Available HTML Software to Generate a Website

reconstituting my Consulting Engineering firm, so the website I produce had better be first class and professional, not cartoon-ish.

Hate to point out the obvious, but why would you expect this to be free?

There are many web hosts that will give you 30 days for free.....................plug and play. There are too many to mention. All of them want your business.

There is one avenue that you can utilize........................pick your web host first. Secondly, hire a college kid to do your web design. You can probably get a world class site for a few hundred dollars..................or, get the college kid to help you choose a site that they are already familiar with.

If you're looking for "free", you're going to get what you pay for.

If you have MS Word, you can create web pages by typing everything into a normal document, adding images etc. and hyperlinks, then saving as a web page.

To end up with a professional-looking website is going to take a lot of learning if you do it yourself, especially if you want to do it on the cheap.

You can set up a google site for FREE (yes really, completely free, no hidden costs or paying for domian names).
You can have a play, it's pretty easy and can look good.
They have examples and templates, so you can basically just copy one and change the text, learning as you go.
It has the 'contact' forms and suchlike. I don't know if they allow you to use it for commercial use, but it's a good quick cheap way to have a play, which is exactly why I did mine, as I thought I should know a bit more about such stuff.
Here's one we made earlier.
http://sites.google.com/site/delsbows/

You can edit it via html or their wysiwyg interface.
Del

Most internet providers have website generation sites free for customers, and cheap rates for hosting...You can start out with something basic and improve it as you go...

http://www.makeawebsiteguide.com/

http://website-creation-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

Try Virtual Mechanics "Web Dwarf"... It's free and though basic, will be a good intro to their fifty buck comprehensive "Site Spinner", which is as good as you'll ever need IMHO

Google Virtual Mechanics

I use Serif WebPlus. It's not free, but is under $100 and is easy to use.

Hi,

First take a look at Google and see what you can do. IMPORTANT do not use Google if you need a calendar function, is spreads events like the plague.

If Google is missing something you need look at other providers. There are a host of website providers that offer "free" web design tools that are easier to use than HTML. Most of these providers offer 30 day trials to allow one to get their feet wet. Look for things like Word Press, Weeble, and so on.

I am using iPage with Weeble on one site and Word Press with plug-ins for another. iPage suited my needs and the monthly hosting fee was OK for my application. My search for site providers was by no means complete, but at some point one just has to get on with it. Good luck!

Agree with all others here.

Facebook, apparently, is becoming the primary internet shopfront for many commercial entities.

You are engineer right? Stick to what you know and do best.

Hire a marketing person that specialises in web site development for your industry/core service to advise you and design your website. You will still need to provide the info.

Start compiling a URLs list of sites you like/don't like as examples for your web smith.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is another consideration.

Forget using students. You want someone experienced and motivated.

Have a go just for fun. It's not hard....cut, paste, point, click, drag, format....mechanically simple but the exercise can be done poorly or brilliantly.

For the basics, W3 schools, they even have a page to test compatibility with html standards. Editor:Komodo, covers html syntax, and many other programming languages.

Reverse the position. Say someone came to your firm and said, "I don't want to mess
about or pay much money, would you do your consulting for nearly free?"
How would you feel about it?

We all like cheap, a bargain, and we are all (mostly) willing to help - but if you expect
quality for free; software without a learning curve; and lots of "free tutorials" could
you agree this is a bit "one sided"? re the first paragraph? If some one came to you
and said I want to learn all you know, teach me quickly and easily for free, or nearly
free, I'm not willing to pay much really for your consulting or anything you know or
provide, how would you react?

May I (respectfully) suggest a different approach could attract more sympathy for
your aims, and as a guru you can surely appreciate a professional service?

Even if I would suggest buying Dreamweaver (or similar) secondhand off one of the
many auction sites, with the tutorials, there is no escaping some learning cure.

I am very sorry but magic wands are in short supply.

jt.

In God we trust, everyone else pays. (please)

about standards (that no1 follows usually) http://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/

your quik start guide should be
__________________________________

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>This text appares in the title bar</TITLE>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
<STYLE>
. {CURSOR: default; FONT-STYLE: normal; }
</STYLE>

<META http-equiv=refresh content=600>

<SCRIPT language=JavaScript><!--

var jsLF=String.fromCharCode(10),cliX=0,cliY=0

function displayBoringWelcome()
{ var msg = "Hi!" + jsLF + "Welcome to Dummy Web Page!";
alert(msg)
var x = setInterval("{document.onchange=showWindowParams()}",500)
/* ^_ this replaces .onresize not working under IE7 */
var y = document.getElementById("MyElx0001")
y.innerHTML = "this is HTML Test Page"
+ "<hr>"
+ "Nothing to tell about" // <-- a dummy dynamic content example
}

function showWindowParams()
{ var msg = "" // window.sizeX + "x" + window.sizeY
tstX = window.document.body.clientWidth
tstY = window.document.body.clientHeight
winSizeChanged=false
if(tstX!=cliX){cliX=tstX;winSizeChanged=true}
if(tstY!=cliY){cliY=tstY;winSizeChanged=true}
if(winSizeChanged)
{ msg = msg + "[" + cliX
msg = msg + "x" + cliY + "]"
window.status = msg
}
}

function finishUp(){alert("Bye!")} // window.onbeforeunload doesnot work as
// expected so we can't be polite without
// solving the issue with .onbeforeunload

