web design for a dummy and godaddy?

Hi,

I'd just like to find out from people in the know - as far as designing websites are concerned, is GoDaddy dummy friendly? I have some IT literacy but its been a long while, hence my question.

Just as background info, I've plans to have my own site and domain name. I would rather not use blog sites like blogspot et al. Ideally, I'd like to design the site locally on my macbook, and then publish it to the host site when its ready.

As a yardstick, I have played around a bit with iWeb '08 and I am IT literate enough to work with that tool. Downside with iWeb is that it only publishes to mobile me or a folder on my local machine.

Thanks for any feedback/advice.
Nik.

iWeb '09 will now ftp your site to your own domain now.

Cool! So I guess iweb 09 and GoDaddy are the way to go for me.

Thanks.

But are there any really good photography based iWeb designs? Or are you just going to make a your own iWeb design? (sorry if I'm highjacking the thread, don't mean to at all)

I'm not sure if the supplied templates would work for everybody. But iweb does allow to start from a blank page and build from there. I'm just looking to do a simple, mostly static site, so I guess iweb will do it for me. It may not work out for you if you want to go beyond the basic stuff.

But then again, I am not an expert in this web design stuff so ...

I vote for i WEb too. Clean, simple, and gets the job done.

From the sites I've seen created by iWeb it's producing bad code, don't know which version. So if you're using this app make sure you validate the code before making the site live.

Thanks for the advice. I'm afraid I'm really dumb when it comes to actual code. I can manage the point and click and drag and drop interface of iWeb 08 but I would not know what to do with code if you put it in front of me.

Btw, I've been using iweb 08 instead of 09. Even though 08 does not ftp directly to the site, I can publish my stuff to a folder and then manually ftp to my host site.

Godaddy now offers web site tonight in some of their hosting packages. Very easy to pick and modify templates. Just have not figured out how to create Flash yet.

Yeah, I saw that but did not try it as I was already toying around with iWeb. Are the web site tonight templates any good?

Faolan wrote in post #8592626
From the sites I've seen created by iWeb it's producing bad code, don't know which version. So if you're using this app make sure you validate the code before making the site live.

The guy is using iWeb and you think he's going to know how to fix invalid code? Validation is but a tool, and only really a tool in the hands of a web developer. Unless you're well versed in Doctypes, html and css, validation is not going to do anything for most people other than frustrate them thinking their website is a disaster because it reports countless errors and warning.

Fact is, there are thousands of extremely successful websites that don't even come close to validating correctly. Does it affect their site at all? No.

Should you strive for valid code if you have the means? Most definitely. But, I see far too many people who think that validation is a magic bullet or that it's vital to getting your site listed in search engines, etc.. It's not... not at all.

It's merely a set of guidelines that can be used to help developers make sure that the code they use is standards compliant which generally helps with compatibility, usability and longevity. It's not the be-all end-all though, and is merely a tool.

The iWeb templates will definitely work for you and if you feel comfortable with these, they are great way to get your website up and running quickly.

That said, websites are like wedding photography. It's best in the end, to let a professional do it for you. If you truly care about your business and it's online personna, hire someone to do the work professionally.

Todd Lambert wrote in post #8597183
The guy is using iWeb and you think he's going to know how to fix invalid code?

Lol! Hit the nail on the head, I'm afraid..

I started creating a site about ten times and never got it to look as good as Zenfolio or Smugmug - so I just went with Zenfolio. When you factor in your time to maintain the site and hosting fees, it just seemed like a no brainer to just pay Zenfolio a few bucks a month to do it for me.

All the iWeb sites I have seen come with a lovely Apple Logo, and are well, pretty basic.

Have you looked at using free blogging aps that you can host and modify with templates?

I use wordpress, hosted on a Globat account, with a customised theme.
Wordpress is designed for blogging, but can be used for basic websites as well as it also a CMS (Content Management System).

I have only the most basic coding skills.

Infact I have none.
But after an afternoon reading all the documents on the wordpress site, then following the instructions I had a working site going in about 48 hours.
The theme I use is very, VERY customisable as well, but that has taken a lot longer to get looking as it does, with lots of time spent reading forums etc.
If you want something quick and easy there are lots of free themes to choose from.

Moppie,

Thanks for the advice. Hope you don't mind me nosing through your site. Would like to see what wordpress is capable of. Might consider moving to wordpress if I find it easy enough.

Cheers!