Web authoring tools
 

Hopefully not the wrong forum....

I just switched ISPs and I'm getting ready to update my web site. The new ISP promotes Wordpress, but that seems to com with a bunch of extra costs---eg paying for already developed "themes".

My comfort zone is writing html and CSS, using a smart editor such as BlueFish.

So---what are people using---and at what cost?

I have to say I know near to nothing about web programming, I did set up a little site to share photos with my friends and now I have added a few pages for general public. So I'm a real n00b and don't take my suggestions seriously. My weapon is BlueFish, because I like my code as clean as possible.

I code html and css and perl (and sometimes JavaScript) using SciTE
I find Wordpress confusing, probability because I’ve been working under the covers for too long. It’s just easier for me to crunch the code by hand.

I've been using Wordpress for years and I've never used a paid theme or plugin. I know that there are paid themes available, but there are many free themes and plugins available at Wordpress.org.

My current theme is based on a free theme I got there, which I then edited in the CSS until I was happy with it.

When you say "new ISP" do you really mean ISP, or do you mean "hosting provider"?
If it is really just an ISP, why would they know or care what you use for coding web pages?



I code HTML, XHTML, and CSS in vim. Not what I recommend, but I came up through the ranks when that was the ONLY tool you could count on.

I've never used it, but there's Bluefish.

I use Emacs for any XHTML and vi for any CSS in nearly all cases. Emacs, of course, has several relevant modes for XHTML and CSS is more like a configuration file in its syntax and is therefore more comfortable for me with vi.

For static sites, I use Perl5 for any major bulk restructuring.

I am always becoming very uneasy when the question of Web authoring tools arises. Maybe it is necessary for our mutual understanding that we clarify the point of departure. I begin with my own point of departure (for simplicity) :

Web authoring

An activity which, in the end, results in the production of HTML CSS and JavaScript.

The process can include a diversity of tools, languages and even infrastructures, as it comprises the technology of web-application frameworks, content-management-systems (which are themselves already programmed web-applications), as well as the simple and direct publication of HTML, CSS and JavaScript, either resulting from editing HTML, CSS and Javascript or the application of any other technology serving the purpose.

~ Tools

Any kind of software which helps producing HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

This includes simple text-editors as well as full-blown CMS or other web-applications, like about everything which is installed on enterprise servers.

Now with this mess in mind, I can only recommend to know ones own needs and motivations.

Myself
I have no need for databases and no intention to learn yet another language (like Wordpress or Joomla or SimpleCMS or whatever) just to be able to publish HTML, CSS and Javascript. I know Java and Ruby and SQL and databases and can create Web-Applications. But there is absolutely no need to do that.

In my opinion, the first person who had suggested sending commands in a http-request and to hope for a remote application to produce a response to that command, rather than deliver a requested page, deserves a smacked bottom. Twice a day. Forever.

In consequence it is vim for me.

Progress != technology != something which makes you feel bad.

If you are comfortable with Linux and can setup a web server like Apache and Nginx, the cheapest hosting you can get is Amazon Lightsail. You can always upload pages to your site's document root using sftp with Windows apps like WinSCP. The beauty of WinSCP is that you can directly modify pages on your web server using it. A small website using only HTML and CSS could fit on a Lightsail package for only US$ 2.50 monthly, and for US$ 5.00 your server can get additional RAM and disk space for a database server like MariaDB. At Us$ 5.00, you may also want to look into installing a web-based dashboard like Virtualmin or if your server is CentOS-based, CWP. I'd refrain from using shared web hosting as they are prone to malware nowadays.

You can also go crazy with your web server and play around with git. That way, you have 3 places to store your code: your laptop, github and your server. Setting up a production or staging server with lightsail should be a breeze. There should be articles about it everywhere on Internet. Just google it.

A good web authoring editor for windows nowadays is Visual Studio Code. Just add components that will let you preview the pages you have edited on a separate pane and you're golden. Do note that vscode is also now available on some linux distros via WSL.

Or, if your need is to publish HTML, pay 20€ annual fee for mail- and web-hosting with my associative network. Most of the other users have a CMS, like SPIP. No extra-fee.


You can do rocket engineering, if you want. Just get what it needs to do so.

My mistake--hosting provider

echoing some other comments....I've always gone back to Bluefish---because I feel more in control. However, the aging brain would appreciate not having to work so hard. Installing a dialog box with one click seems very tempting

"Web Authoring" suggets writing HTML pages (and the accompanying CSS).
I would rather suggest a lightweight CMS or "blog engine" - requires some initial setup, but then adding content is a breeze. I personally write articles in markdown, to plain text files, and use a flat file CMS.

If it is a hosting site, you might want to consider the ones they recommend early. Three may be good reason why they make that recommendation, they may have optimized for that software.

Something appears to be bad in writing HTML and CSS by use of HTML and CSS.

Could someone explain, once?