Advice on web development software

[ejb190]

I have an opertunity to purchase a bit of software for work. This opportunity does not come up very often, so I need to take advantage of it. I am looking for advice on what is the best web development software for a middle of the road user. Just to get by, I have been using Netscape Composer and 1st Page (an HTML editor), but I don't have that much time to tweek and debug pages.

In addition, I am looking for something like Flash to do simple annimations. It has been a while since I have looked. What is out there now? Would one of the design suites work for me?

I think I am going to put Photoshop Elements in the order as well. I have it on my Mac and love it!

I don't need the best of the best. Just something to move my work to the next level. I am all about saving time. The computer gig is not my job, just something I end up doing because no one else at work can. Oh, one more thing. We are stuck with Win XP here at work...

 

[aphexist]

What is the nature of the website(s) you are in charge of?

Are they for the world to see or are they primarily for your company's use?

 

[dstorey]

For building web site, I always loved Macromedia Dreamweaver. It lets you get at the code but has a great graphical view for laying pages out etc. I've not used the latest version (MX) only the Ultra Dev one, that writes serverside code for you...I belive MX intergrates ultra devs server side functionality also. I find it much easer to use tha other web site creation programs, although I havn't used Adobes verion, which is Dreamweavers main rival I guess. Dreamweaver has basic flash functionality built in, but if your gonna do a lot then its worth getting the full version or macromedia studio...theres also a flash compatible program by adobe too....or theres always notepad

 

[ejb190]

The pages are public access, but nothing too fancy. They are used mostly to post information reguarding Master Gardeners and 4-H. But I really don't have the time to keep them updated, the way they should be.

I learned web design the old fashoned way (HTML). I am really looking for something to help speed the process up.

I have someone else in the office who would like to learn web design. I might know computers, but I am a terrible teacher. So I am looking for something easy to work with.

I was looking at Macromedia Studio MX. With the educational discount, the price becomes quite reasonable!

 

[sonofslim]

another vote for MX here. do a search on "dreamweaver" or "web design program" or something similar on these forums and you'll find a lot of threads discussing their relative merits.

i also learned HTML from the ground up, and it's important to have a good handle on the p's and q's of code before letting a program write it for you. that said, MX does a pretty good job of writing code when you ask it to -- and an even better job of staying out of your way when you want to roll up your sleeves and do it yourself.

i'll just mention two features that i rely on heavily and that make MX my suite of choice:

1) extensive references. without leaving dreamweaver, i can get thorough usage help and reference on HTML, CSS, ColdFusion, JavaScript, ASP and JSP, and accessibility/useability. comes straight from the good people at O'Reilly.

2) extensibility. when i find myself coding similar functions or modifying similar objects over and over, i can write a simple JavaScript extension and automate the process. i can have it write code based on certain inputs, or modify code based on what's already there -- for instance, i just wrote one that takes whatever text i've selected and wraps it in an <a> tag.
it'll grab the selected text, and if it doesn't find my domain anywhere within that text, it knows it must be an external link and it'll add target="blank" to the tag. i can also have it add "http://" if that's not already present, or i can have it bring up a little window asking if it's a URL or a file and add "http://" or "ftp://" accordingly, or whatever i want... easy, pleasy, nice and cheesy.