Scripts for AVS and Free Sites?

[Ann Omness]

What script do you use to create your sites? Some of the people who submit to Blue Wave every day have really attractive sites, nice logos, graphical buttons and a good variety of templates. I'm really curious what you're using.

[Useless]

Scripts? Do you mean graphic and WYSIWYG programs?

I've always used CuteHTML for all page building, Adobe PS for graphic titles as well as some cropping and optimizatioin, and I use Arles for most of my thumbs and full pic optimization.

[Cleo]

I use a lot of programs but mostly Photoshop/Imageready and Adobe GoLive.

[Greenguy]

I design the pages in Namo, use Thumbs Plus to make the thumbs, use CompuPic to edit the pics (if necessary), WSFTP to upload & my fat fingers to submit

[swedguy]

Smaller Animals Thumbnailer to create thumbs and compress pics.
Photshop if I make any kind of graphics.
Homesite for all HTML.
FireFox and its tabs is great when I submit the site.

[Smutferret]

I use Dream Weaver and Notepad for HTML and general site design, Photo Shop and Xara 3D for site graphics, TGP Cropper for thumbs and general image enhancements or resizing, WSFTP for uploading.

Regards,
SF

[ClickBuster]

I always work on my layout in Photoshop, then I continue with DreamWeaver to do the HTML, I customized it alot and I use it for my code work as well. I use FireFox to browse and CuteFTP Pro to upload, because it has a nice TXT editor and I can edit pages if needed directly from the FTP client. I use Illustrator if I need to make get some vector work done.

-- Andrew

[Ann Omness]

Sorry for not being more clear, I was asking about scripts that create the whole site for you. You upload your content and tell the script the name of the site, description, keywords and select which pics to use for samples. The script creates graphic logos and buttons and generates the site and adds it to your related niche hubs. I've been using AVSAdvantagizer from OTScripts for the past two years, but it has broken now and it doesn't sound like they're supporting it anymore. It took a long time to set up initially, more than a month creating custom templates for it, but it was well worth it considering everything it did. I could make about ten websites, each with its own unique content, on any domain, in about an hour and automatically add them to my niche hubs. It seems like the script cost about $1,000 when I bought it, and it was worth every penny in time savings.

Is anybody else running a script that does all that stuff? I sure hate the thought of going back to creating sites by hand again.

[Smutferret]

Hey Ann,

I think Old Tom is part of Voltar's Newbie Board, maybe you should look him up for help with your site building script.

Regards,
SF

[RawAlex]

I have all sorts of weird tools to build sites...

I have a VERY old copy of frontpage when I need WYSIWYG editing
I have notepad... it's my friends.
I have cuteftp professional 6.0 - it has a really nice editor in it (with line numbers, great for editing PHP)
I have photoshop cs
I have imageready
I have thumbsplus (an old version)
I have paintshoppro
I have visual basic
I have about 100 custom tools for doing things.

If I don't have it, I build it.



Alex

[Ann Omness]

Smutferret, I did get a response when I emailed support regarding Old Tom's script not working properly anymore. They said that the fix will require an upgrade to the script, which according to them "will be a while, I suspect." It sounds like they are busy with other projects and that supporting existing customers isn't a very high priority. I appreciate their honesty, but it still leaves me looking for an equivalent script that works. We're still making websites, but it's taking several times as long to do them.

[Dravyk]

Ann, only script I know of that does both is Content God.

[Smutferret]

Ann,

I found this link in my collection of script bookmarks, I've never used any of their software but I think it's what you're looking for...

http://wizardsoftware.biz

Hope you find a script that works for you...

Regards,
SF

[Ann Omness]

Content God Classic looks like it might do the job for me. I remember looking at it a long time ago and wasn't interested because the licensing was too restrictive. I see they've changed the license now so it covers all the domains on a server. Is anybody here using Content God? I'd like to see some examples of sites created with it, and get their opinion of the program.

[ecchi]

I write my own Perl scripts for about 90% of tasks. This is better for two reasons, firstly I can get the script to do exactly what I want, and more importantly, using an "off the peg" script is like wearing a big old badge saying "Want to hack my site? Here's how".

[Dravyk]

Originally Posted by ecchi

using an "off the peg" script is like wearing a big old badge saying "Want to hack my site? Here's how".

Hi Ecchi, I know this was not directed at me, so I'll not it take it personally. I know you're talking generally. That said, I still have to strongly disagree with your statement.

First, in terms of general scripts that are off the rack, if we're talking about PhpNuke or something, then yes, everybody keeps the scripts the place they are installed. Now while that may make it easier to hack those scripts, knowing where the admins are located and their structure, it still does not necessarily mean they are open to be hacked.

Webmasters have to take precautions! Change passwords in configs, change the "key" in Nuke, add htaccess files, etc. But only complete dopes who put something up and leave the default logins unchanged would actually be open to attack. (And even then, I wouldn't call it a hack, per se; a five year old can figure out the avowed location and put in "admin" and "test" or whatever!) Anyways, that for general scripts of that type.

Secondly, with a program such as Content God, specifically, nobody even knows that it is being used by the webmaster!! There is absolutely nothing in the galleries or sites created that lead back to, nor in any other way indicate, that a script was ever used to make them.

And, it can be placed in any domain, any directory, any location anywhere on the server that the customer wants it to be. Combined with the normal precautions, this particular off the peg program is NOT in any way prone to be hacked, I can assure you.

I'd like to see some examples of sites created with it, and get their opinion of the program.

Ann, we have an on-site public working demo that creates real (albeit ugly) sites and galleries.

You call also contact us at support and I'm sure we can dig up some TGP galleries and possibly some free sites that have been made up. I'm honestly in doubt about having any handy AVS sites around, as there hasn't been a big call for that in recent years, but again you can test it out on the live demo. And again ask us any questions. Thanks.

[ecchi]

No my comments were not aimed at "Content God" but at the use of scripts in general. And sorry if my comments pissed on your salespitch, I had not realised anyone was pushing their own scripts, if I had I would have chosen my words more carefully.

If you don't know how to write Perl then yes, you do have to buy other people's scripts, and please don't take my post to be aimed at any particular script mentioned in this thread, or anywhere else. However if you do use "off the peg" scripts take careful note of what Dravyk says about security ("Change passwords in configs..................a five year old can figure out the avowed location and put in "admin" and "test" or whatever!"). However do not assume that doing this makes you 100% safe, it does not, it just makes you safer.

But that said, if you are serious about making money in this business I strongly urge you to learn Perl. Not only is it safer, it also means you can write the scripts exactly the way you want them, and it is often cheaper (I have several scripts I wrote in 3 or 4 hours that I would have had to work several days to earn enough to pay for a commercial version). Plus you get into the habit of looking at every job you do and thinking "can I write a script to do this that will save me time". I literally could not do everything in a day that I currently do in a day if Perl did not do a lot of the repetitive work for me. And a lot of the jobs it does are so "me specific" that I don't think there are commercial scripts that would help.