Software similar to Dreamweaver MX 2004

Kila

Hi,

I've been looking at a website that a friend of mine manages, as his web designer has recently left him somewhat in the lurch. Basically, he needs to be able to update pages and upload new articles, very simple stuff. The site has no CMS, and all the pages are static html. It would be a full job to rebuild it using a CMS (either proprietary, or a commonly available one) so that's not what I'm after.

Because he doesn't really know that much about code, and because some of the code is fairly complex, I was thinking that the best solution (short term) for him would be to get a copy of Dreamweaver (or similar) that would allow him to sync to the webserver. That way he could edit pages in the WYSIWYG editor, and upload to the server, without too much trouble. He could copy/paste existing pages rather than trying to decode the mess himself.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows of any free software that roughly matches those Dreamweaver functionalities (WYSIWYG editing, server sync) before I recommend that to him? I don't use those editors myself when coding, so my knowledge of them is a little limited.

Thanks.

Kila

Kila wrote: »

Hi,

I've been looking at a website that a friend of mine manages, as his web designer has recently left him somewhat in the lurch. Basically, he needs to be able to update pages and upload new articles, very simple stuff. The site has no CMS, and all the pages are static html. It would be a full job to rebuild it using a CMS (either proprietary, or a commonly available one) so that's not what I'm after.

Because he doesn't really know that much about code, and because some of the code is fairly complex, I was thinking that the best solution (short term) for him would be to get a copy of Dreamweaver (or similar) that would allow him to sync to the webserver. That way he could edit pages in the WYSIWYG editor, and upload to the server, without too much trouble. He could copy/paste existing pages rather than trying to decode the mess himself.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows of any free software that roughly matches those Dreamweaver functionalities (WYSIWYG editing, server sync) before I recommend that to him? I don't use those editors myself when coding, so my knowledge of them is a little limited.

Thanks.

I can't vouch for any of these, but here you go:

http://www.thefreecountry.com/webmaster/htmleditors.shtml

Scroll down a bit to see them. Or you could just acquire Dreamweaver online, for free? :rolleyes:

Kila

I'll look and see if any of them fit the bill. Re: acquiring it for free, I'm sure the guy is more than capable of doing so, as is anyone really, but I'd like to offer him a few alternatives, rather than just one piece of software.

fizzy

Hi Kila,

Another solution for editing the existing content (not adding new pages) would be to use a service like http://www.cushycms.com.

This is quick to retrofit to sites as you just put a certain css class on parts of the page you want to make editable. Then client logs in to Cushy and just sees a very simple form to update these parts - very user friendly.

To be honest, even if you could get hold of Dreamweaver or similar software, your client could very easily mess things up otherwise. Wysiwyg editors like that can still mess things up, and Dreamweaver has a lot of functionality in it.

Hope this helps.

Kila

Actually, that could really work. I'll have a look at it and see how much work it would be to retrofit his site with it, but if the blurbs are true, then it will hopefully be a quick job. As he only needs to update some bits, this could be a fairly ideal quick solution.

Thanks for the link!