making a website

ok, ok, here we go...

I've been thinking about it and I want to make my own website... I've looked around, took some infos on the design and what looks good and not, but I have a big problem, I don't know what to use!

I know there is microsoft frontpage, but does it make good looking website? Take this website for exemple, did Pank made it with FrontPage? I've heard about coding everything, but I'm not really good with that stuff...

Do you know any other good programs to do that kind of things... I've heard about macromedia cold fusion, is it good?

anyway, a little help would be appreciated, haha :D

oh and sorry if I barely make sense :rolleyes:

I hand code, but the best from what I've heard is Macromedia Dreamweaver.

Absolutely not, doolittle. The very best is handcoding.
Dreamweaver is littlemore than a timesaver and does nothing you can't handcode by yourself.

With handcoding, it may take the most time and be the hardest but you achieve the greatest flexibility. I have a saying; "The more user-friendly a system becomes, the less flexible and powerful it becomes," and this applies to html as well.

Plus, when something goes awry with your site, you wanna be able to open up the code and know how to fix it, which is impossible unless you actually know the code.

OncleSam, learn how to handcode with Notepad. You won't regret it.

If you need a tutorial, you can use http://webmonkey.com or http://pagetutor.com . Personally I used pagetutor (this was before I heard of webmonkey) but either should work.

Cold Fusion is a scripting language, not a HTML program.

I use dreamweaver for most of my sites because it saves a lot of time. But I learned HTML before I even used dreamweaver, so I can always view the source of a page and fix problems that Dreamweaver can't handle.

I highly recommend anyone else do the same. Learn HTML and how to hand code first, then you can use Dreamweaver or something similar to save time if you need to.

Frontpage is not an option. It's a consumer level app that generates proprietary HTML that only works in Internet Explorer. Do not waste your time with it.

As for notepad, I think it's ridiculous to only use that to edit your sites, even if you are hand-coding. There are many HTML text editors that will highlight the syntax of your page in different colors so that it's easier to understand the page at a glance. Using only notepad to make web sites is like spelunking without a flash light.

Lots of free, good HTML editors here: http://download.com.com/3150-2048-0.html?tag=dir

I aint got any advice that hasnt been said above me...but i can back them up. First NEVER use frontpage!! Second...i learned by hand coding first (using a program called bbedit ) and then i was introduced to Dreamweaver. Now i reccomend dreamweaver over handcoding...they do the same exact thing but dreamweaver takes less time...and protects you against spelling errors in the code (which can cost you hours if you mess up!!!!). There is not much of an advantage to hand coding. But there is a catch here.... without knowing how to hand code first (and hand code well) you will stumble all over the place in dreamweaver!

I'm not much of a webmaster but I learned some simple HTML and now when I use Dreamweaver, it's much easier to understand. Dreamweaver is also faster than handcoding because you don't have to type it all in. When you make a blank page and type "akfkj" on it, there's already a whole crapload of code that you didn't have to type in yourself. Thats just my opinion.

tom