Lesson 2, Chapter 4

Chapter 4 in Creating a Web Site is all about the various types of web design software and how to use them.  In view of the fact that using a text editor to create HTML pages is tedious and prone to user error, most web designers graduate to more sophisticated programs once they’ve learned the basics.  The text did stress that learning HTML from scratch, from the ground up, is still really important, and I agree.  I think I would have been lost if I hadn’t obtained the basic knowledge before delving into this chapter.  There are evidently several choices when it comes to web editin software, ranging from the free to the 3-figure ones.  The free editors recommended were Nvu, Amaya, HTML-Kit, and CoffeeCup Free HTML Editor.  The downsides noted associated with using the free software ranged from being less on the user-friendly side than the more expensive editors, as well as a lack of technical support (Nvu, as the software has not had developers working on it for the past several years).  The text went on to explain that at present, the 2 most widely used “top-tier” text editors are Adobe Dreamweaver and Microsoft Expression Web and gave a breakdown of how to complete the foundation tasks of building individual web pages, managing groups of pages to create a single website, and uploading finished material to the web.  I am sooooo glad we were able to walk through this information step-by-step in our class.  Though I admittedly griped a little about the trip to Tampa, because I live in St. Augustine and it was a 3.5 hour drive each way, it was so worth it.  The only issue I ran into with building the various web pages was the process of linking each page to the other.  I tried to follow along with the instructor and also, thankfully, had some assistance from a helpful classmate who knew a heck of a lot more about this stuff than me, but I still could not get my pages to link together properly.  I am currently using the free trial version of Dreamweaver on my home computer while I wait for the regular version that I ordered to arrive, so I think I need to hit the manual and delve a little deeper into where I’m going wrong.