Web Site Maintenance

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Software for Maintaining Your Web Site

Most small web site owners can learn to update their web site, provided they have the time and interest. Below are some of the tools that site owners have successfully used.

Multi-Purpose Tools

Adobe Contribute

For most web sites, Adobe Contribute is our recommendation for the best all-around web site maintenance tool. It combines impressive ease of use with flexibility. Contribute is cross platform and costs about $175 per user.

Contribute works best with sites designed with other Adobe products such as Adobe Dreamweaver, but it is not necessarily limited to these. If you are uncertain, contact support@webvalence.com for an assessment on whether Contribute would be an appropriate maintenance tool for your web site.

With Contribute, you do not need anything separate software to upload or download files from servers, nor to resize and place images on your pages. If you download Contribute for a 30-day trial, contact support@webvalence.com and we will send an access key for your site.

More on Site Maintenance with Contribute

Other Web Site Authoring Maintenance Tools

Typical web site authoring programs, such as: Adobe Dreamweaver, Microsoft Front Page and Linspire NVu are all designed to be more or less self-contained web site applications. These differ from Adobe Contribute in that they give you more control and more flexibility, but require more time and effort to learn.

Start With Stay With: As a general rule, you will find it easier to maintain a website if you use a similar tool to the one that was used to create your website. Some tools generate closed websites that need to be maintained with the same tool. The more extreme examples of this proprietary approach to web site construction are Apple iWeb and Microsoft Front Page.

Adobe Dreamweaver

Dreamweaver is our favorite WYSIWYG authoring tool. We use it for sites WebValence designed sites. It generates clean HTML and CSS code. Dreamweaver is a website authoring tool. We do not recommend it for the average Web Site owner because it requires too much effort to learn. Recognizing this limitation, Adobe has provides Contribute as the companion website owner's maintenance tool.

Apple iWeb

Apple iWeb has was conceived as a site authoring tool combining unparalleled ease-of-use with impressive artistic capabilities. Unfortunately, this was achieved by sacrificing interoperability with other authoring tools. Apple iWeb provides a closed authoring environment which is appropriate only for small owner-designed and maintained websites.

Linspire NVu

Nvu is a recent cross-platform product from the open source community and it is free for download and use. It is a full-featured WYSIWYG website authoring tool with impressive capabilites. It generates clean HTML and CSS code. This is a superior choice for a person on a budget, who as the time and energy to invest in leaning.

Microsoft Front Page

Long the mainstay of Microsoft's website authoring, Front Page is obolete and has been replaced by other tools. Front Page generates messy HTML and CSS which is difficult to maintain with other applications. We recommend Front Page only for websites that were originally built with Front Page.

Instructions on Composer, Dreamweaver, iWeb, Front Page, or NVu

If you choose one of these, you may not need additional software for uploading your pages, or for adding media such as graphics, audio and video. Web site authoring programs are usually not adequate for creating media, but they can be used to add existing media to a web site.

Options for Uploading Site Files

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the traditional way to upload new web sites and implement changes to existing web sites. More recent standards include Secure FTP (SFTP) and Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV). We support:

• File Transfer Protocol - FTP
• Secure File Transfer Protocol - SFTP
• Web-Based Distributed Authoring and Versioning - WebDAV*
• Apple File Share - AFP

Web site maintainers select their preferred access method in their web design application. Contact support@webvalence.com for help.

*WebDAV access is normally enabled by request only. If you want to use WebDAV email support.

Single Purpose Tools

Options for Uploading Website Files

Option 1: FTP Access using Single Purpose FTP Programs

FTP software for your computer is readily available as shareware or purchase for approximately $25.

Windows

• BitKinex - Recent entry which looks strong
• WS_FTP - One of the first

See FindApp.com for a comparison of FTP software for Windows.

MacOSX

• Transmit - Payware
• Fetch - Payware, one of the first
• Interarchy - Payware, one of the first
• Net Finder - Shareware

See Indiana University's comparison of FTP software for Mac.

Example: Connect via FTP using Windows_FTP or Fetch

Option 2: FTP Access using System Software

MacOS X and Windows XP also have FTP built into the OS.

Connect to your web site via FTP via Mac OS X

Connect to your web site via Mac OS X File Sharing

Connect to your web site via FTP on Windows XP

Option 3: FTP Access using a Web Browser

Internet Explorer and Firefox also implements FTP and may be useful for FTP browsing site files or casual file transfers to and from a host.

Instructions on FTP via Internet Explorer

If you're having problems with an authoring program, it is often helpful to check the FTP functionality with Internet Explorer.

 

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