Does anyone know where I can get dream weaver from, pref without paying for it.
Also if anyone can recommend any other software that is good for beginners for creating a proffessional looking website.
Or any other general tips, let me know.:help:

You can download a trial version for 30 days. Sorry but if your interested in being a web designer you should at least be interested in paying for decent software!

Im not interested in becoming a web designer thank you very much!!!!!

Also I did say pref for free, meaning I would be willing to pay for it if needs be.

The problem with Dreamweaver is that it produces fairly bloated code.

If you're not wanting to get in to web design, forget getting a professional program like Dreamweaver, even as a 30 day demo. Get someone to do the work for you.

I would love to get someone to do it for me, however I just dont have the funds at the moments, it would make my life much easier if someone could.
So any suggestions on some software that is easy to use.
The reason I asked about dreamweaver, is that someone else on this forum recommended it.

I bought Dreamweaver 8 in September after using Frontpage for a few years. I my experience it's been brilliant despite what the purists say :) I also learned how to use it using the brilliant but very cheap courses at www.lynda.com plus the usual Dummies Guides / Bibles / How to do everything with... books and so on.

What I will say, however, that although DW is great, it's even better if you also buy a graphics prog like Fireworks - you can't really design anything that looks remotely professional without good graphics. I know because I used to try to do it with Frontpage.

As a result I pushed out the boat and bought Studio 8 which includes Dreamweaver 8, Firework and Flash 8, so I have Flash too! Courses for all of these can be found at Lynda.com

If you want to do basic stuff, however, go for Frontpage 2003 (unless there's a later edition). It's cheap and it does much of what DW does, but the code does get cloggy, but not a prob when it's small stuff you're designing. (Again the purists will shoot me down in flames...)

You can learn this at Lynda.com as well!

Whatever you do, don't buy the student / educational version of DW tempted in by the fact it's a heck of a lot cheaper. You'll get into trouble if you're not in full time education, there are strict rules about who's allowed to use this.

Good luck!

Thank you Evamermaid. Can I ask how much roughly you paid for that package, with the dw & fireworks etc?

Okay, Millwak, take a sharp intake of breath and compare prices for it at Kelkoo here: http://shopping.kelkoo.co.uk/ctl/do/search?siteSearchQuery=adobe+studio+8&fromform=true

But don't go for the student / teacher version or the upgrades, just the actual package.

but if you're new to webdesign, why not go for Frontpage 2003? Find it here for around £135: http://shopping.kelkoo.co.uk/ctl/do/search?siteSearchQuery=microsoft+frontpage&catId=100164013&fromform=true&x=33&y=0

You can use graphics packages with it, just like Dreamweaver, in fact Fireworks gives you the option to send files to Frontpage. And you can learn how to use it at Lynda.com - or buy 'how to' books quite cheaply from Amazon. (I have a huge Frontpage 2003 manual I don't need anymore if you want it!)

It's so much easier to create basic websites, too, loads of messing around with Dreamweaver and Frontpage's publishing live to the net I have found is much more straightforward. So this may be the right option for you for a few years - you can usually download updates or buy new updates as they come in. Better still, having Frontpage gives you free access to Microsoft clip art which includes a HUGE database of very excellent photographs which I use loads because I still have the FP licence.

Feel free to fire any more questions my way!

The Dreamweaver free 30-day trial download unlocks into the full blown version if you happen to have a serial key (allegedly).

The Dreamweaver free 30-day trial download unlocks into the full blown version if you happen to have a serial key (allegedly).

I tried the trial a couple of years ago and it was all double dutch to me. No way can you get your head round it in 30 days really if you lead a busy life. I must admit it's pretty expensive though...

Basically it is my brother that is doing our webpage for us & he has already had a play around with frontpage, but the results have not been fantastic, thats why I thought about dw. However it may just be that he needs more time to make it look ok, as he only had a play around for an hour or so & I made the mistake of putting a link to it, on here & it got a right slating, so figured we could try something that would be a bit more proffesional.

Might get him to spend a bit more time on frontpage & see what happens, with a bit more thought, then if we have no sucess then we can consider dw.

Just to warn you, there is a reason web designers get paid fairly well. You will need to invest time and/or money to get a professional looking website. Either by buying tools/books and learning yourselves, or paying someone else to build the website. It is more than possible to learn & build your site for free, with professional results, using tools like notepad and the gimp, but the skills required will take a while to learn.

Have you considered buying a predesigned template rather than designing from scratch, which you can then concentrate on altering for your company and entering content?

Freeware WYSIWYG editors are few & far between.

However, there are a few out there.

A couple are NVU (http://www.nvu.com/index.php) and NAMU6 (http://namu6.com/).

Now I use Fireworks with Dreamweaver I laugh at the stuff I used to produce without it - how did I ever think they looked professional!!

But I do believe that if you have a pretty good graphics prog like Fireworks (which is graphics AND a photosuite equal, in my opinion, to photoshop) you could design something professional with Frontpage 2003. Not the earlier versions, though, because Frontpage 2003 is quite different from what went previously.

Having said all that... I've been really busy training for some time now and I still wouldn't class myself as anywhere near what you need to be to run a professional web design business. I could do small sites, yes, but much prefer to stick to what I do best (copywriting) and introduce web strings to my bow as and when clients require.

mY brother is studying it at college so not a complete novice.

Download Studio 8 demo and see how you get on with it. The demo is actually the full version.............. hint hint.

Html Kit is free for ever, and similar to Dreamweaver. Do a Google search, it'll come up.
It's on http://www.softwarecybersleuth.co.uk if you can't find it googling...

And to echo sccsux, Nvu and Namu6 are top freebies!