASP/ASP.net based rather than php etc). Any recommendations ?
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#260727 - 18/07/2005 19:02
Re: Simple Windows based web site editing software ?
[Re: andy]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 13/09/1999
Posts: 2401
Loc: Croatia
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Perhaps some Wiki (ideally with simple news, articles, forums, chat, file and image gallery etc support), like TikiWiki hosted on your server?
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#260728 - 19/07/2005 11:48
Re: Simple Windows based web site editing software ?
[Re: bonzi]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 27/02/2004
Posts: 1900
Loc: London
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It's not windows based but Mambo ( www.mamboserver.com ) is quite easy.
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#260729 - 19/07/2005 12:24
Re: Simple Windows based web site editing software ?
[Re: tahir]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 18/01/2000
Posts: 5682
Loc: London, UK
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I looked at Mambo. I prefer drupal. Again, PHP rather than ASP/ASP.NET, but it works fine on IIS, as long as you have PHP4/MySQL configured correctly.
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#260730 - 19/07/2005 14:00
Re: Simple Windows based web site editing software ?
[Re: tahir]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 10/06/1999
Posts: 5914
Loc: Wivenhoe, Essex, UK
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Quote:
It's not windows based but Mambo ( www.mamboserver.com ) is quite easy.
Looks like it runs quite happily on a Windows server though and I already have PHP/apache running on my Windows server to run Gallery.
Edited by andy (19/07/2005 14:09)
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#260731 - 19/07/2005 14:04
Re: Simple Windows based web site editing software ?
[Re: Roger]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 10/06/1999
Posts: 5914
Loc: Wivenhoe, Essex, UK
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Quote:
I looked at Mambo. I prefer drupal. Again, PHP rather than ASP/ASP.NET, but it works fine on IIS, as long as you have PHP4/MySQL configured correctly.
There is just too much choice...
I did find what looks like a usable .net based one in umbraco. I guess I'm going to have to dedicate some time to trying a few of them out.
I think web based is probably the way to go, I hadn't realised how sophisticated
all the various "free" web based CMS packages had got (last time I looked a couple of years ago they were all fairly primative).
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#260732 - 19/07/2005 14:30
Re: Simple Windows based web site editing software ?
[Re: andy]
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old hand
Registered: 01/10/2002
Posts: 1033
Loc: Fullerton, Calif.
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Try Mozilla Composer. It's free and beyond easy to use. Runs on w95 too.
I meant to suggest this here, but after a winders crash posted it to that other thread on web page software.
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#260733 - 19/07/2005 14:41
Re: Simple Windows based web site editing software ?
[Re: larry818]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 10/06/1999
Posts: 5914
Loc: Wivenhoe, Essex, UK
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Quote:
Try Mozilla Composer. It's free and beyond easy to use. Runs on w95 too.
I've just had a quick look at it. Its just an HTML editor, right ?
I need a bit more than that, something that is a bit more project based. I want to be able to put together a skeleton site for my user that they can open in a tool, maintain the content and upload updates to my server all from within the one tool.
From what I can see Mozilla Composer isn't going to do this for me (yes it can edit individual files and upload them, but it doesn't appear to have any overall website management functionality).
My user is happy to learn some mark up, but expecting her to manage lists of articles, reviews, photo galleries etc all by hand using just an HTML editor is a bit ambitious.
I think a CMS system of some sort is going to be the way to go.
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#260734 - 19/07/2005 16:05
Re: Simple Windows based web site editing software ?
[Re: andy]
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addict
Registered: 05/05/2000
Posts: 623
Loc: Cambridge
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Quote:
I think a CMS system of some sort is going to be the way to go.
Plone is also worth looking into. More portal-oriented, it's like a grown-up PHP Nuke without the bugs. There's loads of plug-ins for it too.
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#260735 - 19/07/2005 16:47
Re: Simple Windows based web site editing software ?
[Re: andy]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/06/1999
Posts: 2993
Loc: Wareham, Dorset, UK
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Could have sworn I've just read a thread along these lines somewhere.... This is exactly what I'm asking for. I need a project-based tool that also edits HTML/CSS, with similar capabilities to DreamWeaver, but free. Somehow the prime recommendation became Notepad! 
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#260736 - 19/07/2005 17:57
Re: Simple Windows based web site editing software ?
[Re: schofiel]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 10/06/1999
Posts: 5914
Loc: Wivenhoe, Essex, UK
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Quote:
Could have sworn I've just read a thread along these lines somewhere....
This is exactly what I'm asking for. I need a project-based tool that also edits HTML/CSS, with similar capabilities to DreamWeaver, but free.
I nearly added to your thread rather than starting my own, but I decided we were after two different things. I thought you were after something more developer targetted. Looks like our requirements are coverging though...
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#260737 - 20/07/2005 04:43
Re: Simple Windows based web site editing software ?
[Re: andy]
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old hand
Registered: 01/10/2002
Posts: 1033
Loc: Fullerton, Calif.
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Composer is more than an html editor. The pages I've done with it I've done only with the graphic editor (they call it the 'normal' tab) and have not had to do anything to the html code.
You would have to create pages one at a time, but it is free and easy. If I get serious about developing my web pages (more like, if I ever get enough time), I'd use Dreamweaver.
It really sounds like you want one of those online 'diary' web pages. My wife is currently writing three in different places. They are really easy to use and include all the 'site management' stuff. Unfortunately, all three are in Chinese, so I don't know where to send you to see one.
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#260738 - 20/07/2005 05:49
Re: Simple Windows based web site editing software ?
[Re: larry818]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 10/06/1999
Posts: 5914
Loc: Wivenhoe, Essex, UK
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Quote:
Composer is more than an html editor. The pages I've done with it I've done only with the graphic editor (they call it the 'normal' tab) and have not had to do anything to the html code.
That is exactly what an html editor is, they pretty much all have a WYSIWIG mode and an html code mode.
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#260739 - 20/07/2005 12:40
Re: Simple Windows based web site editing software ?
[Re: larry818]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 27/02/2004
Posts: 1900
Loc: London
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Quote:
Try Mozilla Composer. It's free and beyond easy to use. Runs on w95 too.
Thanks for that, I had no idea, got FF & TB never tried Suite.
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#260740 - 20/07/2005 14:48
Re: Simple Windows based web site editing software ?
[Re: andy]
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old hand
Registered: 01/10/2002
Posts: 1033
Loc: Fullerton, Calif.
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Quote:
That is exactly what an html editor is, they pretty much all have a WYSIWIG mode and an html code mode.
To me, html editor implies that you have to generate the page in html. Most editors of that ilk have a preview screen to see what you've done, but cannot edit in that screen.
Composer does have an html edit screen, but I've not had to use it. I do everything in the semi-wysiwyg screen. Semi because it has guide lines and markers for tables and such. There is a preview screen to see what you will get that also allows editing in a more surreal fashion. I don't use that.
I really like it. And I used to make my web pages with notebook.
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