I have no knowledge of HTML, but need to get a decent looking website up and running fairly quickly. What are my options?

Website creation software, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver and Adobe GoLive, has – albeit with a substantial price tag – eliminated the need to understand the rudiments of HTML, the code that sits behind the majority of websites on the internet. “On the surface, it’s easy,” writes Bruce Wicks. “I’ve taught people to build a basic website using Dreamweaver in about 15 minutes.” But while software packages supposedly work on the WYSIWYG principle, or ‘what you see is what you get’, for the untutored user it too often becomes a case of WYSIWYTYG, or ‘what you see is what you think you get’. It may look great in the program when you’re designing it, but it’s by no means guaranteed to look good across a range of computers and browsers – and that’s where additional expertise becomes invaluable. In addition, software packages tend to generate bloated, over-complicated and sometimes completely erroneous HTML. “Every now and then someone decides to save me trouble by editing their own pages using using Microsoft Front Page,” writes designer Andrew Norman. “They come back full of broken links, dodgy fonts, unnecessary extra code, and I have to spend far longer fixing them than I would have done if they had emailed me the corrections in plain text.”

But, like it or not, these creative tools have been brought to the masses, and inevitably it has led to a substantial devalulation of the noble profession of Web Designer – if, indeed, it was ever valued at all. “Few people understand what ‘decent looking’ means,” fumes Mike Wallis, referring back to this week’s question. “The majority of websites created with this kind of design brief are hideous.” This is a recurring gripe in this week’s inbox – with particular fury saved for those ubiquitous Flash-based introduction pages that perform no function whatsoever, and even admit their own superfluity by containing a “skip intro” button. Many correspondents feel that a solid education in design is far more important than being au fait with advance coding tricks, and almost by way of proof, Stephen McNamara sent an example of a site he created for his son using nothing more than a “Teach Yourself” book as a guide. It’s neat, readable and easily navigated, with no unspeakable horrors such as animated GIFs, gaudy rollover buttons or blue text on a green background.

But do you actually need to spend time painstakingly constructing your own pages? As it becomes clearer what kind of material we like to publish on the internet, companies are stepping in to offer account-based services that not only free us from the intricacies of CSS or FTP, but also ensure that user pages are reasonably attractive (with the exception of that noted design fiasco, MySpace.) “If you want to share holiday snaps,” writes Alex Torrance, “use Flickr or Photobucket. If you want to write a blog or keep a diary, use LiveJournal or Blogspot.” Janet C continues in a similar fashion: “You can store your ‘cool web links’ on de.licio.us, home videos on youtube, Christmas lists on Amazon and schedules on Google Calendar.” However, if your publishing needs don’t fall in these categories, other services have sprung up recently that involve merely dragging and dropping your content within existing, pre-defined templates. These including iWeb, Moonfruit, Sandvox and the free-of-charge Google Page Creator. What you might lose in customisability, you gain in readability; your options may be restricted, but with your worst excesses reined in, you should get your message across more coherently. These new services are thus giving internet rookies something of an advantage over those who claim a smattering of HTML knowledge, wield a copy of Microsoft Front Page, and have an unquenchable thirst for creating multiple Marilyn Manson fan sites.

Bearing all this in mind, if you run a business and are looking to establish an online presence, employing the teenage son of a close friend is probably a false economy. “If you’re a company or organisation whose website will influence customers, voters or the general public, design is really important,” says Janet C. “Leave it to the professionals,” echoes Rachel Coldbreath, succinctly. Oh, and if you emailed the Cyberclinic offering your own services to Emma, who posed this week’s question, it might have been sensible to ensure that your own website didn’t look like a dog’s breakfast first.

Richard Wanless writes with next week’s question: “Filtering out spam emails from inboxes is a major pre-occupation for many of us, but how can we avoid spammers getting hold of our email addresses in the first place?”