What site building tool(s) do you use to put us sites fast?

I'd suggest you use some free software like Joomla or Drupal.... They're very robust and you can find plenty of free templates.

Wordpress - self hosted version on a paid web host.
There's lots of expertise, templates, and addons freely available.

Joomla and Drupal are excellent too as Prashaant said, but I understand that the learning curve is much steeper, and they are not as flexible. If you don't need the additional features they offer, go with Wordpress.
Cheers, Eric G.

Self hosted wordpress.org script....simply the best and most flexible and Google loves to eat it...

For whipping out fast simple static websites I prefer Dreamweaver but there is a decent free WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) HTML editor called Kompozer.net...if you can work MS Word or some other wordprocessing software you can work it.

Hope this helps

- Sean

Wordpress.

If Fantastico isn't fast enough, there's Firepow and WPManagerDX.

Yet another vote for WordPress!

Seriously, for a beginner it's perfect (and it's also great for experts too). I setup some hosting space for a young colleague of mine to "play" with, he had never used WordPress or done any web development before. Within 24 hours he had a fully developed site - I only gave him the basic instructions and pointed him to wordpress.org for more info.

Bill

Without a doubt, Wordpress. I've literally built hundreds of websites and just recently began using Wordpress. I can't see myself ever going back to manually building sites with HTML.

Wordpress is easy to use and offers so many free plugins to make your sites do some cool stuff.

There's a lot of good software you can use..Niche website builders: Build your own niche website and make money

Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress - all of them needs manipulations before you can use them the way you want.

Hi Mitsu,

Another vote for Wordpress here

Also worth considering:

HTML Editor: NVU (Free) - Use an existing site template from Open Source Web Design - Download free web design templates. as a starting point
Sitebuilder: XSitePro v2 (Paid)

Pete

I swear I'm not jumping on the bandwagon here, lol... but everyone is right. I've gotten so many different website builders in the past and still have many, but it seems I almost always end up putting up WP sites!

There are a couple of things you can get regarding putting them up faster like wpmanagerdx. That will let you install them easily, and more importantly keep track of and manage them all.

Also, if you're looking to build some sales letter style sites, there's some good sales letter templates out there (i believe i've seen 2 in the forum here).

Hope that helps,

~Russell Prisco =)

I started off using Xsitepro but have recently made the switch to Wordpress. I guess I am just echoing what others have said. Wordpress is the easiest to set up and get going. With Xsitepro I found myself spending too much time figuring out how to do things. I was also hindered by the lack of templates available.

I use wordpress extensively, and also Store Stacker!

I would have to join on the wordpress band wagon!
Its worth it!

What's storestacker?

I would use WP because it's flexible, it's got lots of plugins and themes, and you can add content as you need through the web or a blog app. No FTP messing around at all. Of course it's resource heavy... and sometimes the host you use will flake out... but it's got BIG advantages in my book.

Kenneht

Another vote for WordPress here too I use it on any site I want to get up quickly, and particularly those I plan to use for different kinds of content (articles and photos). It's excellent for really large topic specific sites and it's easy to set everything up to run automatically for months at a time.

I generally use wordpress, but sometimes I just copy and paste the articles into premade templates with a text editor.

You need a good WYSIWYG editor, not a HTML editor, since you
don't want to work with code.

Dreamweaver offers both options, it's the best editor to my opinion.
The best way to learn the code is to design in WYSIWYG mode and
try to understand the code blocks by looking at the 'code' window.

I started 5 years ago with 100% WYSIWYG editor NetObjects Fusion.
You can design very beautiful websites with it, both static and dynamic,
without working with the code at all. But you are not a webmaster if you
don't know at least basic HTML and php code. As soon as you have
a slightest problem with your site you need a 'real' webmaster to help you out.

Learn HTML, php and some javascript, it's not that difficult as it seems.

Yet another vote for Wordpress but if I'm doing a static site I'd choose Dreamweaver.

without a doubt, Wordpress is the way to go.

Dreamweaver and templates. You can set one up in hours, once you know how.

I am not debunking those who vote for straight HTML with Dreamweaver/Expression web/etc.

But Wordpress is such an amazingly robust tool, I personally think it is futile using anything else. You can accomplish more on Wordpress than any other tool in a very short period of time.

It is the most essential tool I use, Period.

I spent countless hours building and tweaking using photoshop to map out the site with graphics and text spaces, then put in the rest with Hot Dog by Sausage software, which I still use. The trouble is that this really only works well for static sites, and to change anything except text, you have to start again with the photoshop base, It still produces a clean attractive site for simple sites, (I still use it for example for hotel web sites, that just want to show info and take bookings, and the site is not likely to change often).

But I have to agree with the rest of the exponents of WP. For the simplest and quickest way to put up a niche site, or other non static, it is the best.

Dreamweaver is, (or was, I haven't tried it in a couple of years) state of the art, but the learning curve seems too steep for someone who just wants to get a site up with the minimum of learning and hassle.

Just my humble 2 cents worth.

Ed

I like wordpress and xsitepro, sometime I use dreamweaver too..

My favorite still using wordpress as CMS, Joomla seems nice but not very familiar.

Guys slow down with wordpress I believe the guy was asking for software to build sites quick.

xSitePro.

Website Designer Software - XSitePro - index - non affiliate link.

Check that out.

Since you are a CWJ member I recommend you visit the section "Internet Marketing Guides and Lessons". There you have my video on how to use the free editor Kompozer, without doing any html. There are also some videos on how to do the graphics (a header).

Also, Wordpress can be a good choice.

Well If you would like to set up blogs fairly fast, make sure to visit something like blogger or wordpress. Otherwise I'm not sure which program/tool you could use.

For simple sites I still use good old fashioned html. I use the dreamweaver template functions to help speed up any changes.

I much prefer well written, tight html code to anything, wordpress, joomla or drupal can produce. All things considered, these rank much better than similar sized CMS sites.

So that's what I do for sites of less than 30 pages or so.

For blogs I use wordpress.

For larger sites that I build I use drupal. I much prefer the seo benefits of drupal over joomla. Yes there is a learner curve, but so much of IM has a learning curve. What's one more?

If you are not technical then I recommend Xsitepro. I don't see how a non technical guy will setup Wordpress blogs easily and fast, even with Fantastico. Sure you have a blog installed with a few clicks but what you do with the ugly basic theme? Without some technical knowledge you have not much chance to change the theme, layout or any other important setting.

Gunter

Thats one thing a lot of people forget. Even WP can be intimidating in the beginning. What is the fewest clicks possible to a site that will rank at all?

Wordpress quick install via hosting connection at Godaddy.

Wordpress + fantastico + separate domain + clasy free theme

I have done some cool stuff with DotNetNuke (DNN). I have just started getting into WordPress and it seems very cool also.