Web Design Software

There are many programs available to help you build your web sites. At last count I found over 350 Free programs and 188 paid programs. Of these many programs I have narrowed it down to the top resources available in biot the free and purchased categories.

Here are the ONLY free web design programs I can recommend. Most of the so called "free" products on the market are not supported, or updated, and or getting very old. Most of the otehrs are actually not free at all - they are just 15 to 30 day trials to get you to buy their overpriced software that lacks functionality for true web site design work.

FREE Web Design Software:

KompoZer is a complete web authoring system that combines web file management and easy-to-use WYSIWYG web page editing.

KompoZer is designed to be extremely easy to use, making it ideal for non-technical computer users who want to create an attractive, professional-looking web site without needing to know HTML or web coding. Kompozer's older brother is called NVU and was one of the first programs offered on the Internet.

NetObjects Fusion Essentials Free Web Design Software is one of the most popular web design tools available today. A true drag-and-drop website builder with numerous easy-to-use tools and components that allow you to build sites quickly and easily.

Plain and simple, NetObjects Fusion Essentials is different. NetObjects Fusion Essentials is a HTML generator instead of a HTML editor. What does that mean? You layout your images, add your text, and NetObjects Fusion generates the HTML for you. Your web page is built. NetObjects Fusion Essentials also offers many add-on components to help you enhance your web site. Add photo galleries, forms, rollover images, scrolling text, Flash, and even e-commerce to create a sophisticated site quickly and easily. NetObjects Fuson Essentials is the ideal choice for designers who don’t know HTML, business owners who need a web site, or anyone who wants to create a web site for personal use.

BlueVoda BlueVoda is a simple tool for creating websites in a visual manner. It has a WISYWIG interface, which stands for What You See Is What You Get. This means that there is no need for any coding knowledge to create a website, and this is done in a visual way, with drag-and-drop mostly.

The software looks a lot like Microsoft Word, with text properties, tables, layouts, spelling tools, insert images and others. The great thing about the software is that it really is free.

Paid Web Design Software Programs:

There are a lot of good web design software programs to be had in today's market. Each seems to have its own strengths and weaknesses though. However, the majority of these programs fall well short of the true "Ease of Use" and design flexibility functions needed by novices.

The other problem with most of these programs is that they are pricey and/or have very steep learning curves. A prime example of that category is Adobe Dreamweaver.

Adobe Dreamweaver

For years this has been the "standard" by which all design software packages were measured. Robust enough for the design professional to crank out brilliant website designs but straigt forward enough for the average Joe/Jane to design beautiful websites.

The problem is you need to already know a little about webdesign BEFORE you start. Wih Dreamweaver you literally start with a blank page abd have to build from there. The newest version does have some basic templates to get you started IF you understand the their concept.

At $399.00 it is quite pricey. Although many programs cost more Dreamweaver was the premium program offered until the latest release of XSitePro (see below).

The Adobe Web Premium package combines Dreamweaver® CS5, Flash Catalyst CS5, Flash Professional CS5, Flash Builder 4, Photoshop® CS5 Extended, Illustrator® CS5, Acrobat® 9 Pro, Fireworks® CS5, and Contribute® CS5. Yu get all this for about $2,500.00 - which brings the price down to a few hundred dollars a program. To get that kind of price you WILL have to shop around a lot!

XSite Pro2 (version 2.5)

First of all let me say this program gets my highest recommendation of 5 Stars! I have used a lot of programs, including Dreamweaver, for years now but when I first tried XSitePro2 it blew me away. I was 100% up to speed within an hour and everyone I have showed it to has been able to get up to full speed within less than 2 hours - even complete newbies.

Then they introduced version 2 it was a full leap ahead of anything on the market. As if that wasn't great enough they then came out with version 2.5  a few months ago which is a major, MAJOR leap over the earlier versions (for the same price I might add).

Using this newest program I can layout and design complete websites (except for the actual content and graphics) in less than an hour.

Major design changes can be done in record time as well. Recently a gave a whole new design face lift to a clients site in less than 15 minutes. Now that did not include writing any content or creating graphics since he already had all of that. But I changed the whole design and format of the site, changed the menu system completely and changed all the colors, etc.

He was so blown away he bought himself a copy right then and there. Now he has designed and published a new website for his wife's new catering business and he said from strat to finih it only took him one evening.

XSitePro is a dream come true for anyone wanting to build and publish web sites. While I was still in school I made a bet with my professor - me using XSitePro and him using Dreamweaver.

We took the same graphics, headers, footers, content, etc. and created a website. The next day the class voted on our designs (secret ballot). He had taken over 2 1/2 hours (remember he was a professional that had been using dreamweaver for over 5 years) and I took less than 1 1/2 hours.

My website won by twice as many votes. He was so impressed he was going to look into offering it as a course instead of the Dreamweaver course.

For less than $200.00 you will NOT find anything out their to match it. I would love to build everyones websites for them but this program could put me out of business. It really is that good and that simple to use. So if you don't waqnt to pay someone save your money and grab this softwars for less than you would pay for a basic website of 2 -3 pages and do it yourself!

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