Microsoft Publisher - Brand new to web design - which product is most user friendly?

Author

Brand new to web design - which product is most user friendly?

moofay

2007-08-11, 10:15 pm

I need to purchase a software system to build and design a website having NO
background in graphics or anything - is there a product that is user friendly
and made for non-professionals? thanks

Rob Giordano \(Crash\)

2007-08-11, 10:15 pm

no...you will need to learn something.
or
find a host that offers a built in web builder feature (like GoDaddy and
many others) but don't expect to go too far with that.

--

Rob Giordano
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage

"moofay" <moofay@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0C9AAF45-D849-46D0-BAF6-E557FA82C0F1@microsoft.com...
|I need to purchase a software system to build and design a website having
NO
| background in graphics or anything - is there a product that is user
friendly
| and made for non-professionals? thanks

DavidF

2007-08-11, 10:15 pm

I agree with Rob, that you are going to have to learn stuff...or hire
someone to do it for you. Regardless of your choice there is going to be a
learning curve. Web media is very different than print media.

I also would not buy Publisher if building a website is your only reason to
buy the software. The appropriate software will depend upon the goals for
your site. If you want only a simple, small, static site, then Publisher a
DTP can do that, but so can a lot of programs. If you want something more
ambitious for your site, then you should choose software designed
specifically for web building. Spend time now planning exactly what you want
in a web site, and then choose the software that allows you to accomplish
your goals.

I would start with reading this article: Using Publisher for web sites :
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/articles/80566.aspx

Then perhaps read or at least scan this article: Your complete guide to web
design:
http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/

Perhaps the template sites available from most webhosts would work for you
as Rob suggested. Or even a free Office Live site might work for you:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/o...ve/default.aspx
Be aware that these template/cookie cutter sites will limit what you can do
as a trade off for convenience. But then there are those that would argue
that is the same for Publisher sites...

Also another program that has been recommended with a relatively easy
learning curve is Serif WebPlus:
http://www.serif.com/webplus/webplus10/index.asp

And if you are ambitious then consider Microsoft Web Expression which is
replacing FrontPage.

Good luck...DavidF

"moofay" <moofay@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0C9AAF45-D849-46D0-BAF6-E557FA82C0F1@microsoft.com...
>I need to purchase a software system to build and design a website having
>NO
> background in graphics or anything - is there a product that is user
> friendly
> and made for non-professionals? thanks

jinglepop

2007-08-12, 3:15 am

One thing I played around with once was the web site builder in Yahoo. What
was particularly great about it was that you could choose to use one of their
templates, which are usually unchangeable except for text and pictures, and
actually make design changes to it, just by dragging things around.

The biggest problem with Yahoo isn't so much their software, but their
confusing variety of options that seems to be buried so deep into their site.
When you go to Yahoo, click on "Geocities" and that should take you to the
different web site builders. (If I hadn't told you that, you'd have a tough
time finding these tools.)

They give you two options: One, you can download their software, build a
site, then upload it. But I think that would be too advanced for you for now.
Try out the program that you edit right on the Yahoo site itself. It's
simpler for a newbie and it's pretty cheap to host there as well.

Good luck!

Mary Ann

"moofay" wrote:

> I need to purchase a software system to build and design a website having NO
> background in graphics or anything - is there a product that is user friendly
> and made for non-professionals? thanks