There are a few good programs for website design. Which one you choose will depend on the level of experience you have with website design and HTML code. There are freeware programs like 1
st Page and HTML-Kit, or Notepad for those who are strictly writing code for their website design. However, if you do not know HTML code and have no desire to learn website design in that much detail, Dreamweaver or CoffeeCup may be the better option for you. Let’s compare the two programs.Both Dreamweaver and CoffeeCup allow the user to work with templates, backgrounds, textures, fonts, and more. They are both fairly user friendly for beginners who may not be fluent in HTML.
According to several website design software reviews, however, Dreamweaver beats out CoffeeCup when it comes to flexibility and growth for website designers. In other words, if you are looking to become a better, more advanced website designer then Dreamweaver will grow with you better than CoffeeCup.
Many users who reviewed both software programs scored Dreamweaver higher in usability and prefer it over CoffeeCup. Even if you are more advanced designer, you can type in your HTML code and work within that mode if you choose to design that way. Otherwise, for the beginner, there is a non-HTML interface that makes it easy to format and design your web pages.
Some users expressed frustration with CoffeeCup because of its non-standard file-open dialog. It does not behave like most other applications in this regard. Overall, CoffeeCup seems to be geared more toward beginners.
One area where CoffeeCup wins over Dreamweaver is its price tag. Dreamweaver is much more expensive, retailing for around $399 at the time of this article being written. CoffeeCup has a much more modest price tag of about $50. Bottom line, if you are just looking to design a web page every now and again and have little desire to advance your web design skills, then CoffeeCup may do. On the other hand, if you are looking for a better overall experience and something that can grow as you learn HTML, then choose Dreamweaver as your HTML editor.
