Unit Website

[dwb]

The only thing about apps like FrontPage is that the typical FrontPage user doesn't really understand what's going on underneath the interface.

FrontPage provides what we programmer weenies call an abstraction.  FrontPage allows you to pretend that making a web page is just like making a Word document, and it does all sorts of clever things to maintain that illusion.  Like, if you drag-and-drop an image onto the page designer, it makes a copy of that image within the web site's directory structure.

The problem here is that abstractions leak.  The underlying HTML code may not render correctly in a lot of web browsers, or you may do something that messes up the layout in FrontPage, and have no idea how to fix it, because the abstraction is imperfect.

That's why I always advocate making at least your first couple of web sites by learning the HTML markup syntax and writing the web pages yourself in a plain text editor.  At the very least, you'll understand what's going on under the covers, so if you use FrontPage and it springs a leak, you'll know how to plug it.

Anyone know anything about homestead.com?

They're another free web hosting site.  The biggest drawback to those types of sites is that they'll insert advertisements in your web pages.

[A.Member]

The only thing about apps like FrontPage is that the typical FrontPage user doesn't really understand what's going on underneath the interface.

I think an issue that's just as problematic is not understanding the differences in how browsers render pages.   While cleaning up code certainly minimizes such issues, it doesn't necessarily eliminate them.  For example, as I've learned, you can create perfect code but if you use .png files for images, you'll still have issues with how they display on IE versions 6.0 and prior.  Other considerations include your audience's screen resolution (800x600, 1080x800, etc.), ADA compliance (did you use tables?  are they readable?), etc.

So, a "developer" (and I use that term loosely in my case) at some point will want/need to understand these things (and I don't claim to know them well), regardless of their tool.   They also need to realize that standards are constantly changing.  The point is, that while coding is important, understanding the audience and their tools is equally important. 

[CAPPAO]

The Southeast Region Web site is one of the best I've seen:

http://www.sercap.us/

In fact, 3 of the 6 Wings in SER have now adopted the same format:

http://new.flwg.gov

http://mswg.us/

http://www.prwg.us/

But for a real treat, check out the SER Twitter page and sign up!

http://twitter.com/SERCAP

[Hoorah]

Well mys suggestion is that there are free websites out there you have to look for them. On GLR's website at the bottom gives a way to ,make a website.

[Chief2009]

Thanks everybody! Eclipse, that run through is a great help.

DN