Website Builder Program
 

I want to build a simple website. What are today's programs of choice for cheap, middle priced and mega bucks?

Cheap = text editor. :)

Depends on what you want to do. Over at my personal website ben-johnson.org, I'm running a weblog powered by WordPress (wordpress.org), and a photo gallery run by (the aptly named) Gallery (gallery.sourceforge.net). Check them out to see what you can do.

To do these software packages, you'll need a web hosting account, which can typically be had for <$10/month with a decent chunk of storage space and bandwidth. I'm using a company called DreamHost (dreamhost.com), and they'll throw in a free 1-year registration of your domain name (usually an $8-10 value).

If you're just looking for software to write HTML, obviously, a text editor will be the cheapest way to go. You can do HTML in MS Word, although it's not very elegant. Then, there's dedicated software like DreamWeaver, but I don't know pricing for that off the top of my head.

Have to agree that unfortunately the only way to make really professional sites is to learn HTML - that said, my favorite free way of designing web pages is to use the original Mozilla browser (not Firefox). They offer a wonderful tool in: File > Edit Page which allows you to alter text, pictures, etc. If you find a page with a format that appeals to you, load it then tweak the items to make it your own. Otherwise if you have a few $ to spare, Dreamweaver is hard to beat.

Good luck!

btw, although you can use this to edit say Travelocity receipt pages, you shouldn't do it because it's just wrong :p

Assuming you have word, lay it out there and just save it as HTML.

Can't get any cheaper then that.

Find a copy of Windows 98 and pull the Front Page Express program off of it.

Does a dandy job for simple pages.

EDLIN still works pretty well also