WYSIWYG Website Builders

WYSIWYG (pronounced “whizzy-wig”) A website building application that enables you to see content on-screen exactly as it will appear when uploaded to the internet or printed out, hence What You See Is What You Get. The market for WYSIWYG editors is blazing new territory. Rival companies fuel the fires creating sophisticated, feature packed, powerful applications time after time. Back end capabilities through an intuitive interface means your Mama could build a sleek visually stunning commercial website packed with multimedia and features. That will leave you free to play golf. Let’s take a look at some of the contenders.

FRONTPAGE

Mocked by many but the truth is Microsoft was one of the innovators of WYSIWYG development. Certainly unattractive themes, obscure Java Script and garbled output code didn’t help the fledgling. However these days after hosing the spot fires FP manages to keep a foothold in the market. With a user friendly interface it’s a handy tool for those oblivious to clean code and novice’s alike. Features: Java Script, is easy to learn with a comprehensive help section, code view, image maps, live FTP, and guest books. To use the more dynamic features of FP your server most provide FrontPage extensions. Still the code weighs heavy on page load times and CSS is unpredictable. Mama says: FORE!!

DREAMWEAVER

At $399US it hits FrontPage out of the ballpark. Features: Java Script, action scripting, code viewer and live FTP (where it to can upload only changed files to the server). It boasts a unique ‘clean up your code’ option and inserts no proprietary tags. Supports CSS and offers Flash based navigation bars. The interface is not the easiest to become familiar with like any Macromedia product. But learn one and you’ll learn them all. DW’s full power is released in a bundle package like Studio MX $1415US. Which includes stable mates: Flash, Fireworks, FreeHand and ColdFusion. These applications working together are leading the industry. Their rock solid products are the choice of many and will make you a webmaster overnight, well.. maybe in a week or so. Mama says: Book a lesson with Tiger.

NET OBJECTS FUSION

For $199US if your Mama can’t afford Studio MX don’t sell your golf clubs. This baby rivals Dreamweaver for a quarter of the price. NOF is very user friendly. Features: Java Script, action scripting, code view, live FTP, inbuilt gallery, e-commerce shopping cart, message board, slide shows and much more. This is my preferred WYSIWYG tool. This program offers many inbuilt styles and templates building your new site structure in two clicks. Utilizing layout regions a change on one page can apply to all pages across your site. Sadly the competition got a bit to hot for the chiefs at Net Objects Fusion in 2001. They shut the doors sold off production and retreated to Belgium, or somewhere with a large bank. The product is still supported by a band of diehard whizzy-wiggers and support forum. Mama says: A hole in one.

ADOBE GOLIVE

Costing $399US it’s not necessary but helps to know a little HTML to reap full benefit of Abobe GoLive and the interface is not the easiest to master. The CSS editor can quickly apply site wide changes. Broken links are reported instantly. An XML validator will keep you W3C compliant. It includes Co Author to make updating your site easy and ‘Smart Object’ tools call the mighty Photoshop into play. psd files may be imported and converted to formatted HTML. It uses the ImageReady engine to optimize images in-house. This makes GoLive the cutting edge in SVG support. Additionally it sports a nifty QuickTime movie editor. Features: Java Script, action scripting, dHTML, XML, code view, spell checker, many templates, snap grid, split view, HTML to XHTML converter for mobiles devices. Mama says: Expensive clubs won’t fix your swing.

FREE WYSIWYG PROGRAMS

Mama’s gonna’ pimp your booty to the street? There are free WYSIWYG programs like Trellian with 640 800 and 1024 resolution viewer, code highlighting and FTP. Also WebDwarf packing code view, SVG support for vector image editing, linear shade and transparency rendering, snap grids, spell checker, FTP and no spyware are worth a look. My pick of the free editors is NVU – Kompozer, suitable for Linux, Microsoft Windows and Macintosh users. Development of NVU (which stands for “new view”) has been renamed and carried on as Kompozer. It can build an unlimited number of pages, supports forms, tables and templates, has inbuilt FTP and is open source.

It’s no wonder these programs are sparking interest amongst their piers. Lightweight in size but don’t be fooled. In the hands of a pro or novice they can quickly and easily make a single webpage or complete website in no time at all. The Simplistic user-friendly interface hides a reasonably clean coding processor. Enticing you to buy their respective big brothers. Mama says: Close to the green.

So you want to become a whizzy-wigger and don’t know which to choose. The answer is easy, anyone of the above. WYSIWYG programs are simply a fast and easy way to get the concept in your head onto the internet for all to enjoy. A good website begins with a good concept. Exploring the possibilities in any of the above programs will have you grinding your teeth one minute and doing the happy dance the next. Using the inbuilt FTP client uploading your new website creation to the World Wide Web is a breeze. So tee up, and we’ll see you in the clubhouse.

Written by
Croc Hunter
For streetsie.com

RESOURCES

http://office.microsoft.com
http://macromedia.com
http://netobjects.com
http://adobe.com
http://webpage.vendercom.com
http://virtualmechanics.com
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey
http://cnet.com
http://google.com