I am trying to create a website and I am stuck with the overall design. I don't know whether to use CSS or plain tables. Is there any software apart from Macromedia that can the task easier?

I use Frontpage, seems to work OK. Although I haven't used CSS in Frontpage or in any of the 4 websites I created.

Pretty much everything I've read on website design says not to use tables - they're evil!

CSS is great for uniformity, and if you then want to change bits of your whole website it's nice and easy!

I know that using tables slows down the website downloading time significantly, but do you know any good software that can help me in the design process?

Colbtech, can you give the links to your websites?

If you're not au fait with html css etc then I suggest you try a bit of software called dreamweaver, great visualisation tool and with the right know how (in using it) it can create some fairly impressive web sites.

Adobe - Dreamweaver CS3, Web Site Design, Web Page Design, Web Design Software

Yes, dreamweaver is an excellent software, although a bit expensive, but if you are a student, you can get it at a very low rate. Also you can download a 30 day free trial from the website. They just released CS3 and it rocks. I use this software in my profession, and will use nothing else.

Unfortunately Climate Controls - Glasshouses and Environmental Controls specialists is the only one still running. Of the others, 2 of the companies have closed and the other was for a charity site www.thecarefund.com. Unfortunately the lady died and no-one took up the reins. The fund was supplying a lot of goods to Sierra Leone, and never asked for money (although it was accepted). Our local Post office sent many items for free (or cheap), not quuite sure how she managed that but Sandra was a very special person. Sorry that there is only 1 site, must try and find more but everyone wants to run Flash nowadays, not too sure I'm up to that.

I know about the major big companies software, but is the no other software you came across that made your design easier?

Frontpage is easy to learn, well I found it easy. Struggled to get to grips with Dreamweaver but that was because I'd got used to FP. I presume it's the same if you start with Dreamweaver or another package, then FP would seem clumsy or difficult to use. I suppose it depends on what is easy for each individual. Perhaps you should use the 30 day trials that are available to find one that you gel with.

Look at Joomla or Drupal for your css needs. Both have a slight learning curve but offer great template and packages. Best of all, they are free!

The front end guys at the design firm I used to work for used Dreamweaver and swore by it. It's not cheap, but like most things you get what you pay for.

As for tables vs. CSS that's purely up to you as the designer. I can tell you that we had several large clients and almost all of their websites were done using tables.

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Originally Posted by jstrike

The front end guys at the design firm I used to work for used Dreamweaver and swore by it. It's not cheap, but like most things you get what you pay for.

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Yeah, we use Macromedia Studio for our work, but at £800 a license it is expensive!

It is the daddy though to be fair! :D

Dreamweaver is the best out there, but it's pretty expensive! I'll have to pick out of my savings to pay for Macromedia suite :(

If you're doing this as a business and you like the product then it's money well spent.
I'm old school... give me a copy of UltraEdit and I'm happy.