NOF

[garyallred]

I am still considering which web design program to learn (besides hand coding). I know that Gary Priester swears by NetObject Fusion. I understand they were bought out and now are about to lauch version 7 next week. I noticed that Dale was not impressed with NOF - are there other opinions out there that have used NOF.

Gary Allred

[garyallred]

I am still considering which web design program to learn (besides hand coding). I know that Gary Priester swears by NetObject Fusion. I understand they were bought out and now are about to lauch version 7 next week. I noticed that Dale was not impressed with NOF - are there other opinions out there that have used NOF.

Gary Allred

[dalel]

For $100 US, NOF MX is an excellent program. I did not use it enough to learn all it's features. I still have it on my QuickLaunch bar, and the next website I build I will build with both Dreamweaver and NOF MX, so that I can learn it's strengths and limitations compared to DW.

I learned Dreamweaver as my first WYSIWYG editor. DW is the cream of the crop, and easy to use once you learn it. There was little that I wanted to do with it, that I could not, or had to bypass and hand code to get the effect I wanted. Dreamweaver is really deep with features, while NOF MX is more basic. You will be surprised what NOF MX can do for the price, and it's interface is really unique and easy to use.

Even if you use a WYSIWYG editor, hand coding knowledge and experience gives you the opportunity to make the website do exactly what you want it to do, so I recommend you learn the basics of HTML and Javascript, for greater control over your sites.

I think NOF MX is probably faster to build sites with overall. I liked it immediately, and found it to be easy to learn, and really fun to use.
I built an example site less than 2 hours, something I would not have been able to do with DW right out of the box. I've tried a few other WYSIWYG editors in the past, and NOF beats them by a mile. For $100, it's a real bargain. I felt frustrated when it lacked a feature that DW had, but if you have nothing to compare it with, you probably won't notice, or even miss the features I needed. DW spoiled me.

If you can afford DW (I got mine off EBay for a greatly reduced price, about $190), you won't be disappointed. But if you can do without all the advanced features DW has, NOF MX can do quite a lot without ever hand coding. You can build some very good sites with NOF MX, as Gary P.'s sites demonstrate.

Dale

Why, I’m afraid I can’t explain myself, sir, because I’m not myself, you know...
- Lewis Carroll

[stlewis]

I'm looking forward to the new Dreamweaver release. It's getting good reviews and the support for PHP sounds very promising.

I used HotMetal for a long time happily but it seems to have stuck - no releases for a long, long time, and did I read that Softquad have been bought by Corel?

www.bricksandbrass.co.uk

[jon spain]

If you're looking for dynamic sites, NOF needs far more done to it, where DreamweaverMX will score most highly. Although I want one site to include dynamic content, it is not a pressing issue yet. So I shall definitely be upgrading to NOF7 next week because I think it is very good indeed. For sheer simplicity, site speed and consistency, DW just doesn't match it IMHO.

Just my 2p (and no surrender)

PS Like these fora (I'm pedantic), NOF fora are exceptiional sources of speedy support. That's real added valu

Jon

[garyallred]

I have Dreamweaver 4 also but I have not had time to learn it because I stay very busy with my usual design accounts. I continue to have graphic clients wanting a web site designed - nothing fancy but still nice looking. I am considering NOF because of the speed in designing a site as well as learning curve and the good reports about tech help. I hope to move into Dreamweaver as time goes on but it might be a while.

Thnks to each for your comments.

Gary Allred
www.theoriginalorg.com

[d-sine]

hi gary,

i used NOF since version 2 and stopped using it at version 5, i have a version of MX even though i don't use it. I stopped using NOF because of Dreamweaver, which I started using when it reached version 4. Dreamweavers interface was tough going for a while but now i think nothing of it whatsoever, and i've been for what must be almost two years now i guess.

both packages have their good and bad points but i think it comes down to a simple choice, and that is what you want for the job you're doing. If you need it quick and you don't want to pull to many whizzy stunts as you dont need to hand-code then NOF is the tool. if you want the more powerful angle where you realise you may have to take more control over the creation process and require the facility to hand-code then Dreamweaver is the answer.

Dreamweaver is pretty much "state of the art" as far as wysiwyg webtools goes and NOF is behind that somewhere. NOF gains a lead in the simplicity stakes, its great if you dont have the time for hour-devouring complex stuff or you just aren't interested. My sister (for example) had never created a website before and yet with NOF and a couple of hours she was finding here way around and realising what she could create because NOF helps you develop your ideas and makes it _so_ easy to create. With Dreamweaver you're better off having so experience under you belt and that'll help you get to grips with the interface much easier and help you harness the power that it provides.

Sorry for the rant by the way, is just sad geeky me running on about something i know about for a change!!

Hope it helps anyhow, if you want to see some sites created with either program then just let me know, i've got some urls you can visit to see what i've made with them.

d-sine.

:: d-sine :: www.d-sine.org

[garyallred]

Yes I would like to see some of your work. Also thanks for the input.

Gary Allred

[dalel]

If you want to learn most of the features in Dreamweaver and feel confident about using it quickly and confidently, get the book Dreamweaver 4 HOT(Hands on Training) by Lynda Weinman, and do all the exercises from the start of the book to the end, using the exercise files on the CD. You will be totally comfortable with DW after doing that, you will know all of the basics, and you will be able to build a site pretty easily and quickly.

I've known several people who owned a program they had not bothered to fully train on, yet they kept looking for that "magic" program that would make the whole process easier.

Train yourself on Dreamweaver if you have it. You will not regret it. And if you decide to switch to NOF, many of the skills you will learn in DW will transfer over nicely.

Dale

Why, I’m afraid I can’t explain myself, sir, because I’m not myself, you know...
- Lewis Carroll

[gidgit]

Well, I downloaded the trial of NOFmx and my first impression is...some of the buttons in the styles are nice...seriously though, I will give this app a good working over before drawing up any type of conclusion...

that said, I must also suggest here that when I first loaded up Namo Web Editor, I knew from the git go that I really liked the app...