Well heres my issue, I have been using a site builder to create websites. I would like to know what are my options to get the most professionalism out of a website created with one of these builders, I am talking about www.webnow.com . I have been reading through these forums, and read that hit counters are "out"....banner ads are ok in moderation......
If the site is not appealing to the reader, then no matter how qualified you are on the subject - the content won't matter, Right? Any thoughts? Thanks in advance

Toby

My Thoughts...(a little of topic from your post), but

I avoid Frames for the following reasons:

Frames cause problems for users of older browsers), and can present some accessibility problems to those dependent on speech, braille, or text-based browsers.

Frames cause difficulties for users who want to bookmark pages, and search engines often choke on them. Even if they do get indexed, from a search engine you'll often find yourself thrown into some document WITHOUT its accompanying frame. The document may have no navigation links in it because it was never intended to be viewed without its frame. Your only route out is to press the back button.

But if they are used carefully and wisely, like you have on your sites, I guess they could be a ok. But, I still might avoid them because of search engine issues. Instead, I recommend using tables for your layout.

Hum, some of the most important sites I visited while doing research for my final year project were uninspiring to say the least... but they did not prevent me from using them.

Yes, some of them made me wince and want to leave, but seeing how they were the only promising pages with the information about the specific questions I was asking then I had little choice. So to answer the question, content does matter if it is considerably more than just "general knowledge". Having said that, its hard to take anyone as serious as they intended when they have a hideous color scheme and hard to navigate site... so even if you have great content, some though needs to be applied to the appearance!

There are coders; there are graphic artists; there are educators; and then there are webmasters!

I think a good webmaster might not be proficient in all of the above, but will be able to balance them as needed to pull the surfer into their realm on the web.

I agree with Tiggy that there are sites out there with great content but they look like they were created by my kinkajou. Look that up, it's an animal with no thought for looks..... Without some fortitude for the dismal, it's hard to glean the good content.

Then there's the beautiful, great looking sites that catch the surfer, and waste their time because they have no content. Even artwork sites need content.

The good or even great sites will be pleasing to the eye and have the proper content. There are great sites built everyday using templates or sitebuilders. Appealing to the surfer does not mean that the site has to be in the "spectacular" realm of artwork. Simplicity accounts for a lot of good sites with good content.

If you do make an "ugly" site, you are handicapping yourself even if you have the best content. And I admit that I usually move on if the site lacks some look of professionalism.

I looked at the templates from WebNow, and I'm sure that a good site can be made using their templates. Even though they are templates, the user still has control over the content layout and look. I would encourage you to learn html, but I also encourage you to use whatever means at your disposal to create a good site.

I read a post at another forum that was degrading people that were not proficient in html. But this "webmaster" was terrible when it came to layout and making the site look decent. So where's the balance? Dave gets off his soapbox......

I hope that helps.

Dave

I also encourage you to use whatever means at your disposal to create a good site.

I agree. It is worthwhile to learn HTML or at least understand what you are looking at but use the best resources you can find to help out. When you look at a site on the web, I never look at one and think "This must have been hand coded." However, if you use I template, customize it to look different than the rest.

While I can look at HTML, write a lot of it and know what it means (and many times edit it), I prefer using Dreamweaver (or sometimes Frontpage)...

I could never work with editors/page generators. More power to those that can because how to work them eluded me until finally I gave up in frustration.

Now sit me down with notepad, my graphics program and an idea and I can whip out something.

Heidi