Unit website

[jimster]

We're looking to upgrade our unit's website ... we used to publish it with FrontPage, but Microsoft has discontinued that product so we are looking for something new.

 

What process or software does your unit use?

[evmori]

I'd stick with Front Page unless you are having problems or migrate to Office SharePoint Designer 2007.

[GaHillBilly]

I believe that if you check (Google's your friend) you'll find that FrontPage licenses are still available. Microsoft's latest web tool product offering is useless (IMHO) to non-pros, and probably even to them. I have an Action Pak license (10 licenses of all the software MS makes) and installed it (can't remember if it was Sharepoint or Expression Web, and I'm not gonna go dig out the CD!) briefly, and then spent 5x as long get it all eradicated from my system. Yuck, and double yuck!

 

Other options include Linux tools, such as Bluefish and Quanta, both of which are preferably to the morbidly obese MS offering. On Windows, Dreamweaver is standard, but expensive and complex. I haven't used it regularly since version 4, which was somewhat buggy and slow. I like Frontpage 2003 much better!

 

Without knowing your team's skill level and hosting arrangement, I can't make any definite recommendations. But, I'd guess your best bet is to scare up some Frontpage 2003 licenses.

 

GaHillBilly(This message has been edited by GaHillBilly)

[gcnphkr]

Thinking back to when websites were done in Notepad and people actually knew HTML. Am I really that old?

[AnaMaria]

I do ours with Notepad and HTML. It may be a problem when it's time to pass on the job, but it works well for me.

[Beagle Scout]

I have been using Evrsoft First Page 2006 which may be downloaded for free at www.evrsoft.com.

 

[MichaelOA]

I used Dreamweaver CS3 for my OA's Chapter website. It works better than I could hope, (yay for my school and their student license)

[Gold Winger]

"Thinking back to when websites were done in Notepad and people actually knew HTML. Am I really that old? "

 

Yep but then again, so am I.

[nolesrule]

I do web development when I'm not busy being a stay at home dad to my 20 month old daughter, and I use an old text-based scripting editor called HomeSite, which I don't think is being sold anymore. I never liked working in WYSIWYG environments, because most of the time WYS is not WYG and the HTML is bloated. There are some similar free solutions available, but I never bothered because HomeSite still meets my needs (for now).

 

I would have no idea what to recommend to someone that doesn't know HTML.

[DenZero]

I've been using Netscape Composer for several years. It's pretty basic, and generates clean code that can be optimized by hand if you desire. It's now part of the free Seamonkey download from Mozilla. I've played with Front Page and Page Mill and a couple of others, but keep coming back to Composer. Of course until about 10 years ago, I edited my web page using vi.

 

By keeping the HTML simple, it makes it easier to transfer maintenance of the site to someone else, if you should ever be that lucky.

 

[AlFansome]

 

I'm sure this has been posted before somewhere in one of the forums, but for our Pack's site, we use free hosting software from DecisionDesign.com. It's specifically made for Scout units and is easy to use and set up.

 

Our site is at http://www.palmerpack215.com/ if you're interested.

 

The main things it doesn't have are e-mail fowarding and alias functionality, along with the ability to use Scripting....static HTML either written by hand or cut/paste --or-- using the WYSIWYG editor.

 

 

[mschwartz]

I've been using HomeSite for years - I believe it is now a Macromedia product (at least when I installed Macromedia Contribute, which is required for web page updates on one of our servers at work, it came along for the ride - btw, I do NOT recommend Contribute as a web editor!). I really like HomeSite as it allows you to work with the straight HTML but also has a WYSIWYG preview function.

 

Wait, was just going to doublecheck to see if it's still around - and apparently Adobe has gobbled up Macromedia! HomeSite 5.5 is available from Adobe - they also own Dreamweaver.

[fleetfootedfox]

I had to get a web page up and running fast, so I used a combination of googlepages.com and wikidot.com. We own the domain name troop760.org, so I pointed that to the googlepages site. The front page is mostly static, although it appears more dynamic, because I have some RSS feeds on it. It has links to the wiki and our calendar. Our calendar appears on the wiki, but it's actually using Google Calendar. Similarly, photos appear on the wiki, but they are actually on flickr and picasa accounts maintained by various adults in the troop. The wiki has its own forums kinda like here, although it's just for troop members, so mostly troop announcements. Finally, I used feedblitz to allow people to subscribe to e-mail updates of the forums.

 

I know it's a hodgepodge, but it seems to work pretty well. My basic idea is that I want it to be collaborative. Members can add their own photos and I don't have to do anything. Members can post announcements without my intervention. Eventually, I will get the SM access into the Google calendar so he can make his own changes.

[nolesrule]

"Wait, was just going to doublecheck to see if it's still around - and apparently Adobe has gobbled up Macromedia! HomeSite 5.5 is available from Adobe - they also own Dreamweaver. "

 

I knew that it was still being supported, because I had to get my license key when I reinstalled the program. I didn't know that it was still being sold. I've been using it since 1.x when Nick Bradbury was still the programmer/owner. And it went from him to Allaire to Macromedia and now Adobe.

 

And yeah, Adobe is now the king of commercial software for both graphic design and web design.