unstable formatting help needed

[oldfolks]

hi
I have inherited a Xara created website for a charity that I am volunteering for.
I do not have Xara, but have coded in simple html for some years.
I want to do some basic changes to several pages to direct visitors to a blog (wordpress is easier for the other volunteers involved to update regularly)
I have found that there is SOOOOO much excess coding in each page that the merest change of plain text throws the whole page out of kilter.

I thought I had sorted it.. and had successfully created and uploaded a simple page that included the main design of the site, with basic text content, and hoped I could just change the content to make up the relevant few pages.
And I hoped that I could change a few out of date words on other pages and all would be well until a full new site can be created in months hence.
But when I try today -- whoosh all the formatting disappears and the page is garbled..

Is there some kind soul who could help me with this ?
I am clearly missing something VERY simple and straightforward for those of you familiar with the software.

I have tried editing in Seamonkey whcih was initially successful but have also tried in notepad to avoid any conflict with software.

As it is not my own website, I would prefer not to splash the site all over here if someone with the skills could offer to look at it privately that would be fantastic.

[gwpriester]

Xara is a long way from hand coding. Xara web design products were not designed to be HTML editors and so if you don't have the original document file (.xar or .web) you're in for a lot of trial and error editing the HTML text.

Xara web design products position text, photos, and graphics on the page where the designer manually places them and then creates the code to position these objects in the browser as they appear in the design program. As someone who hand coded in the 90s before WYSIWYG web design programs, I do not miss this at all.

So, unless some kind member gives you a fish (give a man a fish and he will be fed for a day, teach a man to fish and he will never go hungry), you're going to have to do a lot of trial and error until you get the page right.

[Drwyd]

Hi Oldfolks, welcome to TG

I would highly recommend getting a copy of the latest Xara Web Designer, especially the premium version. You wont regret it It can import any site direct from the browser and position it to a high degree of accuracy in the editor and allow you to set up your links as required.

A 30 day free trial is available.

[gwpriester]

Drwyd - I think it is a bit of over promise to expect to recreate the page exactly. It's not bad but there is a lot of work still to be done. Mouse over buttons have to be pretty much recreated and I am not sure about material that is on layers.

But with a free trial, oldfolks can't go too far wrong and the best hope in this case is to recreate the site and then edit.

[gracehjs]

Did you get the original .xar or .web file when you inherited the site? That would be the easiest way.

[oldfolks]

hi
thank you for your feedback - your time and expertise is much appreciated.
I have done as suggested but as feared not all pages load as expected.
All we want is to make some basic corrections to an out of date site so it can remain for the rest of the year in neutral while a new site is created.
So far we do not have the original .xar or .web files. - not sure if these are available or not.
Any other help is MOST gratefully received.