Help me help my girlfriend create a website.

November 10, 2006 8:48 AM

I recently had the brilliant idea of giving my girlfriend a domain name plus hosting for her birthday. While it was well received, I haven't yet found a way to help her write a web site. While I know web technology really well, teaching my girlfriend HTML, CSS and JavaScript is not an option. We tried Frontpage (which is simply crap) and Dreamweaver (which is too closely coupled to the code for her) so far and didn't get anywhere. Is there any really simple page creation software, possibly web-based, that would allow her to create her own site without too much hassle? I'm thinking about something with the difficulty level of Google Page Creator, but maybe with a bit more power. Linux servers running pretty much anything are available.
posted by themel to Technology (20 answers total)

"Web site" is an awfully broad term. What does she want to do? Does she want to blog? Post her resume for potential employers? Post photos of her puppies? What she wants to do with the site will determine what kind of software she needs.
posted by decathecting at 8:53 AM on November 10, 2006

Do what I did for my fiancee - install WordPress on her site and show her the basics of setting up a WP blog. My fiancee's not particularly web-savvy, and she was up and running in about 20 minutes...
posted by pdb at 8:53 AM on November 10, 2006

Yeah, it seems to me that a natural extension of the gift would be for you to do the "hard stuff" and show her what she needs to do to keep it updated.
posted by caflores22 at 8:55 AM on November 10, 2006

Wordpress or Typepad.
posted by dobbs at 8:56 AM on November 10, 2006

The above comments are about what I did. She didn't really have any interest in maintaining a blog- or a bizarre need to confess- so it's turned into a picture gallery site. The new version of Picasa will output web galleries straight from the software once you tell it about your ftp-accessible hosting account. Like this blatant self-link example.
posted by wzcx at 8:58 AM on November 10, 2006 [1 favorite]

If you are technical then my recommendation would be Joomla. It could be tailored to pretty much whatever use she wants to get out of the site. If it's a blog she is after then go for Wordpress imo.

If you are using a mac could you consider a program like Rapidweaver? I'm sure there are similar programs for the PC. OR, as a last option I always mention NVU - Word for websites, and it's free.
posted by twistedonion at 9:48 AM on November 10, 2006

I can't think of an easier way to make webpages then Sitespinner.
posted by bigmusic at 9:48 AM on November 10, 2006

I second the Mac/Rapidweaver method. Super easy, cheap and pretty.
posted by SciGuy at 9:50 AM on November 10, 2006

I dont think you need too much technical know-how to run an open source CMS-based site. Personally I love XOOPS. You can integrate Wordpress and Gallery very easily.
posted by tdischino at 10:05 AM on November 10, 2006

Mozilla Composer (part of the Mozilla suite) or the stand-alone NVU fits the bill. Its like a usable Frontpage.

Lastly, if she's that non-technical there's nothing wrong with using Word as a html generator. Especially if she's heavy word user. Granted, its limited and the output code is unmanagable but it doesnt sound like that matters much in this scenario.
posted by damn dirty ape at 10:25 AM on November 10, 2006

This has just appeared... Looks easy and useful.
posted by dpcoffin at 10:40 AM on November 10, 2006

Does the host have any point-and-click installs of things that might make having the domain and hosted space a blog? I know PowWeb has a ton of point and click things that can be installed, and it's pretty straightforward even for non-techies. You can just click and install self-hosted blogging software, photo galleries, bulletin boards, etc. That might be the easiest route for making it useful very quickly.
posted by smallerdemon at 10:40 AM on November 10, 2006

I got my girlfriend up and running on movable type pretty quickly, but she's fairly tech-savvy.
posted by empath at 10:51 AM on November 10, 2006

If she can run MS word, than she can run WordPress.
posted by maxpower at 11:01 AM on November 10, 2006

From How do you know you're an engineeer

If you find that you have to often explain how to use the gifts you have given other people.
posted by bitdamaged at 11:25 AM on November 10, 2006

Drupal is awesome. It's extremely flexible (Hey! I want forums now! And a blog! And Image Galleries! Wooo!) and easy to use.
posted by phrontist at 11:37 AM on November 10, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks, everyone... Sadly, we don't have a Mac around, but I think I'll give the Joomla/Drupal/whatever idea a try.
posted by themel at 11:54 AM on November 10, 2006

If you install a plugin like Static Front Page you can use Word Press to create a more traditional web page. The page I did for my church is set up like this, with recent blog posts appearing in the sidebar.
Even my 11 year old can find his way around Word Press.
posted by Biblio at 6:39 PM on November 10, 2006

You mentioned that you wanted something similar to Google Page Creator -- if the Joomla/Drupal route turns out to be overkill (which I suspect it might), you can always setup her domain for google "apps for your domain" and get Google Page Creator on her domain.

Slightly too basic is I think preferable to way too complex, at least for starters, in this situation.
posted by misterbrandt at 10:53 AM on November 11, 2006

Nvu is full of open-source, wisiwyg goodness, and it's as easy to use as Word.
posted by gmarceau at 1:02 PM on November 11, 2006