Hi,
I am getting ready to build my first serious web site. I have done some dabbling in web site design in the past but always pretty small stuff. I have used Frontpage Express in the past.

I'm fairly bright but VERY new to the whole web site design thing and I'm looking for a program that is fairly easy to use (without me having to deal with html too much...preferably) but also one that has a lot of options.

Does anyone have any recommendations and do any of these recommendations have web sites where I can obtain a free trial before I go out and buy it?

thanks in advance
~Bryan~

Free trial for what??? Web design software??? I don't know any web design software which you can get a free trial with.
If you are talking about web hosting so that you can host your website, you can get free hosting at several places. Just google 'free hosting'.

You used to be able to download a trial of Dreamweaver, but now that they merged with Adobe it doesn't look like you can any more. I like Dreamweaver a lot, but I used to use Front Page. If you are used to Front Page and are just wanting to do something simple Front Page might work for you.

I strongly suggest you stay away from FrontPage as any site created in that Editor never validates -- search Google for free HTML Editors; try a few until you find one you're comfortable with and take it from there.

Originally Posted by travelagent

I strongly suggest you stay away from FrontPage as any site created in that Editor never validates -- search Google for free HTML Editors; try a few until you find one you're comfortable with and take it from there.

I agree with travelagent: stay away from Frontpage!!

I'm fairly bright but VERY new to the whole web site design thing and I'm looking for a program that is fairly easy to use (without me having to deal with html too much...preferably)

If you're fairly bright, then take the time to LEARN HTML, and learn to code it by hand. It's not rocket science by any means. Anyone who just wants to toss out websites and doesn't know HTML (AND CSS) cannot really call themselves a 'web designer' or a 'webmaster'.

All of those types of WYSIWYG programs spew very bad code that doesn't validate and you won't be doing yourself any favors in using them.