Hi Roddy,
From what I can see, the app you suggested is really only capable of designing extremely basic websites and is entirely based on a template style layout.
Templates are very restrictive (you have to stick to the basic layout they provide). A theme, would be better for anything other than a basic one or two page personal site. This was the reason that I suggested Rapidweaver. Rapidweaver uses themes rather than templates and a theme has slightly more scope than a template.
Rapidweaver is also very powerful and allows you to to create business grade websites with very little or none existant knowledge of HTML or CSS coding.
However, even a theme does not really give you very much scope for creating professional quality websites. The best way to do that, is to design, code and build your website from the ground up. This was the reason I suggested Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver is very affordable as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud (as I mentioned in my response).
The poster asked for drag and drop. Dreamweaver also lets you do this, by writing some very simple CSS to set up the page size, colors and feel and by using some simple div tags to set up your layout, you are then able to drag and drop stuff directly into dreamweavers design mode. Dreamweaver will then input the HTML inside the corresponding div tag, so you don't even need to know how to do that.
Of course if you know how to write complex HTML and CSS, or if you are planning on learning how to do so, your experience with Dreamweaver will be vastly improved. Although you *don't* need to know how to write complex HTML and CSS in order to use Dreamweaver
Also going for the daddy, give you plenty of scope to learn and advance your site. Dreamweaver is pretty much the industry standard and makes your website "future proof" and with the Adobe Creative Cloud all your software is future proof too.
Regards
Jason
Roddy wrote:
I think its necessary to keep things in proportion when discussing alternatives to iWeb considering that its real cost was around $15.
To even suggest using products like RapidWeaver - far less that illiterate giant DreamWeaver- is kind of ridiculous for the person who only creates one or two websites.
There's a huge number of online site builders to choose from but they are all hampered by their lack of facilities to go beyond a basic site and are not free if you need something more than a stereotype web presence. Their only advantage is that they are accessible from any computer although I wouldn't want to depend on someone else's server for a business site.
A better alternative, which is cross platform and the only app I can find that's within the iWeb price range, is this one...
http://www.quickandeasywebbuilder.com
Its essential nowadays to have a mobile version of your site, or a responsive design, if you are in business. Its only a matter of time before the number of people surfing on these devices overtakes computer users. You can create a mobile design with Wix but its not free if you want reasonable facilities.
