OT: What webpage design app to use?

[Charles Martin]

> From: BURTON Chris <chris.burton at swift.com>
> Was just curious ... I have a bunch of digital photos and some small 
> video clips that I wanted to create a web site around. What
> webpage design app should I choose?

Best thing would be the HomePage feature of .Mac. Well worth the money 
you'd pay to join, and you won't find a classier, more elegant or 
impressive way to present your photos and Quicktime movies unless you 
happen to be a whiz with Flash.

>  I'm looking for something somewhat simple and not outrageously priced 
> ... and for OS X. Would
> something like Dreamweaver be the best solution?

We can't really answer this question until you tell us your level of 
skill with HTML and what you mean by "outrageously priced."

Since I presume you are looking for a WYSIWYG html editor that allows 
you to put up a relatively basic page with little or no HTML coding, 
here are my suggestions:

CURRENT PRODUCTS:
I think Dreamweaver is WAAAAAY overkill for what you want to do and 
would suggest you look at Freeway (www.softpress.com). Retail is about 
$250 but I suspect you can find it for less. It's probably the best 
"visual" page/site creator that's not "industrial strength." If you 
have any experience with Quark Xpress or Pagemaker you will almost 
certainly find Freeway's "boxes" metaphor a quick one to pick up. 
Softpress also have some EXCELLENT tutorials on their website so you 
can get a feel for how the program operates before you buy, and I 
believe they may even have a free demo.

You might also want to experiment with Composer, the free HTML 
authoring component of Mozilla 1.3/Netscape 7. It's actually much more 
"visual" than most people think, there are plenty of good tutorials out 
there, and it's FREE.

DISCONTINUED PRODUCTS:
If you look around ebay, you might find copies of Adobe's discontinued 
but highly-regarded PageMill software, or even Apple/Claris' original 
HomePage software (same name but entirely different from the .Mac web 
service). For simple pages/sites these things are really hard to beat. 
It's a pity there aren't more products like them still being made for 
consumers who want to do simple sites but don't want to spend more 
than, say, $50 or so.

_Chas_
Come to  ... The CHASbah!
http://thechasbah.blogspot.com
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