want to build a website; which web authoring software do you recommend?

tim wrote in post #1349053
Avoid flash and other plugins, many workplaces block them and lots of people look for wedding photographers during work time.

I'm surprised. Flash is pretty much an internet standard these days. I've never worked for or seen any companies block flash content. Presentation sells and flash is as candy coded as you can get. Not to mention Flex2 now. Using notepad is so nineties. I think the market has gotten allot more competitive for creativity and I know how hard it is to create a really dynamic and interactive web page from scratch using a text editor (back when I had free time, lol).

Flash has a huge installation base...like 96% for internet users. The thing that is really nice about Flash is that it looks the same on every computer, every OS (and version) and browser (and browser version). That is why it's so popular. That's really a huge plus and I think it out weighs the few that can't see it.
http://www.adobe.com …layer_census/fl​ashplayer/

I'll chime in here. Why not … Yes, flash players are pretty much a standard plug-in for Explorer and Firefox. The trick is how much. Depends on your customer base and what is the “call to action”. As a graphic artist (and I’m not one) the more flash-based graphic presentation the better. As photographers the site can be used as a display of your talent (any amount of flash programming would be acceptable) or as a selling vehicle with a call to action. Our case is the latter. A little flash to keep the potential client interested but mainly HTML always directing the viewer to “contact us”. We have a much better chance to close the deal if they call. Wedding photography is extremely emotional and brides will leave a site very quickly if they cannot “connect” with the images, the words, and a reason to call.

Dan

http://www.danpettusph​oto.com

Main problem with Flash is there is compatibilty issues with mobile technologies and disabled users. As far as I am aware there isn't a mobile phone that supports a Flash plug in... Also as stated above a number of companies are starting to restrict content due to security concerns.

As to disabled, how many designers do you know that's got the skill and knowledge to build a gallery from scratch? Then you have to factor how much that's going to cost.

As to gallery software Porta is quite good as is JAlbum if you need something quick to put up.

The best authoring software is Dreamweaver because of the support and extensions. When you start to use Site Templates, that's where things make sense to pay for this app. Templates allow you change the content on one page that affects every page built on that design. On a large sites this is a major time save. Also templates can help prevent page screw ups...

Flash 8 has a very steep learning curve, hence the number of 'easy' programs available. Flash 8 also has a number of extensions to make your life easier in the creation of content.

Personally I use a mixture of Notepad, Vi, and Dreamweaver depending on where I am and what I have to do. I rarely play with Flash unless I have to...

Faolan wrote in post #2355819
Main problem with Flash is there is compatibilty issues with mobile technologies and disabled users. As far as I am aware there isn't a mobile phone that supports a Flash plug in... Also as stated above a number of companies are starting to restrict content due to security concerns.

As to disabled, how many designers do you know that's got the skill and knowledge to build a gallery from scratch? Then you have to factor how much that's going to cost.

As to gallery software Porta is quite good as is JAlbum if you need something quick to put up.

The best authoring software is Dreamweaver because of the support and extensions. When you start to use Site Templates, that's where things make sense to pay for this app. Templates allow you change the content on one page that affects every page built on that design. On a large sites this is a major time save. Also templates can help prevent page screw ups...

Flash 8 has a very steep learning curve, hence the number of 'easy' programs available. Flash 8 also has a number of extensions to make your life easier in the creation of content.

Personally I use a mixture of Notepad, Vi, and Dreamweaver depending on where I am and what I have to do. I rarely play with Flash unless I have to...

just thought you might like to know... my phone is loaded with FLASH and REAL player... but yet it's best to have a non flash site option or avoid using flash for important things

I saw a blip on CNET TV a while back where they where using flash for the onboard display for the user interface. I'm a flash newbie and it's probably one of the harder apps that I've looked at and nothing really makes sense if you just start poking around...made Photoshop seam easy. I highly recommend the TotalTraining Professional Series for Macromedia Flash Professional 8 training DVDs. I'm very impressed. It's about 24 hours worth of instruction but it's very, very well done. They instructor was working on flash before Macromedia knew what flash was. Check out a demo lesson on the totaltraining site.

I'm starting to wonder though if Flex2 isn't a better choice for creating a rich interactive experience. It's more geared for web application building rather then animation. I think you pretty much need to be using Flash 9 player and it uses ActionScript 3 (which is a big change from Action script 2). The reason I'm thinking of using this is because I could better create automated feed back, comment type stuff and really explorer rich interactivity between the user and my web site. But of course, for right now I'm just trying to get my images on the web to be seen right now.