# Building a web site?



## fongster (Oct 6, 2003)

Hi, is there any inexpensive/free web-authoring software for mac OS9? I need to build a really simple site (basically a few linked pages with text and a few graphics) and don't want to invest in dreamweaver, etc. Thanks.


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## Dusky (Oct 6, 2003)

When I started learning website development, I found geocities.com to offer a great site-building tool.  Give them a shot, it's free.


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## Pengu (Oct 6, 2003)

Try bbedit lite. its free, but you'll need to know HTML. Otherwise search on versiontracker, or just in google.


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## Arden (Oct 6, 2003)

Geocities is easy to use and it has a number of interesting features.  For a simple example, check out my computer science teacher's example: www.geocities.com/bvlarson.

I recommend you learn HTML and CSS and code your pages by hand.  This will produce exactly what you want with a simplicity of code.


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## RacerX (Oct 6, 2003)

If web design isn't your thing, learning HTML or CSS is going to be a major waste of time. 

Best thing to do if you're still in 9 is to look on ebay for either Adobe PageMill or Claris Home Page. Both should be inexpensive and easy to use. Adobe used to have an upgrade program for PageMill 3.0 owners letting them upgrade to GoLive 6.0, but I think it ended with the release of GoLive CS.

If you find that you enjoy doing web pages and sites, then it might be worth your time to learn some coding. At least with these products, you'll get a feel for what you can produce. 

For most people it ends after doing a few pages... which is not worth the time and energy needed to learn coding pages by hand.

Coding by hand is like sewing by hand, sure you can do it, and knowing how is always helpful, but I'd still rather have a sewing machine there to get a majority of the work done.


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## Cat (Oct 7, 2003)

The problem with "sewing machines" is the same as with desktop publishing some years ago: "Oh, look at all those fonts! I've gotta use them all!" ... Not Pretty! ...

Most people feel compelled to put a lot of distracting graphicalities on their site, which serve absolutely no purpose at all. Coding by hand avoids several of these problems ... WYSIWIG is not always what you want ...
With handcoding comes a lot of control and learning xhtml and CSS is not difficult at all: just look around at sites you like, or that do what you want and check out their code. Proceed by example, without copying too much ...  Make sure to check out www.w3c.org, they have gotten a lot of tips, a link checker and validators for your site.

Good luck!


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## Arden (Oct 7, 2003)

I must say, hand-coding websites has become increasingly easier and more fun for me as I've learned new techniques for creating dynamic content.  It used to be that I'd have a certain look to a site for which I had to change the code on each page, and that's naturally a pain in the posterior.  Then I learned a bit of Javascript and I learned how to include content from an exterior file, though it's still a pain to code everything correctly and then have to add "document.write();" to each and every line.  Finally, I recently learned how to do it via PHP, which is quite nice, making templates easy to create and easy to edit, and making the body pages I create very simple, as I can include  all header information in the template.

So give it a whirl, maybe design a simple sample site in a graphics editor (or even on paper!  What a concept...) and use a WYSIWYG program to put it together.  If you like doing that, start learning to code, as you will find creating web pages (and editing them later to add stuff the WYSIWYG programs can't do) very easy.  Then you can start learning the more advanced goodies like Javascript and PHP.


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## toast (Oct 7, 2003)

If you're interested in web design, BBEdit Lite.
If you're just trying to have your website done quickly, the little oldies quoted by RacerX will fit (Claris, Page Mill etc).


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## Cheryl (Oct 7, 2003)

If you are a newbie, try Netscape's Composer (included with Netscape Communicator) 
OR Freeway.  There is a 30 day trail and it validates your links. 
Just go to www.versiontracker.com and do a search for Freeway. They have an OS 9 and an OS X version.


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