Possible

Future Development

of the

EdinPhoto Web Site

Your comments, please!

Here are my thoughts on possible future development of the EdinPhoto web site.  Please email me with your reactions, and any advice that you feel you are able to give me.    Thank you.

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: December 8, 2014

 

What?

Content of the Site

My plan is:

-  to continue to expand the site, following the style and lay-out that already exists.  (I have many more comments and photos waiting to be added to the site.)

-   to ensure that the site remains non-commercial.  No sales, no adverts.

 

How?

What Program to Use?

Background

Since I created the site in 2001, I've been using Microsoft's FrontPage program to update it.   I've found FrontPage to be easy to use, and it gives me the functionality that I need.

I'm still using 'FrontPage 2003' to update the site.  I would be happy to continue to use it, but I may need to change to another program at some stage because:

-  Microsoft stopped supporting FrontPage many years ago.  (One day, the program may stop working for me and I might not be able to get it working again.)  The 2003 version of FrontPage is the last that Microsoft created.  They then moved on to Expression Web.

-  FrontPage has a reputation for creating poor and inefficient code for web sites.  On the rare occasions that I've had to look at the HTML  code created by FrontPage, I've found what appear to be lots of unnecessary duplications in the coding.

-  FrontPage still displays the site well when it is viewed in Microsoft's Internet Explorer.  However, when the site is viewed in other browsers such as Firefox Mozilla or Google Chrome, errors are beginning to creep into the display, e.g. alignment of some of the text.  I believe this is because the coding created by FrontPage is not fully compliant with current industry standards.

-  Future versions of Windows after Windows 7 will not be compatible with FrontPage.  (I'm still currently using Windows Vista, but at some stage I'll be moving to a later version of Windows.)

What Program Next?

In order to make a move away from FrontPage easier at some time in the future, I've now changed the way that I'm using FrontPage.  I've stopped using 'FrontPage Extensions'.

Other programs that I'm considering are:

-   Microsoft's Expression Web.  I purchased a copy of this several years ago, but found it to be rather complex and slow to use.  Microsoft have continued to issue new releases of Expression Web, the most recent being available free (which perhaps gives an indication of the level of commitment that Microsoft are devoting to the program and what I might expect from it).

Nevertheless, I may get hold of a copy and try it.  I believe that the coding that it generates is higher quality than that from FrontPage.  I don't know whether or not it would be possible to run my existing pages through Expression Web and get it to check and amend any non-compliant coding that FrontPage created.

-   Adobe's Dreamweaver. This seems to be the most widely used program.  It has lots of features - far more than I'll need - so I may have to go through a steep learning curve before I became efficient in using it.

Ideally, I'd like to be able to go on a training course where somebody with experience of changing from FrontPage could watch what I was doing and give advice, but I've not found any such course.

Unfortunately (from my point of view) Adobe recently moved Dream-weaver to  Creative Cloud, so making it far more expensive than buying their program and waiting a few years before buying an update.  I'm not unduly concerned about the cost, compared to other factors.  However, it could be an expensive mistake to buy Dreamweaver then discover that it's not the best solution for the EdinPhoto site.

-  Serif's WebPlus.  I've been told that this is one of several Graphical Design software programs now available, and that it is easier to use than Dreamweaver.  WebPlus apparently has good community support on the web.  I don't know how much work would be involved in making my current 25000+ pages compatible with WebPlus.

    (Thank you to Frank Ferri, Queensferry, Edinburgh for telling me about WebPlus.)

Comments Please!

If you have any comments or suggestions, please email me.  I'm keen to spend my time adding to the content of the EdinPhoto web site rather than learning any new programming or updating methods, so any advice about the easiest way forward for me would be very welcome.

Thank you.

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh:  December 8, 2014

 

Reply

1.

Robin Smith

Currie, Edinburgh

Thank you to Robin Smith for writing giving me advice based on his own experience.

Robin wrote:

Dreamweaver

Weekend Course

"I constructed a website for my daughter about a year ago using Adobe Dreamweaver.  I had no prior experience or knowledge of constructing a site so I enrolled for a weekend course but I found it to be pretty poor."

DVDs

"However, I purchased online:

-  'Total Training for Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 Essentials' and

-  'Total Training for Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 Advanced'.

 Both were by Janine Warner.

They were excellent. I'd recommend then to anyone. They took you through the whole process, step by step, never assuming that you would have any prior knowledge as to how things worked."

Book

"Janine Warner also has a 'Dummies' book out, which really just mirrors her DVD’s. It may be worth while exploring this alternative."

Robin Smith, Currie, Edinburgh:  December 11, 2014

Thank You, Robin

Thanks,  Robin, for taking the time to send me your advice.  That's helpful.   If I were writing a new site from scratch, I'd feel confident in following your recommendations.

However, my main concern is that I'm starting with a very large site created in FrontPage.  Ideally, I'd like to have guidance and advice from somebody with experience of starting from that position.  I'd like to discover how best to proceed with Dreamweaver, taking this starting point into account.

I'd like to know what I should do extra or differently to allow for my starting point, and I'd like continuing advice on what to do / not to do as I proceeded.

Peter Stubbs:  Edinburgh:  December 16, 2014

 

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