Web pages are written in a code called HTML. This page shows
a few options how to generate html pages.
Depending on what you write, you may care more about the ease of writing,
the quality of the generated code, the precision of the layout, whether
the tool fits in the environment, or simply the cost of the tools. No
single tool is best in all categories.
Some criteria
Ease of writing
The easiest is to use your favorite word processor and convert
the document to html. The hardest is to write HTML manually. In
between there are WYSIWIG (what you see is what you get editors) and
HTML editors.
Quality of generated HTML code
If you never look at the at the generated HTML, the quality might
not even matter. However, if you donate your page to our council website,
the HTML code must be legible, as the council webmaster might have
to do some maintenance, like fixing links.
Precision of Layout
This is almost a "religious" debate. Most graphic artists
want precise layout. The council webmaster believes that precise layout
is good for paper, but a web page should make good use of the size
of the window and therefore should dynamicly readjust its layout.
Does the tool fit the environment?
Your website might have totally different criteria then ours. Our
main environmental criteria are: maintainability by the council webmaster,
file uploading compatible with our web server, and not using non-supported
extensions.
Cost
There are some free tools. Many tools are available around $80.
Dreamweaver (without database support) costs about $300. Webmastering
tools are NOT "you get what you pay for" but require
more careful selection.
Support for the newest feature
This is a red herring: If the scouts cannot display the feature
on their own computer, we don't want it on our website. Same with
vendor specific extras...
Link tracking
When you move a page, links may get updated. Handy for big sites;
not important for smaller sites.
Some tools
Generate HTML code with an ASCII editor
Free, compatible, good quality, but hard to learn.
Netscape composer
Free, compatible, good enough quality. No link tracking. Feels
unpolished for advanced usage and too difficult for real beginners.
May be expedient if you use it already. However it generates low
quality, very hard to maintain HTML code. Use this ONLY if you
maintain the page by yourself.
In my opinion the best tool, but $$$.
Its high point is that you have an HTML view and an WYSIWYG view and
can edit in either. Furthermore, it allows you to edit in the WYSIWYG
view without getting confused or destroy manually generated HTML tags.
(Something the council webmaster needs a lot when maintaining web
pages)
I haven't used it beyond a free trial ($$$). I guess it is favored
by graphics designers because of its good integration with Adobe tools
and precise layout. Generates good HTML.
It generates good looking pages. However the HTML code quality is
poor: code is unmaintainable for people who use other tools. (As long
as I don't have to edit your page, you are welcome to use Frontpage)
Frontpage has a set of private server extensions like "site search"
or "counters". Sadly, these do get utterly confused when
I use non-microsoft tools and therefore don't work on our server.
I assume most users don't use any of these extensions.
i SiteBuilder
A little jewel I found this at Fry's for about $20. Their
website seems not to exist anymore. This tool may have an amateurish
feel. However (like Dreamweaver) it has a WYSIWHG view and an HTML
code view. You can edit the page in either view and both views are
updated. No fancy html, but simple and maintainable. (Poor
link tracking; for smaller sites only. No Mac version)
Adobe PageMill
Adobe doesn't want to sell this anymore. I found it easy to use
and it generates good HTML. (Much cheaper then GoLive)
