Simple Web Page Tools

HTML Tutorials
By Jeffrey J. Walters

The amount of web page design tools on the market these days has literally exploded; well, you know what I mean. Programming companies from all over are hard at work trying to get a piece of the action. The tools that I suggesting may or may not be the best tools for you, but they have found a place on my computer. I am not even suggesting that they are a must at this time, only that you might find them useful in your future web page building. Also, note that these are primarily Windows (PC) programs, but some may be found for the Macintosh (MAC) users as well.

HTML Editors:

Believe it or not, all HTML files can be created and edited using the common Windows programs such as Notepad, Wordpad or any other text editor. Notepad, you say? Don't I need some fancy web page editor which costs over a hundred dollars? The answer to your question is, NO!

Microsoft FrontPage (easy to use):

If you are using a Window operating system, then chances are good that you already have a copy of MS FrontPage or MS FrontPage Express. While experienced HTML programmer's will usually hate MS FrontPage it is an excellent HTML editor for the beginning HTML programmer! MS FrontPage helps you out, usually too much, with all the necessary code and allows you to work in a WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get.) environment. Look for FrontPage Express which usually comes FREE with Internet Explorer.

Simple Freeware Editors (medium difficulty):

For creating and editing HTML I would recommend one of the many Free HTML editors which are basically enhanced versions of Notepad. Some of the features you'll see are favorites, clipbook with HTML commands, "&" commands, search and replace, view in Browser button, HTML striping, multiple pages open at once and many more. It's amazing how something so simple can be so useful and the best part about it is that these programs are absolutely free - shareware. Some of the names I have seen for these simple HTML editors are Mininote Tab, Note Tab Pro, HTML Coder Pro, Agile HTML Editor and a dozen other names. They change so often that I can't keep this page updated. Instead, go to one of the recommended search sites listed at the bottom of this page and search for "HTML editor".

Macromedia - HomeSite:

For the experienced HTML programmer that doesn't want the HTML editor to mess with his or her code, then HomeSite is my recommendation. It has several advanced features such as multiple document search/replace (for big blocks of common code), spelling checker, document validation, document weight and other great features.

Macromedia - Dreamweaver:

Dreamweaver is another great product made my Macromedia. This is one of the best, but also one of the more expensive design tools. This is a complete package, including site FTP tools. It you can afford it, check it out. It's probably ranked the 1st for serious developers.

Paint Shop Pro:

Another design tool that you will eventually need is a good graphics program for creating and editing any GIF or JPG(JPEG) graphics images. One of the most commonly used programs is Paint Shop Pro, now Version 6. It is capable of manipulating both GIF and JPG files and has plenty of great features. Unfortunately, this program is given out for a 30 day trail period. After 30 days, you must pay the registration fee to have it properly registered. I still highly recommend it.

Hexadecimal Color Code Programs:

There are several programs out there which will allow you to view colors while adjusting the Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) content of the color. They also provide you with the hexadecimal conversion which can later be used in your HTML code. They are usually completely free - shareware. There are so many of these programs that I can't keep this page updated. Instead, go to one of the recommended search sites listed at the bottom of this page and search for "color codes".

Where to search:

Now your probably wondering, "where do I download these programs?" Easy question, from any shareware site. There are several dozen out on the web. I'll list a few below to start you out.

CNET Shareware.com
CNET Download.com

All you have to do is go to one of these sites and search for the specific program. In some cases you may have to search for "gif animation" or something else, but with a little luck you'll be downloading in a few minutes.

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