Hi, i'm new to website building and am finding it realllllllyyy difficult to get to grips with the basics.
I was wondering if it would help to have the full version, maybe some features arent working so well on the trial version. I can't afford to wast my money at the moment.
Also i have downloaded the free version twice and it has stopped working. i dont want to start another page and cant get it up again tomorow,
any thoughts??
thank you

The trial versions aren't lacking anything - you get all the features available in the paid for version.
Not sure what "stopped working" means here - does VSD not open at all, or does it freeze up/shut down when you're in the middle of something? More info, please!
It would help to know if you're using Windows XP, Vista, 7; 32 or 64 bit... and what exactly is happening. It might be as simple as right-clicking to open and choosing run as administrator, or you might need to send in a support ticket for some pro help.

Hi, when i try to open the programme its says 'vsd has stopped working'. tried it loads of times, then removed the programme and started again. Its vista.
im having trouble with 2 basic things, finding more than about 5 templates, (hence i thought there may be more in the full version) and i wanted to have the background in shades of green but it will only let me do it from black to white or rainbow.
thanks

We first recommend that you download the latest version of Visual Site Designer from our website dated March 17th, 2011. If you are still having problems with this version, please see the steps below.

This can happen even if you are running as an Administrator, and it is caused by Windows very strict security settings.

To fix this, right-click your Visual Site Designer shortcut icon and select Run as Administrator. This should properly launch Visual Site Designer for you. If it does, great! You can continue to launch the program in this way, or you can go a step further and configure the shortcut to always run as administrator. Here's how:

1. Right-click the shortcut icon, and click Properties.
2. Click the Compatibility tab.
3. Here, put a check mark by Run This Program as an Administrator.
4. Next, put a check mark next to Run This Program in Compatibility Mode For: and ensure Windows XP Pro Service Pack 2 is selected.
5. Click OK.


If you continue having problems you may also need to set the application as an exception to Windows Data Execution Prevention (DEP) feature. Normally if this is the culprit, you'll get a little bubble along the taskbar notifying you, which will allow you to set the offender as an exception.

One last option that could be the cause of this, and related to the DEP feature, is User Account Controls. This is the large window that appears in Vista asking you to "Allow" or "Deny" access to functions within programs. You can turn this off within your Control Panel > User Accounts window, along the left-hand pane.

All three options let you control your system exactly how you want and give you full access to do/run anything on the computer.

Lisa - for your gradient - click on the black/white pointers (triangles) above the gradient bar and the color picker will open up so you can choose any colors you want. Slide the pointers to adjust the gradient fill.

I don't know about the templates included with VSD - I've never looked at them, but there's plenty more in the Coffee Cup Store. They don't cost much at all and there's package deals as well. You can find some themes that carry over from website to shopping cart, forms and photo galleries so you can have everything coordinated (if you need those items in your site).

Let us know if Scott's instructions get you up and running

ok , thanks a lot yes ive got all that, made loads of progress yesterday cheers.

i have a question about fonts. is it really important to stick with the standard forms? i really wanted my site in casual handwriting. I always use google so i probably always see peoples sites the way they intended and a lot are in that style, so how much should i worry about my site showing up differently on other search engines. how do things translate to people who dont use windows as well, i think i should be leaving windows myself soon shldnt I? for up to date performance.
thanks
Lisa

If you create some text and click on 'Allow advanced text' in the tool window, you can use any font you like, because the text will then be turned into an image.

If you want google and other search engines fo list your site, you should use the advanced text feature with caution, because the search bots don't read the text in an image. I would use in mainly for headings, not the other text on a site.

Hi
I would like to use VSD to build a website displaying the results of my weekly Bridge Club sessions. These results are all in tabular format.
Does VSD support the inclusion of tabular data. eg can I copy & paste the results table into a web page.
Any help appreciated.

Thank you
TM

VSD has no 'button' to create tables. What you would have to to is to create a html table in some other html editing programme (like e.g. Coffeecup Html Editor) and then use the html tool in VSD to insert it.

So it is kind of like copy/pasting, but not quite. If your aim is just to display your Bridge results in a table, I think you'd be better off with the CC HTML Editor. If you are new to all this and holler for help, we'll be right there

Mind you, I came to think a bit further as I re-read the posts above yours... If you are creating the table using Excel or some other spread sheet, then make a nicely trimmed screenshot of it and save that as a .gif, .jpg, or .png image, you can insert the image into VSD using the image tool.

Actually, Excel (and OpenOffice Calc too) have an option to export to html. I'm not sure of all of the details off top of my head, as I don't have either loaded on my laptop at the moment, but I am sure it was fairly simple to do so.