Newbie Question

[roodz1]

I used an online editor to put content on our church's web page.
www.riveroflifechurch.net I didn't decide on the design and now we
are stuck with it unless we pay big again. I would like a cleaner,
brighter look with maybe a small flowing water flash banner wit the
slogan at the top. We need a photo gallery, unlimited email and
streaming media. I want to be able to change everything on the site
including the home page and background colors. I want to be able to
insert flash . I also don't want to ever learn code (I don't want to
learn dos either.
I would rather not have to put everything in "tables". I have seen
programs (Serif WebPlus) that lets you put text boxes and photos where
ever you want them.
My question is: Is this possible with either dreamweaver or frontpage
(I have 2002)? and if so what hosting company would be the best? or
should I just pay for a design change where I am?

Fred (e-mail address removed)

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

If you don't want to learn HTML, then you will basically be in the same boat you are currently in,
no matter what HTML application you use, as you will be limited to whatever features or functions
that the application provides and have learn to deal with any limitation of the features or
functions.

By learning HTML and other web technologies, you have the ability to workaround whatever limitation
you may run into.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
WEBMASTER Resources(tm)

FrontPage Resources, WebCircle, MS KB Quick Links, etc.
==============================================

 

[Kevin Spencer]

Let me see if I have this right. You had to pay someone big money to create
a web application that you can use without knowledge to change your church's
web site. Now, you want to be able to change anything you want, include the
most cutting-edge technologies in your web site, but you don't want to pay
someone big money to make that happen, and you don't want to learn how to do
so yourself. Well, let me ask you something: Why do you think you had to pay
big money in the first place? If programming was easy, we wouldn't get the
big bucks for it. I suppose we make it look easy. However, I don't see
anyone out there trying to dance ballet on their own without years of
training.

Here's the bottom line: Programming is expensive because it's not easy to
do. You can accept and use the software that is designed for general use,
and costs less because it is sold to many people. You can pay a professional
to write your custom software for you, and pay custom software prices. You
can learn to do it yourself. Neither FrontPage nor any other development
toolkit is going to be as intelligent as you want within at least the next
decade. So, I suppose there is another alternative: Wait ten or so years.

--
HTH,
Kevin Spencer
..Net Developer
Microsoft MVP
Big things are made up
of lots of little things.

 

[Sam Hobbs]

When you say "now we are stuck with it unless we pay big" you have already
learned that it helps to know what to look for. There are many things that
we can make mistakes in what we purchase. How does the saying go? "Don't
judge a book by it's cover"? In other words, if you only look at the surface
of something, then you are likely to get something you can't use.

A couple of decades ago, when personal computers were new technology, many
PCs were not very useful. People that did not know better would buy one and
then after learning about PCs they would be much better informed about what
to buy.

When purchasing software, it is very useful and usually critical to know
what you need. For example, you say you need:

- a flash banner

- a photo gallery

- unlimited email

- streaming media

- be able to change everything on the site including the home page and
background colors

- be able to insert flash

- without using code

Very good. Now you know that you need to define your requirements as
thoroughly as possible. You can probably get all that, but you are more
likely to get the best long-term solution by acquiring software separate
from the web site. You can get a lot of software for free, but if you want
to use Macromedia Flash, then that is proprietary and it is unlikely you can
legally use it for free.

People often talk about HTML as if it is a programming language, but it is
not. It is a tag language based on SGML. SGML was designed in the days
before WYSIWIG editors were used as extensively as they are now. WYSIWIG
editors for HTML are not as useful as they could be, but I think it is
amusing that so many people think that editing HTML directly is more
advanced than using a WYSIWIG editor. I think it is very reasonable for you
to insist upon using a WYSIWIG editor for HTML.