Xsite Pro or Dreamweaver?

Hi Designguy,

Does Xsite Pro have split screen?
Thanks

Before people chime in about using WordPress let me get my vote in for XSitePro2.

I used to code sites by hand with notepad, then I opted for HomeSite. XSitePro2 beats those hands down. Ease of use, tons of features, forms, etc are just a click or two away.

If you know anything about building websites, you will be blown away with XSitePro 2.

Ok now the WordPress folks can chime in.

I did this in a way... I spent a few days designing some sales letter designs and full site frameworks in Dreamweaver. Then I just morphed them over to templates in Wordpress and now I can make a few tweaks to color schemes or header design whenever I want to open a new site and I'm set.

I'm lucky because I learned how to design websites when I was young, but even a good outsourcing option can take care of this easily... it's a huge asset to have your pocket.

If you are a web developer who wants to do some internet marketing... they you may want to go the Dreamweaver route. If you are an internet marketer who wants to do some basic to moderate complexity web development... XSitePro is the obvious choice.

If you are a newbie.... XSitePro is the ONLY choice..... other than Wordpress. I find them both to be the perfect solution for a different types of sites.

OBTW... XSitePro does not have the split screen function you are asking about. The transition form Design Mode (WYSIWYG) to HTML Mode in XSitePro is clunky but you do get use to it.

I have DreamWeaver 8 but I keep going back to my Macromedia MX Studio 2004. Just the thought of upgrading to the full suite CS4 makes me foam at the mouth.

I'm hear to tell ya...if you ever get a taste of Dreamweaver, you'll be addicted from there on out.

Dreamweaver is the industry standard for web design and will therefore do rather much EVERYTHING that can be done on the internet. I do feel though that comparing XSPro to DW is faulty thinking to start. Recommending to use one over the other (any platform that is, including WP) is inadequate advice, at best - given the limited information provided.

XSPro is for internet marketers who want to put up quick sites - with little command of the HTML. However, most any program that allows you to do that also means there is more end-code that go into building your pages, which in turn is not as easy for search engines to document. There is a trade-off. I don't really believe that DW has HUGE learning curve as others have mentioned, and in the same note, I personally had a lot of issues with XSPro on my VISTA machine. In addition, I think XSPro sites are amongst the ugliest properties on the internet and stand out like a purple house.


WP and Joomla are something you may want to look into if the cost is an issue. Last year I converted a lot of my websites to Joomla and am very happy with it. But I still have WP, XSPro and DW sites all over the place too. It depends on the job you want it to do, but in the end, if you take the time to learn Dreamweaver, you will have a fundamental knowledge of ALL web design standards and everything else will seem like a piece of cake.

**Also one of the best combinations for great looking, fast websites is to use Artisteer with DW.

DW is worth the learning curve. It was one of the best investments I've made since going online. I opted to go with the CS3 version first since it was cheaper and had many of the features that I needed to get started. I've since started to think about upgrading. There is even a plug in available that allows you to edit Wordpress themes directly in DW. Hope this helps.

It took me around 6months to get comfortable with html/css with dreamweaver. It's an amazing html/css editor...it's like cheating in a school test because it automates the coding for you.

You don't really have to learn hard/hand coding with dreamweaver. It pretty much automates the coding for you once you gain experience with it.

Another feature with dreamweaver is the incorporation with Adobe fireworks and photoshop for graphic designs. You can mock up design from photoshop and export it to dreamweaver easily.

If you don't have the time to learn dreamweaver and just focused on getting your site indexed quickly then go for x-site pro.

But overall dreamweaver is just an awesome application especially with the design feature split screen. You can learn coding at the same time while using the design feature.

How about Microsofts replacement for FrontPage. I use it.

Expression Web is its name. It is now in Version 3 available as 60-day Trial download from Microsoft. Upgrade version (any Office product qualifies) $79 from Microsoft.

It must fit the bill for some of us in terms of power, ease of use and price and easy availability and online training.

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Here's a little more info that I have gathered.

Microsoft Expression Web Version 3

OK, you can qualify to buy the Upgrade version (latest Version 3 only) for $79 directly from Microsoft if you Own any Microsoft Office product or a prior version of Expression Web, FrontPage or any Adobe CS product.

You can download a 60-Day Trial Version from Microsoft.com. Look for free trials.

With Version 3 you can:
Create Professional Graphics for Your Site
Powerful vector drawing and editing tools in the included copy of Expression Design let you explore new artistic possibilities and create compelling graphic designs and illustrations. Integrate vector artwork and bitmap images in the same document to create hybrid compositions that you can import in part or in whole into Expression Web. Use Expression Design's sophisticated slicing capabilities to create web-ready graphics.

Import Photoshop files
Expression Web can import Photoshop files directly with complete control over transparency, the layers imported and the converted image format (PNG, GIF, and JPEG). Expression Web remembers your layer and format settings so that you can quickly reimport to reflect any changes to the Photoshop original.


Version 3 also comes with Expression Encoder 3 with which you can:
Screen Capture
Capture all activity on your PC screen with the screen recorder feature including your narration from webcam and microphone, then edit and publish in ultra-high quality using all the features of Expression Encoder.

There is a lot of training, much of it video online for using Expression Web.