Posted by David Segall on 01/09/06 15:27

MajorSetback@excite.com wrote:

>I am starting up a home business and will be setting up a web site to
>market the software that I will be developing in C++. I was wondering
>if I should buy something like Dreamweaver or Frontpage or try to
>develop the web pages directly using HTML and a text editor. I have
>not had experience building web pages but have had several years
>experience in programming in C and C++ and in using LaTeX for document
>preparation.
>
>Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>Peter.
If you are a very good computer programmer it is likely that you are
not a very good aesthetic designer so go to http://www.oswd.org/ and
pick one of the free, open source, site templates. Get with the trend
and use the advanced search to ensure that the site you pick uses CSS
and conforms to one of the XHTML standards.

Now go to
<http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=dreamweaver>
and download the free thirty day trial. Use it to change the site you
downloaded to match your requirements. It includes a perfectly good
text editor and an FTP program which is the minimum requirement to set
up a web site. If, at the end of the thirty days, you find you have
only used the text editor and FTP program then choose something else.
If, like me, you like the way Dreamweaver can edit a site from the
code, pictorial, CSS or even File view buy it. You may even want to
buy it because it provides a one-click way to view your pages in each
of the multiple browsers you should have on your computer or because
it will reformat, validate and check the links on your pages.

I should add that if you currently program in C++ using only vi,
Notepad, punched cards or even Emacs you will hate Dreamweaver. Use
the one you like to edit the HTML.

[Back to original message]