New with a few questions.

[z06_joe]

Hello everyone. I have been lurking on the forum for some time now and have found a great deal of helpful information by searching but I have a few questions for the seasoned members on the board.

 

I have some basic HTML knowledge and have used MS Front Page in the past but I'm looking to maintain my own website. I have tried several different web designers and it seems we never get what we ask for in the end. My site operates on OSCommerce v2.2. I checked in the includes to be sure:

 

// define the project version

define('PROJECT_VERSION', 'osCommerce Online Merchant v2.2 RC2a');

 

I would like to know what design software is best for editing the overall look of our site? Dreamweaver, Front Page etc? I'm looking to have the ability to create custom product pages with more then one picture per listed item as well as add some flair to the home page. I like the general look of some of the Yahoo driven sites that have multiple pictures per item as well as seperate categories for products as well as "how to" areas.

 

If anyone is interested here is a link to my site: www.detailsupplyonline.com

 

Feel free to add any pointers or suggestions good or bad about the site. Thank you everyone and sorry for the extended post.

[♥mdtaylorlrim]

 

I would like to know what design software is best for editing the overall look of our site? Dreamweaver, Front Page etc? I'm looking to have the ability to create custom product pages with more then one picture per listed item as well as add some flair to the home page. I like the general look of some of the Yahoo driven sites that have multiple pictures per item as well as seperate categories for products as well as "how to" areas.

 

You MUST NOT use any wysiwyg editors. Use plain text editors. I use Arachnophilia. It is great for php because it has a neat function of highlighting the corresponding delimiter [{}()] when editing php code. There are probably many others that do the same. You use what you get used to and like and you may find something else you like, or someone else suggests.

 

The important thing is do not use an editor that automatically puts anything in the code without you explicitly putting it there yourself. Like is common with what-you-see-is-what-you-get editors like Front Page, etc.

[z06_joe]

You MUST NOT use any wysiwyg editors. Use plain text editors. I use Arachnophilia. It is great for php because it has a neat function of highlighting the corresponding delimiter [{}()] when editing php code. There are probably many others that do the same. You use what you get used to and like and you may find something else you like, or someone else suggests.

 

The important thing is do not use an editor that automatically puts anything in the code without you explicitly putting it there yourself. Like is common with what-you-see-is-what-you-get editors like Front Page, etc.

 

Reading up on Arachnophilia now. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Here is an example of a concern I have from my last web designer:

 

<META NAME="Keywords" Content="car care, detailing, detail, best car wax, paint sealant, mothers, carnauba, clay, buffers, tire dressing, car wax, car detailing, auto detailing supplies, car care products, hex buff pads, compound,">

<meta name="keywords" content="KEYWORDS"><base href="http://www.detailsupplyonline.com/">

 

As you can see above I have two META tags for keywords. One is a contribution I found here that automatically generates keywords from items within the site. The second is what the designer left behind? <meta name="keywords" content="KEYWORDS">