Choosing Your Website Design Software

If you have been getting bids for the design of your website, you might have decided you'll just do it yourself because of the cost.  With today's WYSWYG (What You See is What You Get) software, designing a web page is not that difficult.  There are various free tools on the Internet that will work well, but for a truly special site, you may want to buy some professional website design software. These have everything you need to help you build a professional and slick looking website. These also come with detailed instructions on how to use the software, as well as help.

You may not know what to choose when it comes to website design software, and it may depend solely on what you can do with a computer and how much help you need. When you look at some websites you like, see if they list what type of software was used to build that site. This may help you narrow down your list. You may also want to email some webmasters to see if they will let you know what they used. You may not get a response, but it is worth a shot.

A Website is More Than Words and Pretty Pictures

There is a lot behind a website, such as keywords, navigation, sitemaps and other factors.  For the beginner to the advanced website builder, the website design software that I believe stands above the rest is a program called XSitePro, which handles your navigation menu, has internal SEO (search engine optimization) checker and much more.  I have personally designed sites using notepad and because XSitePro is so easy to use and includes so many of the scripts that I would otherwise do by hand, I've switched almost entirely to XSitePro.  The software comes with some easy-to-use templates and an exhaustive help guide.  It also has a built in FTP program so that you can easily upload your site.

Blurb Alert! Click here to view the "7 Reasons Why You Need XSitePro Now!" video

Another program that many people are comfortable using is Macromedia's Dreamweaver.  Personally, after using notepad and then being spoiled by XSitePro, I find the software somewhat complicated but most of the people I know who use Dreamweaver absolutely love it. 

Discounted Website Design Software

Your selection of website design software may come down to price. The best software won’t do you much good if you can’t afford it. You may be able to find used versions on eBay, but make sure that's offered in the auction a legal copy before you buy it. You may find new software at a great price, but remember that the lower the price, the less it can do.

Look Around and Ask About the Software

Look for reviews for website design software, and read all you can. This will help you discover which software works the best, and which types are more user friendly than others. Quite often the best advertisement for any type of software is testimony from those who have used it. See what users have to say about ease of use, price, and the results. If the software is easy to use, it won’t be worth the price if it cannot give you a professional looking website when you are finished.

If you are brand new to website design and need a WYSWYG type of software, make sure that the output will look good on Internet Explorer and Firefox, the two most popular web browsers.  You might want to make sure that your pages will look all right on the other browsers that are available, too.  Ask the website design software vendor about this.  If you get a response quickly, chances are that the vendor will have great customer service down the road.

"Choosing Your Website Design Software" contributed by Cathy Johnson