Should I use HTML or not?

[Redness44]

As a newbie, knowing nothing about code (yet), should I try to learn and use HTML or just use some sort of WYSIWYG?

I have microsoft frontpage 2000 and just finished the online tutorial and am fairly comfortable with it, yet my host suggested updating my web builder to prevent my pages from possibly looking funny in some browsers. He suggested 1st page 2000. As I look this software over I realize that I'm going to need to learn HTML to get anything decent going.

I don't intend on having a major website right now. Just something to get me rolling in the right direction.

Should I continue with frontpage or use 1st page and learn HTML, or something entirely different?

Bryan

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Bryan,

Most here would vote for using Wordpress if your content lends itself to a blog format. Even if it doesn't there are ways to use is as a content management system. After you get it set up it's very easy, just like a word processor.

So it's very easy and also free and search engines love it!

 

[djbaxter]

And if you don't want to convert your site to WordPress, you can still use FrontPage but (1) you should learn a bit of basic HTML code so you can see what FrontPage is doing, and (2) modify the default FrontPage parameters slightly to force a degree of compatibility across browsers.

A good starting point for #2 is to add the following line to all your web pages and set it as the default for FrontPage:

< !DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd" >

Delete the spaces after < and before > which I had to add to display the line here.

Note that this must be the first line of the page, BEFORE the HTML and HEAD declarations. What it does is instruct browsers as to how to render the pages, specifically in what is called "quirks" mode so that any departures from strict W3C recommendations don't result in unexpected interpretations. This won't fix ALL HTML errors or browser idiosyncracies but it will help a lot.

 

[Redness44]

Thank you Linda & Minstrel.

Linda,
Can you point me to some good blog building tutorials? I already have a wordpress blog going, but am struggling on everything about it....theme, widgets, layout and content and so forth.

I should also say that I'm not even sure if what I'm doing lends itself to a blog format.

 

[Linda Buquet]

I think the best place is the Documentation itself. (Codex)
Main Page ? WordPress Codex
You can search on top.

The other thing is to search the forum there. I think every problem I've ever had when I looked it up in the Codex or Forum I was able to find an answer.

I have someone very reasonable and reliable who's a member of the forum if you want to save time and just pay someone for an hour or two of work to just get it all set up right for you. PM if you want his name.

 

[Redness44]

(2) modify the default FrontPage parameters slightly to force a degree of compatibility across browsers.

A good starting point for #2 is to add the following line to all your web pages and set it as the default for FrontPage:

< !DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd" >

Minstrel,
When you say "set it as default", does this mean I can set it so that every time I open a new web it will automatically be there, or add it to my new webs and save it that way?

If it's setting it to automatically be there, can you tell me how to set that?

 

[djbaxter]

Minstrel,
When you say "set it as default", does this mean I can set it so that every time I open a new web it will automatically be there, or add it to my new webs and save it that way?

If it's setting it to automatically be there, can you tell me how to set that?

I haven't used FrontPage in quite a while but if memory serves there was a way to do that when I did use it. Look at settings and preferences from the main menus as a start - have a look at [GOOGLE]FrontPage usergroups[/GOOGLE] and [GOOGLE]Frontpage forums[/GOOGLE] too.

 

[djbaxter]

Try this: add doctype in FrontPage - Google Search