WYSIWYG program for newbie for forms

[JillC]

I started designing a simple web site for my client only to find it's suddenly got a whole lot more complicated. This newbie has absolutely zero knowledge on website design but wants to be able to maintain her own site. She has a shopping service and gives her clients a personal shopping list based on their first order. So she wants to do the same on the website, ie after the first order she can create a personalised form with the regular items already filled in. I started looking for a cheap program that would allow her to edit the form (assuming I set it up like a template) to add or remove fields and to add values to fields. I feel a text editor will be too confusing and I'd really like to find a nice (cheap) WYSIWYG editor but can't find one suitable. Any recommendations?

 

[cian]

Hi,

I hate WYSIWYG editors! she could try coffee cup HTML editor, they have a very simple editor which does a pretty decent (for a wysiwyg) job with forms!

http://www.coffeecup.com/software/

É

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http://www.endamcg.com

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http://www.endamcg.com/finland-gaa

 

[JillC]

Hi Cian,

Thanks, but I already looked at Coffee Cup - the free one is too limited and the full version is not quite suitable - unless I've missed something! I couldn't find any way to edit the fields without going into the text editor - and that's a minefield for a newbie - this is a genuine, real newbie. %-)

I was hoping for something a bit better. Never mind.

 

[cian]

Hi,

I presume you considered Frontpage? (yuck)

The other option is to prepare some templates for the user to just copy and paste into an editor? Plenty of comments in the code can help to guide them. ??

http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Internet/Authoring/HTML/WYSIWYG_Editors/

É

::

http://www.endamcg.com

::

http://www.endamcg.com/finland-gaa

 

[JillC]

No Cian, I did not consider Frontpage!!!! :

I already told her that Frontpage has too steep a learning curve - especially as it's years since I've used it myself being a Dreamweaver fan! :-D

Originally, I thought she wouldn't really need to edit anything and I'd just show her how to make minor changes using the Netscape Editor. I now need a face-saving solution!
Thanks for the link, I'll see what I can find.

 

[SaltyDuke]

how about this...i know it sounds a little bit wired, but i had a similar problem myself a few months ago: my non-technical client wanted me to design a website that they could maintain without having to edit HTML code etc.

My solution was to use a CGI script to set up the content of page according to instructions in a user-maintained text file.
The user can then edit the text file to suit their wishes, and they don't need to learn anything technical. Only problem with this solution is that it's not WYSIWYG.

hope tht can be of help

 

[cian]

There's lots of scripts available for "Content Management". You can edit and update pages without knowing how to code. However I have no idea where you can get a script which will allow you to also add/remove form fields etc I'm sure there must be one available, just at what cost!?


Todays my first TT birthday!! Wuhuu!!

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http://www.endamcg.com

::

http://www.endamcg.com/finland-gaa

 

[BDNFLNC]

Use GoLive. Create templated pages for her to work with and lock the pages down. I have done this for a few clients recently and am finding that in no time I was able to learn some masterful ways to lock different portions of the page and the user gets to add mostly whatever they like.

Dreamweaver has the same function, but I am much much more partial to GoLive in all aspects.

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These are endless galaxies which are yours.
You can journey to infinity
through the endless passages of the cosmos.
Even better. This all belongs to you.
This is your mind.

 

[JillC]

Hi People,

Just to let you know the solution. After wasting a day or more looking at WYSIWYG editors I decided I'd better go back to Plan A - which was to use Edit Plus.

Then I started digging around looking for a script for something else, and while I was there I looked at content management type scripts - so another day wasted. Then I stumbled upon the answer - a cookie!!!!!

I downloaded a script called Cookie Form Saver - it took me forever to get it to work - typically the instructions assumed I'd know what to change! But now it's working on my test file and fits the bill perfectly. My client doesn't need to do anything - the cookie will re-populate the form with last week's info automatically.

Thanks for your help, anyway. There were a couple of clues in your responses which set me thinking in the right direction.

 

[MandaK]

I noticed that Macromedia have just released "Contribute" that helps non-technical users update their own sites. Will this be any help? I'm not sure how it will handle forms though. I think there is a free trial available at the Macromedia site

http://www.macromedia.com,

and I've heard it's only about $100.

Amanda
Commissioning Editor - glasshaus

:"Content Management Systems"
:

http://www.glasshaus.com/bookInfo.asp?bookId=65

:"Dynamic Dreamweaver MX"
:

http://www.glasshaus.com/bookInfo.asp?bookId=63