Dustin, I have found VSD has its limitations but is very easy to use. I don't think you will be able to find an easier web design program for a novice user such as yourself. I have been using VSD for approximately 4 years and moved the files to three different machines with only minor problems. It maybe that you don't understand directory structure. As long as all your files reside in directories of the names and relative position on the new computer as they did on the old you, should have no problem. Example: If you have your graphics files in “C:\Churchwebsite\pics\ “on the old machine, then you must have the same directory containing these files on your new machine. One should use good house keeping practices and keep all files related to the website in subdirectories under one main directory. This can save much time when move your site to another computer.

CoffeeCup offers good software at reasonable prices. I would recommend it to anyone.

There are other wysiwyg programs that allow you to do a directory path change for individual images, or a universal change, when transferring your site to another computer. I think we can all agree this would be a nice feature to add to VSD.

Richard is right though. As long as you transfer your images into a folder that has an identical path, VSD will recognize the images. Some folders are named differently in Vista, and will therefore not present an identical path. You may have to rename "Documents" in Vista, to "My Documents" as it is named in XP.

The only way I can see having to change the path name individually on large amounts of images is if they are scattered in various folders with different names. I build about 50 sites a year. As a rule of thumb, I store all the images used in a site in a folder with one name associated with that site. So, all images used in ACME Builders website will reside in C:\My Documents\ACME\website\images. All linked pdf's go in C:\My Documents\ACME\website\docs. When transferring to a different computer, if a folder named "My Documents" does not exist on its C drive, one must be made. Then add the chain of subfolders to match. VSD will follow the identical path on the new machine and find the images.

I know most of you experienced builders already know all this, but I hope this boiled down explanation helps users with less VSD time under their belts.

Good point Jim. Everything I do with any site stays in a main folder and then sub-folders for each area(ie. graphics, forms, extra javascript, etc.) I have found not only does it facilitate vsd transfer, it lets me find every area of a project even if I pick it up 6 months later.

So the key then is making sure all the new folders and subfolders (or paths) have the EXACT name as they had on the desktop with XP? When transferring to a laptop with Vista? Because I had the same problem....it couldn't find any images when I tried to open up my website on the new computer. But if I had known this....which I now know for next time, I wouldn't have had all the frustration.

Is there a section in "help" that tells you exactly how to do this? And perhaps several other things we've had problems with in the past? Or on the website, maybe a how-to? Perhaps I missed it. If so, please tell me where it is and I'll bookmark it!

I'm still having MAJOR problems with VSD, but I've sent more questions to support and am waiting for replies.

It seems as if VSD really jumps through the hoops to do things.....but maybe that's just me. My husband has never had problems like I do.....he uses other software.

I'm trying to be patient.

T.

When my old computer died, it was a hardware problem. But I saved my old hard drive. I bought an external bay and stuck the old hard drive in it and then copied it into a whole new folder of its own on my new computer. Now I open everything from that folder, including VSD. It still finds everything.

When my old computer died, it was a hardware problem. But I saved my old hard drive. I bought an external bay and stuck the old hard drive in it and then copied it into a whole new folder of its own on my new computer. Now I open everything from that folder, including VSD. It still finds everything.

Are you can save all your files on a thumb drive.

VSD does have it's share of problems for sure. But the one you are having is largely due to a bit of "pilot error" as mentioned by many before me.

Make sure that you keep all of your resources within one directory. You can certainly use sub-directories within that folder to arrange your various images and such.

VSD isn't the only program that will lose track of images and graphics if directory structure changes, as happens when transferring files between computers. Many Adobe products will have this same problem under the same situation, for example.

But keeping all of your resources in one directory cuts down on the amount of problems you will have if this situation occurs again.

The key is organization. One of the few times where it is best to have all of your eggs in one basket...

I have been using VSD for quite some time and love it. It has it's place in my workflow and I have made a pile of money creating websites with it in addition to other Coffeecup Software packages.

But if you are really just fed up with VSD try the following:

http://a.gd/90secsr

The program I am linking you to above has most of the same features, many more built in additional features, with the same drag-and-drop functionality.

Or if you just want to create a website template at the click of a button for use as a CMS, Wordpress, Joomla or several other formats, try the following:

http://www.artisteer.com

I guarantee that Artisteer is now one of the easiest way to create a website. It has limitations, but it is amazing. I basically set up a site as a wordpress theme, take out all the things that make it look like a blog so that it looks like a regular website, install it as a wordpress theme on my server, then take advantage of the fact that I have ton of plugins at my disposal to add anything from forms to flash banners and headers.Wordpress can be installed through your hosting C-panel within moments right from the start.

Check out a sample site below (it is on a free server, so you may have to be patient or refresh to get it to work):

http://www.siteradical.com

or one I am just working on...

http://www.pelipropertyinvestments.com/main/

Voila - a nice looking site that has an easy to use Client Management System built in. It also will have site searchability built in.

This also allows you to change the look of your site instantly just by picking another theme (which you can create in Artisteer). So you can create a Christmas based theme if you want and swap it over at the right time instantly.

The downside? Rigid template structures - you have to be a little creative sometimes to get what you want. It's not drag and drop oriented like VSD.

That being said, the time you save creating a site can be utilized to put your imagination to use.

Not that you should use either one of these and drop VSD, but rather, add it as another weapon in your site design arsenal. I use them all personally. Depends on the situation. There are a few things that VSD does really well that the other programs do not, and vice-versa.

Hope this helps.

NOTE TO COFFEECUP: You guys should check these programs out (if you haven't already). You will learn some things.

http://emoticons4u.com/crazy/477.gif looks like this Stevens guy needs to be punished!!!!!!!http://emoticons4u.com/mad/1106.gif