Web site construction program

[Max]

I'd like to develop a fairly simple web site and am looking for suggestions for a program to do it with. I have no previous experience so I'm looking for something that's idiot proof. This will probably be a one time shot so a freeware program would be great. Google turned up a program named Kompzer.

Suggestions?

Thanks!

[Denholm]

I realize it's a one-time ordeal, yet Joomla (or other CMS packages) might be a decent alternative. If you are hosting your website with HostMonster, they will install Joomla for you from the Simple Scripts section.

Joomla is a CMS (Content Management System). It's basically a dynamic website ready to roll. You simply have to edit the content to meet your specifications.

[4deck]

I've worked with Joomla, but its not what I would say that user friendly to new commners. It's Excellent for maintaining, but again theres a learning curve. The one great thing, is that there are prebuilt templates you have to modify. Editing CSS templates may seem like learning latin if your not familiar with C code. There is a ton of support though, and excellent addon's though if your willing to take a few days and read.

heres our site, all Joomla.
www.precisionsquad.org

If you need a hand PM me.

[Skuzzy]

I would not use Joomla due to security issues.  If you do not know what you are doing, you can create a site that is easily hacked/hijacked.

[jimson]

I had good luck with webs.com, if you don't mind some ads, it's free and there are several templates to choose from.

This is the site I created with no prior experience.

http://358daybreakers.webs.com/

I do not know of the security concerns but since they also host the site, I'm hoping that isn't a big issue.

[Krusty]

Well, if it's a "simple" webpage, not overly complex.....

Notepad.


Seriously. Best to learn on a small project, like a personal page. I use plain old Photoshop to cut up images when needed for banners or buttons or whatever, but I've been coding HTML directly in notepad since probably 1999. The basics are really easy, and you avoid all that bloat/garbage that some editors like Frontpage (or heck, anything Microsoft!) add into the code.

[MutleyBR]

OpenOffice?

http://www.openoffice.org/

[Denholm]

I would not use Joomla due to security issues.  If you do not know what you are doing, you can create a site that is easily hacked/hijacked.

Do these security issues have anything to do with administrator access? If not, could you share some more details about the issues? As one can guess, I run a Joomla website. I do as much as I can to tie it down, yet I'm always curious about security information, especially when it pertains to my property.

[Spikes]

I run many Joomla based sites and haven't ran into any problems as of yet.

[Fulmar]

I would not use Joomla due to security issues.  If you do not know what you are doing, you can create a site that is easily hacked/hijacked.

For the less than a year I used Joomla for 3 websites I ran.  One being the Aces High Movie Database, a squad website, and something non-related.  The squad website was the first to be hacked and within a month the other two were both down.  I followed all proper security measures of Joomla and at the time had the most up to date version.

When it worked, it was a pretty good open source platform.  But as Skuzzy said, security issues really created a headache.  I never made back-ups of the sites (lessons learned) and really I had no time/energy to rebuild the AHMD.

[Denholm]

Fulmar, do you have any idea how your websites were compromised? As mentioned previously, I enjoy doing as much as I can to plug holes in my ship.

[Fulmar]

Fulmar, do you have any idea how your websites were compromised? As mentioned previously, I enjoy doing as much as I can to plug holes in my ship.

They hacked my randomized administrator passwords.  There were two different hackers that did it.  Basically they deleted a lot of key scripts and just made a plain text page saying you've been hacked by whatever whatever group.  They changed the admin password but I was able to go server side and reset it.

[Spikes]

They hacked my randomized administrator passwords.  There were two different hackers that did it.  Basically they deleted a lot of key scripts and just made a plain text page saying you've been hacked by whatever whatever group.  They changed the admin password but I was able to go server side and reset it.

I'm quite skerred now.

[Denholm]

They hacked my randomized administrator passwords.  There were two different hackers that did it.  Basically they deleted a lot of key scripts and just made a plain text page saying you've been hacked by whatever whatever group.  They changed the admin password but I was able to go server side and reset it.

Ah. Did you have any cookie or session checks in place to ensure only certain people could find the administrator panel? I've got one that checks for the presence of a cookie before allowing you to see any page in the /administrator/ directory. Just curious if those guys got around it.

[Fulmar]

Ah. Did you have any cookie or session checks in place to ensure only certain people could find the administrator panel? I've got one that checks for the presence of a cookie before allowing you to see any page in the /administrator/ directory. Just curious if those guys got around it.

Can't remember, it was almost a year ago.