//--></SCRIPT>

</HEAD>

<BODY bgColor=#B4B4B4 text=#002244>

<div id=MyElx0001></div>

<div title="usually your content goes in between [BODY] and [/BODY] tags">*</div>

<SCRIPT language=JavaScript><!--
document.onload=displayBoringWelcome();
//--></SCRIPT>

</BODY>
</HTML>
__________________________________

works on IE7
__________________________________

i think creating web pages manually with optimized memory usage
with minimum graphics & multimedia
is good way to go

UTF-8 textfile with .htm or .html extension
(initially created with MSO Word - not much left of it)
________________________________________

<html><head>
<meta name="Microsoft Theme 2.00" content="expeditn 111">
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered)">
<title>window.onresize (working example 4)</title>
<style><!--
.{font-family:Arial} // for FF this has to B spec´d in document.body.style FxT
/*
sheet{color:#000000;font-family:Arial;margin:2}
sheet{
background-color:#ffffff;
background-image:url(files/bkgd.jpg); // relative path to your backGround image (not dynamically stretched)
background-repeat:no-repeat;
background-attachment:fixed;
background-position:50% 50%
}
*/
a{text-decoration:none}
a:hover{background:#00ffd4}
// u:hover{text-decoration:none} works in IE only
//--></style></head>

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE=JavaScript><!--
function getXY()
{ // alert("getXY")
var x,y
if(document.all)
{ x=window.document.body.clientWidth
y=window.document.body.clientHeight
}else
{ x=window.innerWidth
y=window.innerHeight
}
return {X:x,Y:y}
}

function initPBG()
{ // alert("initPBG")
var coo=getXY()
var x,y,r=Math.round(4*coo.Y/3)
if(r>coo.X)
{ x=Math.round(4*coo.Y/3)
y=coo.Y
}else
{ x=coo.X
y=Math.round(3*coo.X/4)
}
var imgEl=document.getElementById("PBG")
imgEl.width=x
// alert(coo.X)
// alert(coo.Y)
}

function rePBG()
{ // alert("rePBG")
var coo=getXY()
var x,y,r=Math.round(4*coo.Y/3)
if(r>coo.X)
{ x=Math.round(4*coo.Y/3)
y=coo.Y
}else
{ x=coo.X
y=Math.round(3*coo.X/4)
}
var imgEl=document.getElementById("PBG")
imgEl.width=x // backGround image (over stationary above dynamically stretched)
// alert(coo.X)
// alert(coo.Y)
}
//-->
</SCRIPT>

<body bgColor=#808080 background="files/bkgd.jpg" bgproperties="fixed" style={font-family:Arial;margin:0}>
<img id=PBG src="files/bkgd.jpg" border=0 width=1024 style={position:absolute;top:0;left:0;z-index:-1}>

Your Content Goes Here

<SCRIPT language=JavaScript><!--
document.onload=initPBG(); // notice the differenc in
window.onresize=rePBG // function to evt assignment syntax here
//--></SCRIPT>
</body></html>
________________________________________

this example works for IE, FF & Opera others not tested

I want to thank everyone that has taken the time to respond to my query. You're all GOLDEN in my book!

Yes, I screwed the pooch from the get go by asking the wrong questions, but in retrospect I didn't know squat about setting up a website so I didn't know, by experience, which questions to pose that would have been correct. Okay, now onwards and upwards!

This is what I have done so far:

Pursuant to SolarEagle's suggestion I visited the http://www.makeawebsiteguide.com/ website to learn the very basics. A very nice site!

I registered by Domain Name with GoDaddy.com.

I now have a domain server through HostGator.com

I now have downloaded the "WordPress" software to develop my website. I know it's a freebie, but I just want to play around with it and see how it works out. If I don't like the results then I will go ahead and buy one of the software platforms that you guys have suggested. I'm not sure which one yet, but I'll evaluate each one when it comes time to cross that bridge, okay? The one site that was suggested that compares the top rated packages will be very helpful in making eval's.

As of late late late last night I've already looked over quite a few consulting engineering websites for ideas....content, composition, information, etc. so that I know exactly what I want and do not want on my website. I even printed out various pages from each site so that I remember things plus jot down thoughts etc on the print-outs......this will be the longest part of the entire process + writing out dialog.......thank goodness Wordpress allows me to insert MS Word documents, which will help ease the pain! LOL

Okay, let the dice fall where they may!

Thanks guys for the constructive criticism and help!