Use html web editor (e.g. Kompozer) or web framework (e.g. Rails, Django)

Question

I'm trying to build a basic website, but that doesn't limit my ability to add complexity later. I am a complete newb and have no prior programming experience. I'm very confused as to the role of web editors (e.g. Kompozer) vs. web frameworks (e.g. Rails, Django). For what purposes are each useful for? What makes sense for quickly building a basic, functional website that can be more professionally developed later on?

Answer 1

Kompozer is a WYSIWYG that allows you to drag and drop HTML elements and create your website with buttons, dropdowns and menus. You can view the code it generates and modify it if you need to.

A web framework you would typically not use a drag and drop type editor, but just type code into something that looked like an advanced Notepad. A web framework typically removes a lot of the grunt work and allows you to organize your logic separately from your design.

Basically, you would use a program like Kompozer if you wanted a simple website that didn't do much in terms of functionality. You would use a web framework for doing some heavy lifting with some custom programming... for example if you wanted to design a web application that did calculations based on the food you ate today and gave you dieting information, or where you could login and manage different types of equipment etc...