Suggestions

[quartet-man]

I am taking over as webmaster at my church (where I am the music director.) I need to know which WYSWYG program to use. Of course price is a concern. If someone has a price break for non profits, that would be great. It would also be nice to be able to install one copy at church and one at home so I can work when I have the time and inspiration as well as upload or update when needed no matter where I am. Eventually I will either upgrade my home computer or get a laptop at church as a second computer to use from home, so I don't want to get locked into one computer forever. I would not have more than the two installed at the same time of course, I just want the ability to choose which two depending on the needs and equipment at the time.

I used a trial version of DreamWeaver years ago, so I have had a little experience. I also did some handcoding prior to that, but my experience is pretty limited.

I might be interested in taking college course(s) or online course to learn more (especially if it would allow me to save money by getting an academic version.) I am not sure what it would take to qualify for that. Although I hope to go to school in the future for a computer degree of sort, right now I am looking for the skills to do what I need to do.

Things I want to do on the site are not necessarily real complex, but as I learn more, I may want to do more. I may want to have databases with info such as archived historical information, the church library and or music library, songs performed and when, etc. I might want to add a small store front, but might use paypal for payment. I would like to put audio files of sermons there and possibly videos as well. I might get into style sheets, but have not ever done that yet either.

I am willing to get something like FrontPage 2003 or 2000 if they serve my needs better than the new Microsoft program (whatever it is called.)

I suppose compatibility would be nice if someone else wants to upload or update from their computer. I would suppose most would have frontpage if they had anything, but the ability to jump back and forth without messing things up would be nice. That is all I can think of now, but I would be happy to answer questions if anyone thinks of anything.

[mairving]

Frontpage = bad and Microsoft doesn't make it any more. It's called Expressions now. Dreamweaver is still the best but a bit pricey. They do offer discounts to non-profits. Check with CCB for non-profit pricing.

There are plenty of CMS's that will work fine for you in the church too. Joomla has plenty of modules that are tailored to churches.

[quartet-man]

Thanks. So is Joomla! able to be used in conjunction with something like DreamWeaver or does it take the place of it? Also, I will check again, but last night the site that you gave me for nonprofits was having errors and wouldn't really let me check on things.

[Force Flow]

As long as you have FTP access...sort of.

Since joomla is a CMS, most design & configuration takes place within joomla itself.


NVU is an alternative to dreamweaver. Granted, it seems a little quirky if you're used to dreamweaver, but it's a decent dreamweaver-like alternative if you don't want to shell out the cash.

[quartet-man]

I'll check it all out both NVU and Joomla! By the way forceflow, what do you do these days with there being very few phone booths let alone even payphones anymore?

[mairving]

Originally Posted by Force Flow As long as you have FTP access...sort of. Since joomla is a CMS, most design & configuration takes place within joomla itself. NVU is an alternative to dreamweaver. Granted, it seems a little quirky if you're used to dreamweaver, but it's a decent dreamweaver-like alternative if you don't want to shell out the cash.

No, not really true. You design a template and use it throughout.

[ThePoor]

check out www.wysiwygwebbuilder.com

[Force Flow]

Originally Posted by quartet-man By the way forceflow, what do you do these days with there being very few phone booths let alone even payphones anymore?

oh, I just use my new cell phone.

[quartet-man]

Originally Posted by Force Flow oh, I just use my new cell phone.

Either you have developed the power of shrinking or you have some large cell phone!

[Force Flow]

Originally Posted by quartet-man Either you have developed the power of shrinking or you have some large cell phone!

Large cell phones when out in the 80s

[quartet-man]

Originally Posted by Force Flow Large cell phones when out in the 80s

Would you believe I thought of '80's cells after I typed that?