# Website authoring tool



## Viro (Apr 18, 2008)

Hey fellas, I'm looking for a website authoring tool that provides a rich set of templates allowing me to quickly knock up a website. Preferably something that's more WYSIWYG and less of a HTML editor (since I can do that in any text editor ).

I've come across iWeb but I've heard that the HTML code it outputs is not that great. I'm a software developer by trade and while hacking HTML/CSS/Javascript is not out of my reach, I'd prefer not to. What I'm looking for is something like MS Frontpage (with standards compliant HTML output!) but for the Mac.


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## Giaguara (Apr 18, 2008)

NVU is free. www.nvu.com
RapidViewer would be probably closest to what you want and is not expensive http://www.realmacsoftware.com/rapidweaver/showcase/ so would fit somewhere between iWeb and a real editing tool.
Or Adobe GoLive...


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## jbarley (Apr 18, 2008)

Viro said:


> Hey fellas, I'm looking for a website authoring tool that provides a rich set of templates allowing me to quickly knock up a website. Preferably something that's more WYSIWYG and less of a HTML editor (since I can do that in any text editor ).
> 
> I've come across iWeb but I've heard that the HTML code it outputs is not that great. I'm a software developer by trade and while hacking HTML/CSS/Javascript is not out of my reach, I'd prefer not to. What I'm looking for is something like MS Frontpage (with standards compliant HTML output!) but for the Mac.


To even mention MS FRontpage and standards HTML in the same sentence is an "OxyMoron".

Along with Rapidweaver, which is what I use, another tool which looks good is SandVox .

jb.


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## Viro (Apr 18, 2008)

Thanks for the heads up. Those two tools look fantastic. 

p.s. FrontPage generates poor HTML. Hence I wanted a FrontPage that generated standards compliant HTML. Sorry if that wasn't clear


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## mdnky (Apr 19, 2008)

There's not much in options out there for that type of program (Frontpage, iWeb, etc.) that'll output standards compliant code.  If you want it totally compliant, the only way to do it is hand code with a text editor (BBedit, etc.)


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Apr 20, 2008)

I've heard some good things about Freeway:

http://www.softpress.com/

I'd have to agree with mdnky, though -- hand-editing is the only way to go to assure that what's on the page meets the kinds of criteria you wish for.  HTML and CSS are far simpler languages (er, not really "languages", but document formats) than any kind of programming language a software engineer would be familiar with, and while the underlying code may seem daunting at first, it's really quite simple and quickly-coded... perhaps even quicker than using a WYSIWYG-style editor at times.

Perhaps you could compromise and meet half-way?  Check out Panic's Coda software.  It allows you some degree of WYSIWYG-ness, but allows you to produce quick, compliant CSS, HTML and JavaScript... it even has built-in documentation and references for those languages.  It's a nice package for those looking to make the transition to hand-written code.


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## Natobasso (Apr 22, 2008)

Dreamweaver is a good option if you are looking for templates.


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## Viro (Apr 23, 2008)

I've been trying out SandVox and I've been rather impressed. Freeway looks a little pricey, but I'll give it a shot and see what it's like.

Hand coding HTML isn't really something I'd like to consider. I already spend 8 - 10 hours a day working on C++ code. Coming home and working on HTML doesn't really feel like a break for me. I'm looking for something that helps me publish some photos (I'm an avid photographer) on my blog with minimal fuss.


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## Natobasso (Apr 23, 2008)

Viro said:


> Coming home and working on HTML doesn't really feel like a break for me. I'm looking for something that helps me publish some photos (I'm an avid photographer) on my blog with minimal fuss.



Wimp.  Just kidding.

Have you thought about using Photoshop's publish photos to web feature? It even has really basic flash capabilities; no programming hardly at all except for the titles of your captions and pages.


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## elander (Apr 23, 2008)

Better still: Aperture and Lightroom both have excellent functions for album publishing.


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## Viro (Apr 23, 2008)

Don't have Aperture or Lightroom but I that's on my list of software to buy! Aperture anyway, might buy Photoshop Elements 6 when I have the money.


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## Natobasso (Apr 24, 2008)

Gimp is free and gives you image editing capabilities: www.gimp.org


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## Viro (Apr 24, 2008)

Gimp has a horrible UI. Since I don't really need all that functionality I'm currently settled on Acorn. It's decent enough for the simple retouches that I do.


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## Natobasso (Apr 24, 2008)

Jeez, whaddaya want for free?! 

It's kind of cool because it has introduced me to the X11 framework. (I use asp.net, sql and c# at work for websites.)


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