Which software for clients to use

[Simon Young]

Hi,

I have a couple of clients who would now like to begin maintaining their own websites - i.e. just changing the odd picture here and there and bits of text etc - nothing structure / layout wise.

The websites they have are just basic html so the software needs to easily edit html and probably have a graphical as well as code view.

So can anyone recommend a good and easy to use web editing software which incorporates an FTP client and isn't too expensive that my clients would be able to learn relatively easily.

Thanks

[scott5430]

i know some clients using adobe contribute with some success. it's about $200 which may be too much $

[CyberWolf]

For clients that are just updating their sites with some text and images, and FTP controls "PageBreeze" is basic but works fine.

[jamx551]

I suggest you convert your clients' static websites to oen that can be installed using Content Management Systems like DotNetNuke, joomla, wordpress etc..
I specifically use DotnetNuke.. I design the skin, upload it in an DNN environment and presto! the client now has the option of building the content like texts and graphics by himself because its very easy. The nice thing about CMS is that your clients dont need FTP software or html editor installed in their system.. All they need is internet and the access codes to enter into the edit mode of the site. Hence, they can work anywhere and whenever they want as long as there's internet.. They can even update their pages using IPhone.. that will be very convenient for your clients.. Best of all they wont mess up the structure and layout of the skin so that's peace of mind on your part and savings for your clients..Hope this helps!

[dharrison]

Flyspeck is a good light package (Flyspeck - Browser Based Web Page Editor - PHP / Browser Based Editing Script) that can added to an existing web page and costs under $50.

If however you are building a site form scratch, Joomla is worth the short learning curve and is robust.

[JasonJersey]

CMS is the best way to go as far as I am concerned. I have used for example Wordpress for CMS and enjoy working with it. If you have a good knowledge of CSS, Html and Java script then Wordpress is very easy to use to create very powerful CMS and would be very easy for your clients to add or edit the site. They can even add additional users and assign roles if you add a plugin.

Bottomline, It really dont matter what CMS you use but I do recommend a CMS for what you describe.

[Marcus]

The combination of CuteHtml and CuteFtp are quite easy to use and not too spendy.

[microtekblue]

Dreamweaver MX all the way!

[microtekblue]

CS3 might be more advanced for them unless they are familiar with xhtml and css.

[SnerdeyWebs]

This is indeed a growing trend. People are doing everything that they can to save money.. in the long run they are going to waste more time in the learning curve even for simple task.

I take a moment an educate clients of the pros and cons and even drop the price for updates.

For those that do not go for it I often suggest that we link the website to a new blog for example www.blogspot.com that way updates can be made with much more ease and less damage to website.

If they are still wanting to be "webmasters" then highly suggest a Joomla Template and redo the site into it. I don't see it being such a good idea to let them into the core of the site unless you're counting on fixing it for free since you let them in

hehe, tough - always a tough call.

Good luck with that!
.