MB777

I am currently in the process of designing my first website; I have both registered a domain name and got a web host account (hostgator), and I have already pointed my domain to the host

Now its time to design the web site; for my first site I have decided to start with a simple "information resource guide". Its on a topic I know very well and I feel that there really isnt one as complete and diligent as the one I want to create. The website will not be selling anything directly but I hope to make some money from adsense or something along those lines

I realize that appearance isnt everything and that usability of the website is allot more important, achieving my purpose of creating a simple to use website that has valuble information is my goal

A few things I would like to have in my website;

navigation system; a column on the left side of the web site that will be standardized on all of the web pages.

search engine; to improve the web sites usability, the search engine bar will either be located at the top of the navigation column (left side) or on the top right below the banner.

site map; to create another route to the other pages on the site, to help search engines locate pages on the site

My question is what web designer should I use to create my website? Im looking for a free one at the moment, someone suggested wordpress? kompozer is another, any ideas on that one? I have described above the type of things I will need im just hoping there is a free web designer out there that I can use

thanks ahead of time

Timothy Scotch

IMO Wordpress is the simplest way to get a functional site up and going without too much knowledge...so that's where you should start....Download a free template and tweak it...that is the best way to learn how everything works.

Komposer and simple HTML is a good place to start also, but a functional website is a better thing to encourage your learning.

There is a big learning curve, took me about 10 years so far and I still come up wanting half the time Good luck and enjoy the journey!

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bloomingvine

Coffe cup makes a visual site designer you can design it by drag and drop. Use something, since you are just learning, that easily switches between code and design view Not all the free ones do. Coffee Cup has a bunch of pruducts, including a flash search engine, all for about 40$

reverseengineer

How much time are you willing to spend? If you teach yourself some good basic HTML and CSS, you'll learn alot and have a better understanding of how code works!

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Reverse Engineering Faro, Romer, & MicroScribe

skien1234

and if you need a color theme for your website colorinhtml.com offers a variety of color themes for css code. It's quick and easy and I love it!

Phreaddee

possibly true but badly designed sites get left behind very quickly

as for colour sets id recommend
http://kuler.adobe.com/#create/fromacolor

ionapostol

Hi man ,
If you are new in webdesign and want to make something quick and nice then you should use WYSIWYG Web Builder is easy to use and lets you to do everything with your site without worries about coding (html,css.....etc)

Smith01

Are you sure it will cost only 40$ ?
That will be great then...

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affordable web design

ronaldroe

I'd suggest just the opposite. If you're just starting out, hit up http://www.w3schools.com and learn how HTML and CSS work before you ever pick up a wysiwyg editor.

Phreaddee

agreed...

you know some people "can" drive a car without ever learning how to, or reading the handbook, or even without a licence, but it is not recommended...

sure open your WYSIWYG editor, dump a whole bunch of styled text from word, then pull your hair out for hours wondering why it looks funny, and all the styles you put on it in the WYSIWYG editor dont work...

In fact i'd go as far as saying once you've learnt HTML/CSS work, to actually never use the "design view" of a WYSIWYG editor and simply always do everything in code view. but thats just me.

for instance something as simple as a soft return ( <br /> ) which "should" be as simple as Shift+Return, most WYSIWYG editor cannot handle this very well. Most assume its an end of paragraph ( </p> ), some decide to do this wonderful thing ( <p> <br /> </p> ), some add <div> 's some add <span> 's but hardly any actually just add the f**king <br />!!!