Web page editing software is one of the easiest ways to create and
maintain the pages of your web site. Web page editors allow you to
create a web page the same way you would create a document in a word
processor.
Web page editing software is one of the easiest ways to create and
maintain the pages of your web site. Web page editors allow you to
create a web page the same way you would create a document in a word
processor. You can easily change the size, shape, and color of fonts
on the page as well as add photos, tables, and javascript applets just
by clicking and dragging them into place. While Dreamweaver is often
considered the pinnacle in web page editing software there are other,
less expensive, options including several free or shareware editing
software packages. All web page editing software packages allow you to
create templates for your web site that can easily be copied from page
to page to give your site a clean, uniform appearance.
Dreamweaver
($200 school price)- The granddaddy of web page editing software but
also one of the most expensive. Highly extensible and fairly easy to
use.
NVU
(FREE)- Pronounced "n-view" this web editor came on the scene several
years ago and is open source, free software. With the free price tag
comes the downside of only having email or community forum based
support for problems or questions.
Adobe Go Live
($80)- Another commercial web page editor that has a strong
following. Some schools may qualify for the free Adobe software
donation program.
Check with your IT person at your school for more information or visit
the Gifts In Kind web site.
The upside to using a free web template is that you can find some very nice and very useful pre-made designs. The downside to using a free web template is that several dozen or even several hundred other sites may be using the same free web template. You have to weigh originality versus convenience when using a free web template as well as whether or not you want to have to leave the copyright notice on the bottom of each page as many free web template designers require. Most free web template designers also produce low cost commercial templates which allow you to remove the copyright notice.
Many free template sites are also offering Flash based templates as well. Flash graphics are nice and can add value to your site if they are done properly, but stay away from templates that repeat the same animation over and over again. Your users will thank you.
Another downside to using some free web templates (especially the flash templates) is page size. Not many free template designers seem to take bandwidth into consideration when creating their templates. Remember the suggested rule that each page should be less than 100K and preferably less than 50K including all of the images and text displayed on the page.
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