GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

Back about 20 years ago I use to write websites and FTP them to a server. The program I used was Softquad's HoT MetaL. Since that time, I stopped doing the pages.

A few years back I thought about playing around again but found that HotMetal stopped working with Windows 7, and the company did something wrong and did not update it anymore. Since what I had to do was minimal, I just didn't bother and wrote the simple code myself.

Now I'd like to create a new webpage for my photography. Every theme seems add or subtract something to have do making it very confusing. In addition, after looking at the code there is are tons of code added to each page that really shouldn't be there. (When I wrote code, you wanted the least amount of code so things would load faster.)

Does anybody know of a web editing program that is something like the old Hot Metal? That being, a simple way to use it with standard code (the more types of code the better), has WYSIWYG, allows FTP, and maybe a few premade things I could add here and there.

I don't want to use all the so-called "simple" webpage programs that many hosting sites have, I would like just an on-board edition program. Also, I run Microsoft Windows 10.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

kompozer available from sourceforge.
--Bob

old man 88 Loc: Palmview, TX when not on road

Try Adobe Dreamweaver CS6 free for 30

Very easy to use.

RichieC Loc: Adirondacks

With the advent of reactive web pages, Bootstrap or Wordpress may be to your liking. There are others. Both are free, or you can download templates for reasonable rates compared to how long it would take you to get something working to your liking.

Yep, they are code heavy, for things you may never access, but remember, the web has gotten exponentially faster then it was when you wrote the bare minimum for dial-up... it is a paradigm shift, but with your knowledge, customizing one of the above will be attainable, or adding code to CCS, etc. etc.

Technology moves fast my fried. the code knows what size screen the user is viewing your site on, and switch's over to the appropriate layout you have decided on. Basically, you have three sites in one, or an infinite number, as things like images, headlines, body copy, backgrounds and navigation bars all scale and rearrange- real time. Of course you could do it the old way too- that does still work. You still have to look up the attributes of CSS3 & HTML5, etc. etc.

WISIWG is not really all that great anymore because of the above changes, at least not like it used to be. However, you can instantly see your changes in any browser.

Don;t be discouraged, you'll grasp it quick.

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

For over a month I've been goofing around with Wordpress. My basic problem is that everytime I activate another theme to do something, the new theme puts some of the actions somewhere else. When I'm trying to figure out Wordpress that just messes things up./

Blue Host, (my provider), made a ten part lesson on you Tube. That helped somewhat but some of the information "Dave" says, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ-eL7zH6rQ), is now obsolete with the new updates to Wordpress. (Maybe it has gone to the wayside when I activated another theme? Maybe I want to do things too fast? Who knows?)

Then I look at another YouTube lesson from another person and it does the similar things but a little differently and of course, some of those actions are now obsolete also.

Sure, I know there is a learning curve but why do they change thing so often. *(Have I mentioned confusing yet?)
-----------------

***If I were to create a good lesson for Wordpress or any other website editor for that reason, I'd make it so the page would link directly to the location that modifies whatever area that I clicked on. That might take some work to create but it sure would help!!!

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I just thought of another free web site product, Joomla. It is quite powerful, provides site security - if you need that., etc.

As with all products like this, it comes with a bonus learning curve.
--Bob

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

Thanks, I'll check it out.

RichieC Loc: Adirondacks

Yeah, wordpress is less customizeable, as the interface you work with is a PITA, and you have to find and delve into the templates image folder to change backgrounds etc. IT is designed so people without any formal knowledge can set up a pretty sophisticated site. But you gain one aspect you loose another.

Bootstrap is much more adjustable. But everything you would ever need is in the huge style sheet, you just have to know how to call whatever you want up. Needs a dictionary or index of some sort. Or a program that would take you right to the style sheets that control something, some times it is more then just one! ie the first general style sheet controls font, then a subsequent one controls size and a third controls some other aspect.

