I want to build a basic website that looks professional so that I can advertise my consulting business to people. Does anyone know of any freeware that I can download to do this or recommend any software that is worth buying. I want to have interactive menus etc. Good day,
Thank you for the question.
The best software to build professional looking websites for beginners and seasoned designers alike, in a very small time is Macromedia's Dreamweaver. Although it is not free, particularly for business use, it is the best. If you plan to build any other websites it's a worthwhile investment. You can also buy it in a bundle with Flash and other programs, called Macromedia Studio for a little more.
Dreamweaver can be downloaded for evaluation purposes from Macromedia's site. Note: Please do pay attention to the legal notice for the implications of using a website created by Dreamweaver for commercial purposes.
I just noticed that Macromedia is now part of Adobe.
You might find the following link useful for downloading a 30-day evaluation copy:
https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index...
Regards, Give me the contract and I can develop a 3 page site for $50.
:) I think that there is a program for that called Goldfish Programming or something to that effect.Try Googling that and see.Good luck. Ah well try searching for Namo Web Edit, or Macromedia Dreamweaver. or try www.betanews.com and download some webdevelopping freeware. or maybe go to www.rentacoder.com and make a bid and let a professional do the job for little money !! Cheaper then buying a software.. or if you want i can do it for you ;) here is my email: bassem.dghaidy@gmail.com
and here's my portfolio: www.xportfolio.premium.ws
Goodluck best thing is to learn HTML and do it yourself. If you really put your mind to it, you can learn the basics within two days and build all the (basic) sites you want...
For the graphics, I suggest you use Xara X (www.xara.com), the best, easy to use vector graphics program www.homestead.com Try
http://www.1and1.co.uk
They include all that in their business package.
You also need colour sense and a flair for design to make it look professional, thats why people use designers. its not easy
you can write HTML and Javascript using a standard editor like wordpad
freeware HTML WsiWyg editors include Chami's HTML KIT -its pretty good as fara s I can see, and has lots of extensions
best HTML editor I know of is macromedias Dreamweaver (if you can get the studio version which includes the Fireworks image manipulation program - exoensive though
in all honesty
find someone locally who designs web pages for a living and get them to do the job, zero learning curve for you, shoul dlook professional. there is nothing worse for any, especially small business to put up a cr!ppy looking website that looks amateurish
Dont expect thousands of people to visit your website unless you've got something really important to say, or soemthing they really want to listen to If you need professional looking site, please seriously consider Professional who will do it fast and without the usual pitfalls 鈥?if you have not done it before, potentially u will face incompatible fonts, colours etc鈥?- some browsers will see your site differently to what you had in mind, so on and on鈥?br>
Can you afford the time for just a basic site? It really takes a lot longer than one can anticipate, for the first time.
Strongly suggest www.Eloquex.com and once you are there, go to Managed Hosting (see if other options will be more suitable for your needs as well), you will be impressed with the packages they have and all is bespoke still.
I am their client and would not go anywhere else.
Best regards Unless you are a bit of a genius then I doubt you will built a professional website, that is not to say you will not build one that you are pleased with. You will probably spend quite a few weeks trying to learn the software, learning HTML and getting frustrated that you can not create the type of dynamic menus your are after. I say this because you are doing for business and not personal pleasure.
You are talking about building a website for a business, consider how much money you will spend on advertising...it will cost you about 拢500 just for a normal local listing in the yellow pages, 拢200 or more for local newspaper advertising, more then 拢150 for your stationary. Plus additional money for flyers and other marketing material.
Yet, one of your biggest assests and a method of marketing your company as a professional business is left to chance and low costs. Your website is a 24/7 marketing tool, it is often the first place a customer will look before contacting you.
Have you considered accessibility(a legal requirement for businesses)? search engine optimisation? search engine marketing? Do you know about hosting?
Have you also considered how much of your time (potential earning time) you will spend on this? You are talking about buying software, invest that money in a good designer and learn HTML and then you can use the free stuff (like notepad!!) to edit your site.
I would suggest contacting your local designers to get a few prices, you will probably find the you can have a professional website created for less money than you think. Look for a designer that creates sites with XHTML, CSS and/or PHP, have a look at their portfolio and go with your gut instinct. Don't bother with flash (poor SEO and accessibility) or ASP (increased cost of hosting, poorer support in other aspects).
Start with a small site and then you can learn to manage the site, make your own edits etc and develop your knowledge while making your website work for you i.e. attracting new customers. First thing you gotta do is find a decent , affordable host that will allow you to build your site in an online wysiwyg editor.
Theres plenty of them about and you can get a page done in about 10 minutes.
Trick is, to remember that less is more, dont just stick things in cos you want to or cos you can.
Dont use different fonts, stick to verdana or arial. dont over or undersize your fonts ither. 10 pt to 14 pt looks nice for text, 16-18 for headings. Dont bold everything, similarly, dont italicise everything.
Make sure your spellings and grammar are good.
Make sure your images are fairly small (in file size) but still as clear as possible without pixelating.
There is so much to web design and web programming it usually is best to get in a pro. BUT dont fall for anyone saying " you cant do it, but Ill charge you $50 a page" when all they end up doing is exactly what you would do, using a wysiwyg editor.
The best editor Ive ever used is dreamweaver. As said above, its commercial and very expensive. i suggest you get yourself a bit torrent client and go nuts!! |
