Is there any free software to create a website for Macs?

[Steffieg]

I have a Mac (using Safari), I really need to create myself a website but dont have a clue how to begin - is there any free software available to download that works on a Mac, I've trawled the web for ages but cant find anything. Needs to be easy to use!
Thanks all
Steph

PS I am a wildlife/pet portrait artist - anyone want to build me a website in return for a painting?????

 

[Welshbird]

iWeb isn't free, but isn't very expensive...

I always search versiontracker.com for things like this - so worth a try.

(Let us know what you find!)

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[jmgalvin]

You can try open source NVU - google it. I have it but have only tried it as I use Dreamweaver.

Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4

 

[IMacQuarker]

Hi Steffieg
You can get Netscape 7.2 which is a free download and it has NetScape Composer which lets you create web pages and does most of the html for you.
Do not get the newer or Beta version of Netscape since it no longer has the Composer.
Hope this helps.
IMacQuarker

 

[Foamcow]

You may even enjoy making it from scratch.
Web pages are just text files after all.



<honk>*:O)</honk>

Tyres: Mine's a pint of the black stuff.
Mike: You can't drink a pint of Bovril.

 

[mmerlinn]

One other option is to use the free website builders on many free webpage hosters like geocities, angelfire, etc. You can build & store your pages there, then cut & paste them to your real website once you are satisfied with them.

They do a decent job, but do have limitations. Depending on what you are doing they may be a quick and dirty stop-gap solution for you.

Many times the only real solution is to either learn how to write the code for them yourself, or use some other program to write the code for you.

I started building pages with the free website builder on the now defunct WBS.COM. Once I hit the limitations I learned to write the code myself. Today I use a FoxPro program I wrote to build 99% of my webpages for me.


mmerlinn

"Political correctness is the BADGE of a COWARD!"

 

[Foamcow]

Many times the only real solution is to either learn how to write the code for them yourself, or use some other program to write the code for you.

Or get someone else to do it

<honk>*:O)</honk>

Tyres: Mine's a pint of the black stuff.
Mike: You can't drink a pint of Bovril.

 

[mmerlinn]

Or get someone else to do it

As in for FREE since he obviously does not have much money to spend???


mmerlinn

"Political correctness is the BADGE of a COWARD!"

 

[Steffieg]

Thanks guys.

I downloaded the NVU but couldnt use it. I know its easy to create a page with text, graphics etc - its the setting up a site with its various frames, contents bar etc which is not easy for a non-techy person. Couldnt find any info on this in the help section.

I have ordered iweb which apparantly has ready made templates where you just overtype and swap images for your own...sounds perfect, but obviously havent tried it yet!


Steph

 

[Foamcow]

Don't use frames!
Just don't. Trust me.

<honk>*:O)</honk>

Tyres: Mine's a pint of the black stuff.
Mike: You can't drink a pint of Bovril.

 

[mmerlinn]

[&nbsp;]
FoamCow

Don't use frames!
Just don't. Trust me.

Everybody always says, "Don't use frames," but no one ever explains why not in the same thread that the thread maker started.

So, could you, in a few sentences, explain to Steffieg why you believe frames are such a bad idea?


mmerlinn

"Political correctness is the BADGE of a COWARD!"

 

[Foamcow]

It's not really a discussion for this forum but...

1. He will find it much more difficult to maintain the site
2. Anything barring the simplest of navigation schemes becomes laborious and involves the use of javascript or other scripting technology
3. There is a risk of creating orphan pages
4. There is really no need to use frames nowadays
5. It is seen as a bad idea from a search engine point of view, but can be ok if done properly - that's the problem though since few do.


In short, it causes more problems than it solves and unless done properly will just lead to serious over-engineering and unnecessary complexity.

<honk>*:O)</honk>

Tyres: Mine's a pint of the black stuff.
Mike: You can't drink a pint of Bovril.

 

[Foamcow]

That said, frames do have their place. It's just generally not in a 'conventional', public facing web site.

<honk>*:O)</honk>

Tyres: Mine's a pint of the black stuff.
Mike: You can't drink a pint of Bovril.

 

[Steffieg]

Morning all,

Maybe I dont understand the meaning of 'frames'. When you click a button on the navigation bar to open a particular page in the window how is this set-up achieved? I thought it was called frames but there you go, I have never built a website!

Steph

 

[Welshbird]

Steff,

If you use iWeb you won't need to worry about it.



Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[Foamcow]

There are 2 things here.

Framesets - these are collections of frames.

Frame - Each frame is a browser window in itself. Each frame contains an entirely separate HTML document.

Some people use framesets and frames to enable them to create a single file for their navigation. Each link in that file targets a specific frame into which the relevant document is loaded. The benefit is that there is only ever a single file to update to change the navigation (for example if you add a page to the site).

Things can rapidly get complicated and result in serious over-engineering in order to create simple sites.

In the 'old days' there wasn't really another option but nowadays there is!
It's far better to create a single document for each page of your site that includes a snippet of code that you 'include' from another file. This can be done via SSI (Server Side Includes) or another Server Side Scripting language such as ASP, PHP or ColdFusion.

For instance to include a navigation 'snippet' using PHP you might do:

<?php
include('mynav.html');
?>

This would drop the contents of mynav.html into your page before it gets sent to the visitor.

Strictly speaking you don't need to do any of this at all. Just manually include the navigation code in each page of your site. Simple.

As Fee said, just don't worry about it. Don't even give frames a second thought and you will be fine. As with most web design and development, it's actually very simple to create a website - but we have a tendency to throw lots of obstacles in just to make life difficult for ourselves!


May I suggest if you wish to take this further that we ajourn to Forum:253



<honk>*:O)</honk>

Tyres: Mine's a pint of the black stuff.
Mike: You can't drink a pint of Bovril.

 

[mrn]

Take a look on tucows.com

Mike

"Whenever I dwell for any length of time on my own shortcomings, they gradually begin to seem mild, harmless, rather engaging little things, not at all like the staring defects in other people's characters."