AboutKen Ivey Expertise I've been developing websites for almost 20 years. If you have questions like these, I can help! Should I try this myself or hire a professional? What tools do I need? How do I sell products online? How do I make money with my website? Can I create a website without buying expensive software? How do I design a website FAST? How do I market my website? Is a BLOG a website? How do I put video on my website? What is website hosting? When will search engines find my website? OK, I've found a site I like - but now what? Can I make my website a subscription site?
Experience I have over 20 years of practical experience with web-related issues, and some military computer training. I've worked for a computer manufacturer, and own a small technology company specializing in web-design, hosting, and internet media production. I am the webmaster of several sites, and e-newsletter editor for Rotary District 6760 which is comprised of 65 clubs throughout middle Tennessee.
Education/Credentials I'd like to say a diploma from a revered educational facility hangs on my wall, and perhaps someday it will. In reality, everything I know has been self-taught, much of it done so in the hallowed halls of that venerable institution called "The School of Hard Knocks". (I have taken courses at a local community college, and received military computer programming training as well.)
Expert: Ken Ivey Date: 2/28/2008 Subject: Web Page Design
Question Hi,
My personal and commercial web pages were designed with the help of a webpage designer and use the program Contribute! to add and change content. It is not very flexible and I am having difficulty contacting the original web designer for help. To compound problems my laptop was stolen from work and it had my dloaded registered Macromedia software and they are not willing to provide another copy without a ser# which I cannot find.
I would like to start from scratch and would like your advice on a WYSIWYG type of authoring software for my pages. I would like something that is intuitive and does not need comprehensive knowledge of HTML. What software do you recommend for someone who doesn't have web experience and doesn't mind using templates!
Wayne
Answer Hi Wayne - sorry about your recent troubles.
My advice would be to use Wordpress.
It's very easy to use, and pretty powerful. The template selection is huge, and customization is usually reasonable. Your site can be updated from any computer with internet access.
Any good hosting company (including mine) offers it as an easily installable package.
You could also do a search for DIY websites, but check some of the questions here - many people buy these for $4/month (prepaid of course), and then regret the decision because of the difficulty of getting it to "look right".
You're much better off with a proven application like Wordpress, which coincidently, is a favorite of Google's search engine.
