Need web site design software wisdom

[kenmtb]

Hello-
I am trying to upgrade my homepage from a primitive html design to something more presentable. I started using ms publisher 2003 to build a test design and it looked fine until I viewed it in the web page mode. I can play with the jpg images but the word art text look jagged. It seems like everything gets compressed or ruined when you try to publish

Is there a better program out there? Something that is easy for a noob and will not distort the results? Im just looking to create a simple page with no css or fancy stuff. PS something free or inexpensive would be great.
Thank you!
Ken

 

[craftygeek]

What format are you saving the images as?
Sounds like you might be saving them out as GIF when they should probably be jpg - if they are jpg, are they being overly compressed? - I'd suggest going no lower than 60% compression.

 

[kenmtb]

The files are jpg but the stubborn problem is word art text is not smooth when I view the web page.
Thanks

Edit:
I found a way to cure the text jaggies. Save word art as png not gif.

 

[craftygeek]

The files are jpg but the stubborn problem is word art text is not smooth when I view the web page.
Thanks

Edit:
I found a way to cure the text jaggies. Save word art as png not gif.

Um - you just majorly contradicted yourself there...I'd suggest using jpg rather than png as the file size is smaller - gif & jpg are not the same.

 

[sysgenmedia]

Decent rule of thumb (obviously some exceptions will apply): Use a jpg for photo-realistic images. png / gif otherwise (artsy text for example). Also, keep in mind if you're using png with transparency, older versions of IE don't play nice with it. I believe there's a fix for that, but I'm not sure offhand what it is. I'm sure Google would be willing to help with that problem though.

As for the programs aspect, personally I'm a huge fan of Dreamweaver for the web design and management and Photoshop for image manipulation. Neither are cheap however and both come with a fairly steep learning curve, though there are plenty of tutorials available to help with learning them.