Howdy,
This is Aztumbleweed's wife. I developed our website and have for a few friends who have no desire to know anything about doing it themselves. I knew basic HTML when I started and only build basic webpages. You can check out www.ccheartranch.com for my example. This has not been updated in over 2 years and needs to be totally revamped, but you can get the idea of basic for me. BTW Aztumbleweed wanted to make sure everyone knew that the "indian horse" was mine.
The amount of "data" isn't the issue on the speed of opening a website. It is the amount of images and fancy stuff that slows it down. If I find sites that take forever to come up, I just close them and find something else. I have software suggestions below if you are wanting to do this yourself.
I don't suggest MS Frontpage.
I used Dreamweaver the last time I updated my site. However, I lost all my software and no longer have my original computer, so I am having to find a web building/publishing software again and Dreamweaver is VERY expensive and not very intuitive or user friendly. It used to be available under a student discount for a reasonable amount but has actually gotten more expensive with the newer versions. I believe it is downloadable for a 30 day trial if you would like to check it out.
I wanted software I could use offline and any more, many of them are online based. I had a hard time finding the programs outside of Dreamweaver that would meet my needs, so here is a summary of my research. I wanted strong functionality at a reasonable price. Check out the following software and see what seems to fit your needs:
NetObjects Fusion: www.netobjects.com Fusion 9 JUST came out $199.95, but I found the prior version Fusion 8 right from NetObjects on Amazon.com for $50!! This was my favorite in all my research. It sounded like it had the power of Dreamweaver, but intuitive and easy for even the beginner. I consider myself intermediate. I just understand the HTML basics not all this new stuff websites seems to be able to do now. I looks like it is cheaper to start with the NetObjects Fusion 8 for $50 and then upgrade to Fusion 9 than it is to start right with version 9. www.NetObjects.com for information about NetObjects Fusion 9 and then search on Google.com under NetObjects Fusion to see what other information you can find about NetObjects Fusion. There also seems to be great online support for this product at gotFusion.com. I am planning on getting the NetObjects Fusion 8 from Amazon.com for the $50 and if I really like it I will upgrade to the 9 later as finances allow. I wouldn't get anything older than version 7 because NetObjects doesn't provide support for older versions anymore. Open the "full-feature listing (PDF)" for details on the website. This is one of the few I found that did not have 30 day trial downloads available.
Globalscape CuteSITE Builder: www.globalscape.com/cutesitebuilder. Again sounds very newbie user friendly but not so flexible for those of use who may want to "tweek" things in the code. Alot cheaper than the above Fusion 9, but not as cheap as I found the Fusion 8 on Amazon.com. Read its comments and see what you think. The advantage of this one is you can download and do a 30 day trial before buying.
I would also recommend Win2PDF software. www.daneprairie.com
I am just using it as an unregistered user for now and have for years. It is a very inexpensive software regardless if you register the product for full use without the "adder page". This program allows you to print documents into the PDF format. It shows up as one of your printers to print to and prompts you to save the PDF file. I consider this tool awesome being purchasing Adobe Acrobat is really expensive also. Printing to PDF seems to make some image intensive documents significantly smaller when you print to the PDF. It would be great for your bull catalog for someone to download.
Mr. Aztumbleweed is picking on me because I have a tendency to write an "epistle" when I write emails. Sigh ... I hope this helps.
Fun & Smiles
