Best and easiest way to create a web from home

[bamiabos]

First of all I'd like to thank MacRumors for this nice space.

Now, my question for you guys.

Few years back, I used to make websites with Adobe Dreamweaver from 0 or sometimes from templates I found on the internet. When I got my first Mac, I started using iWeb. Nowadays iWeb is gone and editing templates with Dreamweaver seems a bit old fashioned, what is the most common way (or let's say utility/service) to build a simple website?

I'm looking to make an apple-like plain white website with just a few buttons, info and pictures.

 

[iWeekend]

option 1

WYSIWYG software for web design -- Freeway Pro, Rapidweaver, and other solutions like Sandvox or Flux for some examples.

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1472643

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1636355

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1570237

option 2

CMS (content management system) -- such as Joomla, WordPress and Drupal for three examples.


option 3

A drag 'n drop type of site builder -- Wix is one such.



All of these have learning curves, and various price points. As a DW user, you might have an easier time with option 1. Option 3 is probably OK for your needs, but you'd have to research the market well.

 

[samwich]

I haven't used, tried, or heard much about it, but Adobe Muse was supposed to be a product similar to iWeb, where you can design a site without coding.

http://www.adobe.com/products/muse.html

 

[enigma2118]

Wordpress option

With Wordpress, you can find many free templates. The templates are good, it just gets tricky when you want to make it look different than what it already is. Then there are template/plugins for Wordpress like Headway, which is a type of wysiwyg page builder. There are several like Headway, and if you google you'll find them, that's just the only one I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[trenthanover]

I think you should start with wordpress...

 

[Johnsyounger]

Wix.com

 

[Csory]

+1 to sandvox

 

[Fiddledust]

Replacing iWeb

If you liked iWeb, you will find that EverWeb is essentially the same thing. The biggest difference is you must use an ftp program to upload to your site unless you let EverWeb host your site. Then, like iWeb it is one click to upload.

 

[qua]

Everweb update

I've been using EverWeb now since it came out, admittedly incomplete. The new beta - working great - now uploads ftp to servers. This is fast realizing all that potential iWeb never tapped into.

 

[Flood123]

I am a huge fan of Wordpress.

 

[olstudios]

Wordpress. Lots of customization and there is a large community of users to help you if you have any issues. I buy bundle themes when I see them so I get my themes for pretty cheap ($4-10 each) opposed to $40 each.

Most themes have walkthroughs and tutorials on how to make your theme looks how you want it to look. I would give it a try.

 

[dsh3]

I can highly recommend Wordpress too. Excellent tool.

 

[maflynn]

I'm leaning more towards sandvox for my simple website needs. I was using RapidWeaver, but ever since going to version 5 they've not provided any upgrade pricing and while more powerful thanks to plug-ins it almost always requires the purchase of those.

Its not a bad product but I'm looking for something more iWeb like for my simple needs and so far trying Sandvox out I'm happy to see it meet my needs.

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If you liked iWeb, you will find that EverWeb is essentially the same thing. The biggest difference is you must use an ftp program to upload to your site unless you let EverWeb host your site. Then, like iWeb it is one click to upload.

I'd like to try this but it seems their website has been suspended

 

[Macist]

I used to use Joomla and Drupl back in the day but to be honest Wordpress can be used for so many types of site now, and it's quicker and easier to implement, that I just use that for almost everything.

 

[blanka]

Remember that Wordpress is totally bloated. I tried running it on a Raspberry Pi and the performance totally sucks. I know the Pi is no webserver beast, but hand-coded websites with PHP/MySQL run great on it. The performance/result ratio is a complete miss.

Remember that is is targeted at multi-author/editor environments with many users posting comments etc. Joomla: ditto. If you don't use all that, it is bloatware. And the learning curve is pretty steep. Simple stuff like setting up a fixed homepage can be a pain in the ass, as the default form of Wordpress websites is chronological BLOG-style.

You can cut a lot of crap out of Wordpress, but if you want it to perform anything like you would expect from a simple website, DONT FORGET to install a good caching module with a large time-interval like 1 day or longer.

Want simple: start looking at something like Indexhibit.

 

[cartoonasaurus]

I'm leaning more towards sandvox for my simple website needs. I was using RapidWeaver, but ever since going to version 5 they've not provided any upgrade pricing and while more powerful thanks to plug-ins it almost always requires the purchase of those.

Its not a bad product but I'm looking for something more iWeb like for my simple needs and so far trying Sandvox out I'm happy to see it meet my needs.

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I'd like to try this but it seems their website has been suspended

Here is their website - working just great...

http://www.everwebapp.com