What's your HTML editor or CMS of choice?

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andrew wee

andrew wee

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I'm looking to develop and launch a couple of content sites in the next couple of months that are Google QS compliant and seo spider friendly.

I've been using XSitePro which isn't the prettiest, but it's pretty easy to use, and wordpress blogs.

I'm looking at possibly using either:
1) another wysiwyg html editor like dreamweaver or microsoft expressions engines
2) CMS: wordpress or joomla

but probably
3) combination of a html site or a joomla install, with a wordpress as a traffic generator.

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So my question is:
1) how does dreamweaver compared against expressions engine or other html editor?

2) any specific suggestions regarding the setups I'm looking at?
 


Well...I am probably not the best to answer your question...but I used to code for Joomla back when it was Mambo and it was just getting started. If you want flexibilty and advanced features, Joomla is definitely the way to go.

But...It does take a little getting used to, and will probably take you longer to setup and tweak than a Wordpress blog setup would...so that would be a deciding factor. If you want something fast and simple, go with WP.

I pretty much always use Dreamweaver for an editor, so I have no comparison for it against anything else.
 
I have used both both Wordpress & Joomla and both have their merits. Joomla is very powerful but can be a little overwhelming to use while I like Wordpress for it's easy install and ease of use. To make both spider and SEO friendly there are a couple of plugins I always install.
For Wordpress - All In One SEO Pack & XML Sitemap Generator
For Joomla - SH404SEF
My editor of choice has always been Dreamweaver but if I need to do something quickly I will fire up Notepad ++ as it's a great editing choice for almost any file you throw at it.
 
Dreamweaver is the best editor by a nautical mile... but then again, the tool is only as good as the operator.

As for a CMS, I'm not going to dispute that Wordpress is the quickest to set up... but not far behind, and only because I'm used to it, is Textpattern.

Textpattern has got to be the most easily customizable CMS out of the box in my opinion.

It hasn't got the plug-in support though for autoposting rss feeds and so on - but there are plenty of good ones
 
Has anyone used microsoft's expressions engine?

There're writeups about how it handles XML and a bunch of techie stuff I haven't looked clearly into.

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My main focus is to be able to manage sites with 50-100 pages easily, create links between the pages and do a hierarchical structure (like you would with joomla/mambo's category system).

What i DON'T like about wordpress is the default install lists your posts chronologically, and even though you can view by categories, it isn't the most organized...
 
I haven't used Expressions but have a ton of experience with the older version - Frontpage. I'm switching to Expressions very soon but Frontpage is super easy to use, so unless they've made drastic changes to Expressions it should be similar from everything I've read.
 
I use Notepad as an HTML editor. /old school

I use Drupal, Joomla and WP. Drupal is really my favourite, although the more I learn about WP the more I like it. I have gotten some excellent SE results for WP sites that I built using this basic outline:

Wordpress as CMS | MENSK Technologies Corporation


Also of interest wrt WordPress-as-CMS vs WordPress-as-blog:

Blaze New Media: Blog » Five Wordpress "CMS Enabling" Plugins
HeadSpace2: Advanced meta-data manager for SEO titles, tags, descriptions, and more | Urban Giraffe
Best Blogging Software
Rapid Niche Websites or Semiologic Pro ? - Wordpress Blogging Forum
Rapid Niche Websites | Build Niche Web Sites | Create Websites | WordPress Websites



Frank
 
I use an old copy of dreamweaver and wordpress. I used to use Movable type but theres so many more themes and pugs for wordpress available for free.

Also webmerge to mass produce pages.
 
tks for the suggestions.

I use ultraedit a text editor with syntax highlighting to make minor changes to my html and php files.

it's gone line and position counting so it's pretty handy for line length checking for adwords and ppc.

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I guess i'll finally get round to installing that copy of dreamweaver 8 and giving it a whirl.

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frank: useful resources, I'll check them out.
 
Its dreamweaver by a country mile. I used to us Frontpage and a couple others. One of the best features of dreamweaver is everything is at your fingertips, even programming guides. In fact the whole suite of tools Adobe (macromedia) makes are incredible. I got the entire suite while I was in Thailand for about $20. considering what its worth, it would be worth the trip. ($650 RT ticket during low season in the biggest party city in the world).
 
I love Joomla. I've been using it for close to two years and it's worked out better than I expected. It did take some time to learn, but it was worth it. I updated my ArtioSEF to the latest version this summer and I think it's made a huge difference in how my site places in the serps.

I also like how easy it is to customize, there's an extension or component for almost anything you need. The only thing to be careful of is how they all work together, but I haven't had any issues so far.
 
BlondeTM said:
I love Joomla. I've been using it for close to two years and it's worked out better than I expected.
Click to expand...

I agree, very nice CMS. If it's new to you, be ready to spend a while researching/installing/configuring components and modules. This was a pain in the ass for me at first, however I came across the JoomlaCloner plugin - this is fucking must have! It lets you clone the complete configuration with all your administrator tweaks and settings - create restore points, backups, etc. Find a point when you are ready to do your heavy site building and make that your default and squirrel it away. Then when you're ready for your next site, just upload the clone and a few clicks later you're up and running - no need to reinstall Joomla and reconfigure everything. Huge time saver.
 
I like Joomla but every time I try to use one of the SEO extensions they cause a Fatal error: Allowed memory size.

With wordpress no problem.
 
I found Joomla slightly annoying to learn, but it can be pretty feature-rich when combined with the right plug-ins. Drupal is next on my list of software to try, so I can't comment on it, but I've only heard good things. Wordpress + plug-ins seems to me to be one of the best options for a CMS for a small website. Not quite sure about managing 100+ pages though.

For development IDE, definitely Dreamweaver. This isn't really a CMS though, it's more of a development tool, and it's definitely NOT open source or free.
 
Wordpress is great for smaller or quick jobs. From my experiences, and I'm sure yours as well, it can pretty much do almost anything with a little hacking.

However, lately I've been playing around with Drupal. The learning curve is pretty big (bigger than joomla i think) but its pretty damn sweet once you know your way around. Might be something to look into.

For coding and development dreamweaver is the best WYSIWYG editor by a mile. I've gotten to the point where I don't even use it though. If I'm on my PC I am usually in Notepad++ and on my Mac I use Textmate.

cheers
 
I've alway used dreamweaver (codeview) and really like what it's become with CS3. The only thing that I still run into problems with is the built in FTP going wacko on me once in awhile.

I use notepad++ on my laptop.
 
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