Has anyone used Macromedia Contribute?

**mlm** · 07-27-2006, 01:38 AM

Here's the situation. Our clinic put up a website about 1.5 years ago. It was originally designed by a friend of the doctors, who designed it as her project for a computer course. I'm not sure what she used to create the site.

Now we need to update some information, and there are pages we want to spruce up a bit. The friend now has a full time job, and she doesn't have time to do the modification. I have managed to teach myself to do very rudimentary changes with the file manager program that our host server provides. It seems to me that I'm doing this in the hardest, most time intensive manner possible.

I have no desire to redo the site. I happen to think it looks pretty good. But I don't want to have to constantly wait on someone to make our changes, knowing that minor chages like these are low priority.

So, I figure there are 3 solutions:

1)We leave ourselves at the mercy of the doctors' friend, who has the knowledge to do work, but it won't be a priority so we'll end up waiting.

2)We hire a professional web designer who can quickly make the changes we need, but will cost us a pretty penny every time we need his or her services.

3)We invest in a program like Macromedia's Contribute, which is apparently designed to do exactly what I'm trying to do. It allows someone to modify a website. Once we got the program, I'd get myself familiar with it and I would become the designated staff member for dealing with the website.

I'm interested in hearing from clinics and optical shops who have websites. How do you handle this dilemma? Have you tried Contribute, or a similar program? Essentially, how do you guys deal with this dilemma?

**rbaker** · 07-27-2006, 04:49 AM

Macromedia Contribute is not the best tool to use to change your web site. Assuming that you do not have a dynamic web site and have access to the server side code, you may not need anything more that a text editor like notepad. And, you can do just about anything with Microsoft FrontPage or Macromedia Dreamweaver.

In today’s workplace, these are very valuable skills to add to your toolkit.

**optispares** · 07-27-2006, 12:20 PM

Originally Posted by rbaker

Macromedia Contribute is not the best tool to use to change your web site. Assuming that you do not have a dynamic web site and have access to the server side code, you may not need anything more that a text editor like notepad. And, you can do just about anything with Microsoft FrontPage or Macromedia Dreamweaver.

In today’s workplace, these are very valuable skills to add to your toolkit.

i agree you should be able to download your pages edit the code in dreamweaver (you can download a free trial from macromedia.) then ftp the new page back to the server.

**Sean** · 07-27-2006, 03:56 PM

Originally Posted by optispares

i agree you should be able to download your pages edit the code in dreamweaver (you can download a free trial from macromedia.) then ftp the new page back to the server.

Here's the direct link to all of the MacroMedia® Downloads

MacroMedia®

**mlm** · 07-27-2006, 11:47 PM

Dick,

I should have said that I don't know HTML. I have no experience dealing with websites other than my recent stumbling around. I have toyed with the idea of taking a course on website design and management which, as you pointed out, will be very beneficial.

Jack and Sean,

Does Dreamweaver (or FrontPage for that matter) have a steep learning curve? I am willing to put the time in to learn (either on my own or in a course), but there are some changes that my employers would like done sooner rather than later.

I'm a bit wary of taking on this duty on top of all my other duties. I'm an optometric assistant, not a website designer! :p But I know that my employers are leaning towards Option #3. Therefore, as embarrassing as it is to admit, I need a program that's idiot-proof.

**optispares** · 07-28-2006, 12:05 PM

Originally Posted by mlm

Dick,

I should have said that I don't know HTML. I have no experience dealing with websites other than my recent stumbling around. I have toyed with the idea of taking a course on website design and management which, as you pointed out, will be very beneficial.

Jack and Sean,

Does Dreamweaver (or FrontPage for that matter) have a steep learning curve? I am willing to put the time in to learn (either on my own or in a course), but there are some changes that my employers would like done sooner rather than later.

I'm a bit wary of taking on this duty on top of all my other duties. I'm an optometric assistant, not a website designer! :p But I know that my employers are leaning towards Option #3. Therefore, as embarrassing as it is to admit, I need a program that's idiot-proof.

dreamweaver is useable as a WYSIWYG.(WHAT U SEE IS WHAT YOU GET)
SO YOU CAN JUST DRAG N DROP. I am no expert but i use it for my website designs. just download a copy and play you can't go wrong . if you dont like what you have done just dont save it. if you always keep an original you will never lose it just save the new one as a differrent name til u get what u want.if you need any help email me and i will do my best to help u.
if you post a link to your web site i will look at the code.

**mlm** · 07-31-2006, 11:50 PM

Jack,

Thanks! I'll download a demo version of Dreamweaver in a couple of weeks to try it out. (My brother's getting married next week, so I don't have any spare time to play with the program.)

The website is www.vanblockeyedoc.com.

Myra

**optispares** · 08-01-2006, 11:43 AM

Originally Posted by mlm

Jack,

Thanks! I'll download a demo version of Dreamweaver in a couple of weeks to try it out. (My brother's getting married next week, so I don't have any spare time to play with the program.)

The website is www.vanblockeyedoc.com.

Myra

looking at it it use a dreamweaver template and css. so u should have no problems editing it in dreamweaver.