I recently volunteered to maintain the website for a non-profit I'm involved with. But - I know nothing about web page editing! Does anyone know of cheap or free software or a cheap or free online course that would help me get started?
Yikes! I've gotta ask - why did you volunteer if you don't know how to maintain it? That being asked, it honestly depends on how the website was originally created... Some folks use straight HTML (which is hard-ish to learn, but free 'cause there is no program to buy for it), and others use Microsoft Front Page (which is easier to use, but expensive to buy). And even others use completely different products/methods! If the original creator used FrontPage, IMHO you'll have to find a way to get it - because from what I've learned about it, it's very difficult to change without having the program. I taught myself HTML, and do a semi-decent job of it... More recently I bought Adobe Creative Suite which includes Adobe GoLive - that is kinda a cross between FrontPage and HTML. (It uses straight html but will let you know if you do something wrong.) The problem is that Adobe products are pretty expensive. Websites that helped me learn HTML are: http://htmlgoodies.com/ http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/tut/lessons.html http://webhelp.org/ If you feel comfortable posting the website, it'd be helpful for me - I could look at the source and hopefully figure out how it was created.
I was in your shoes and found that bluehost.com offers low cost, fairly user friendly website building & hosting. If they already have a site up and running then you've got alot of reading & learning to do, it's not easy to pick up overnight. Depending on what type of non profit you are talking about clubspaces.com could work also (if it's a school, scout group, PTA, sports league, etc). Clubspaces is TOTALLY simple for the layperson to walk in and create/maintain.
I run my own website, and first made all my pages with NVU (you can download it for free, and it has a wysiwyg editor (easy lol) but it does help if you know a bit of HTML. If you google, you can find online guides to learn HTML. I have pacwebhosting.com for my webhost. I think it's brilliant. £2.99 (about $5) a month for the domain, webspace, and hundreds of extra things, like blogs, forums etc. Let me know if you need any help.x
Although your website is already established, there is another alternative for those of us who are HTML impaired. I just do not have time to learn, and found a quick solution at http://www.moonfruit.com. So far, I have done three for my non-profit organizations. MoonFruit has "show homes" on their website, but here is one of mine: http://rachelcormany-asuvcw.moonfruit.com/ You can use your own domain name if you wish, and they offer a free basic package. I've been with them for three years, and would be glad to answer any questions!