I use a combination of an excellent and inexpensive editor called Sublime Text 2, which is an exceptional editor that can really save some time with if you are a code writer! ( You need to to take a tutorial on it to understand its power!) , Then, I use some of the the tools in Dreamweaver that better shows controlling style sheets- where they are located and to upload/sync files to server, add subtract things between local and remote folders etc. . The madding thing is, that you find something you want to customize, and then you have to wade through gobs of CSS sheets to see which was the last one that really controls some weenie thing you want to adjust. once you find it, then you make your adjustment to a separate custom style sheet, arranged at the bottom and thus last on the Cascade list, so it supersedes the one you are customizing... ie changing a font color or size! position of an image to float right or left, arggg. LOL

In your experience, you knew which style sheet was controlling whatever because you wrote it, and knew all the attributes to tweek. I think you will ultimately appreciate bootstrap better- which your talents can better be applied.

I would humbly suggest Lynda.com for tutorials, for the price of one book, you could get all the instruction you'd need and learn faster. You can find tuts online for free, but they don;t take you through a comprehensive set-up like her lessons do. Note that Lynda.com will have tutorials on every major and most minor programs, like Lightroom or photoshop or sublime text, or bootstrap or wordpress etc. etc. , that you will find invaluable- you get access to their entire library while you belong. And you can save them for future reference- this from a die-hard-buy-a-book-and-learn-that-way-guy. I have a library full that I don't have the heart to throw away. :)

Sorry to bend your ear. For what it is worth.

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

No bending of ear, I'm trying to find a good home based editor. LoL One that I'll feel comfortable using. I might even look for a few clients. Well maybe.

For anyone interested, http://www.kyrasjoy.com/santana2023/Index.htm is the only site that remains today. A fellow sail boat owner put it on his server.

Fifteen or so years back, simple html was pretty good. Now you need a few other type of web stuff.
*(If you type the address, it's case sensitive so use a capital "I" for Index.)

I own a sailboat and wrote a few pages on different mods for it.

If you like nautical humor, drift down to that section. Some of the jokes are pretty good if I do sa so. *(Most I came up with, some were just modified from other jokes to be "nautical".)

RichieC Loc: Adirondacks

You'll love Sublime text… but you need to take the tutorials to see why- it is a coder's dream. You can use it free- and pay if you want to continue to use it.

http://www.sublimetext.com

Sort of like BBEdit- but has some spectacular time saving features. You might use it in conjunction with other software. about 10 times faster to do anything then Dreamweaver- but then Dreamweaver does some things it can't do.

http://lifehacker.com/five-best-text-editors-1564907215

http://www.creativebloq.com/netmag/10-great-text-editors-web-designers-71412411

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Hi GENorkus-
I write my own and have been using a nice little editor called SpiderPad for YEARS (over 15). It's no longer supported, and now freeware. ( http://www.sixlegs.com/software/old/ ) but still works great. It will even allow you to shot-gun changes in multiple files.
I use WS-FTP to move the files. And have used Deluxe Menu http://deluxe-menu.com/index.html
I too hate all of the superfluous crap added by most WISYWIG programs, or odd-ball stuff from "canned" sites. I've been programming since the early 70's, and am NOT a fan of complicated.
For the gallery I use Coppermine. http://coppermine-gallery.net/index.php You can check it out.

My site: http://MyMindsEye.us (a hobby)

sarge69 Loc: Ft Myers, FL

Web site with html WYSIWYG

Editor - Web Expression 4 (Free at microsoft)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36179


FTP Program - Core FTP LE ( Free on internet )
http://www.coreftp.com/download.html

Sarge69

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I use Dreamweaver, and Wordpress is very popular.

viscountdriver Loc: East Kent UK

The best is Serif WebPlus.Easy to use

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

I also used to build websites using that brand-new language HTML. For the past 15 years or so I have used Microsoft Expression Web, which offers templates, so I don't really need to become an expert with CSS styles but I can easily manipulate everything else. It has a split-screen editor so you can immediately see what you are doing. I see from one of the posts that it is now a free download.