Ask Slashdot: Web Site Editing Software For the Long Haul?

MouseR writes "It seems we can't rely on software, in particular Web site editing software, to exist for the long haul. Every time I rely on something, it takes only a couple of years before it gets trashed. I have used GoLive's CyberStudio before it got engulfed as GoLive from Adobe. Both got trashed. I eventually used Apple's .Mac HomePage. It got trashed and replaced with iWeb. I then used iWeb, hosted on MobileMe, and Apple just killed it again, along with the hosting. So, as I'm preparing to move my stuff on various web sites, onto my own hosting server (outsourced), I'm wondering what kind of visual web site editor(s) I could use, for the long haul. I'm rather sick of changing tools every other year and as a software developer, would rather spend my time editing my web site rather than code it. Any suggestions?"

Comments

Dreamweaver

[sarku]

Adobe Dreamweaver. Been stable for 15 years or more.

Re:Dreamweaver

[PhantomHarlock]

I've been using dreamweaver for a long time now. It has not substantially changed and is good for editing run of the mill static web pages with a template.

Re:Dreamweaver

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been using Dreamweaver back since it was HomeSite.

All around a very good product that has so far lasted for the past decade.
It is more oriented towards the "I want to code, but see what I am doing" crowd, but it does so very well.

Aside from that, since you are obviously a Mac User, I would highly recommend looking into RapidWeaver, as it is very capable, surprisingly so for a drag-and-drop editing application, and you can post whatever you make on a server very easily as it is just HTML and Javascript.

If you need something a little more comprehensive with server-side scripting support and basic drag-and-drop forms, I would recommend considering a CMS application, such as ModX, Wordpress, Drupal or Joomla (in order of consideration).

Re:Dreamweaver

[rtb61]

So the real question is, what software can I use, so that I can pretend to be a web page designer without knowing all that messy stuff like html, css, xml and javascript/perl/php or even that weird server side stuff.

Answer, then reason all those graphical web page designer software falls over is basically because it is crap. People expect to be able to design web pages like all those professional on the web, rather than clunking amateurish single fixed page documents and are unhappy when they can't.

For people who want to learn there is of course notepad++ http://notepad-plus-plus.org/ and wampserver http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WampServer (if you really want to see how your web page will be served).

Re:Notepad

[Anonymous Coward]

Right, Notepad++ is.

Microsoft?

[Anonymous Coward]

I know im kind of a black sheep around here, but Expression Web & Visual Studio Web combined make a pretty solid base...

Recommendation

[Anonymous Coward]

I use Bluefish on Ubuntu. It's very functional and has enough longevity as far as I know.

RapidWeaver

[TimHunter]

Try RapidWeaver http://www.realmacsoftware.com/rapidweaver/overview/. You'll probably want to use the Stacks http://yourhead.com/stacks/ plugin to get flexible page layouts and Collage http://yourhead.com/collage/ for photos.

I'm not connected to RealMac or YourHead, just a happy user.

Aptana Studio 3

[justfred]

As a PHP developer, I'm used to writing code manually rather than trying to use a GUI code creator.

Having been through several editors on several platforms, lately I like Aptana Studio 3 (version of Eclipse), mainly because of its FTP deployment, and the fact that it works identically on OSX and Windows.

(Biting tongue to avoid the troll response, Microsoft Word.)

MediaWiki

[davecotter]

I know the design can use some updating, and you don't have a lot of design freedom, but if your main goal is to just get information out there, update pages frequently, create new pages, and things of that nature, well i totally love MediaWiki. Your web editing tool is your web browser! I've been using it on my site since forever ( http://kjams.com/ ) and i have to say i'd never ever want to use anything else. yeah, maybe it's kindof ugly. but it's so *easy*!

Re:Content Management

[spinkham]

I would recommend a static site generator instead.

You get the benefits of a CMS without the server side software requirements, updates, and security problems.

I use nanoc and love it, but there's tons of other choices out there.