Website Design - Tools for a Website

A Website Designer's Toolkit
An editor. Browser. FTP program.	Image viewer/editor. TexttoHTML. Zip/Unzip program.

What's an editor? Sometimes called a text editor. That's a program that runs on your computer and enables you to create and edit text files. There are many different types of editors. For Windows, the simplest text editor is Notepad. For the Mac, it's SimpleText or TeachText.
Notepad is installed on all PCs. To locate Notepad on your PC, search for NOTEPAD.EXE. You will see an icon like this Notepad icon

. See How to create or edit files for additional information.

What's a browser? Sometimes called a Web browser. That's a program that runs on your computer and enables you to display data and graphics from the Web and lets you move from Website to Website at will. A browser will also open HTML files on your computer and view them just as you would on the "Web". If your Browser version is less than MSIE 5.X or Mozilla/Netscape 6.x you should upgrade it now! Chances are it will not support style sheets.

Browser updates: Always give newer browser versions "time to age" and bugs corrected before you download the latest browser version. Browser updates are available from the sites below:

What's FTP? That's a program that runs on your computer and enables you to exchange files with other sites on the Internet from your PC or Mac computer to your host FTP

computer. A host (also known as a server) is a central computer that provides services to users across the Internet. Any file uploaded to your host can be downloaded to your PC or Mac. I will discuss uploading and downloading your files during Step 4, Upload.

FileZilla. FileZilla is an FTP program for file uploading and downloading to and from your FTP site, server, or host. The program lets you transfer files and navigate among folders, Web sites, and your computer.
License: Free
Operating Systems: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP
File Size 6.68 MB
Download FileZilla.
Cyberduck is an open source FTP and SFTP (SSH Secure File Transfer) for Mac OS X, licenced under the GPL and is free. Uploading and downloading can be activated by drag and drop. Donations are welcome.
Operating Systems: Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later.
Supported languages: English, Japanese, German, Catalan, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Russian, and Polish.
File size: 8.3 MB
Information and download.
Additional FTP software is available at updoad.

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What's an Image Viewer/Editor? That's a program that runs on your computer and is used to view and edit images.

Image Viewer/Editors: are available to download from the sites listed below:

IrfanView. IrfanView is a fast, simple image viewer and editor it supports all major graphics formats, including .bmp, .gif, .jpg, .png, .tif and more. In addition, you can import images, view images, perform basic image editing, create slide shows, and convert files from one image format to another. Crop, blur, and sharpen your images. Make modifications in regular mode or in zoom mode.
License: Free
Operating Systems: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP
Version: 3.98
File Size 2.99 MB
Macintosh. Free Image Viewer Software.
Free Macintosh software for browsing and viewing the images and photos on your computer.

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Text 2 HTML Text2Html. Text2Html converts ordinary text files to .html pages. Even if you already know how code HTML, you'll find this tool useful.
Version 1.30
   File Size: 240 KB
   Price: Freeware
   Operating System(s): Windows 9.x, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows NT

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Zip/Unzip. What's zip/unzip? Many files you download on the Internet will be compressed and have a file extension of .zip. Sites compress files, so that you may download them quicker. But, to unzip and use a compressed file you must have an unzip program installed on your computer. See Zip files for additional information.

If you need an unzip program, you can download one at the sites below: (Don't worry, these programs aren't zipped).

Zip&Go. This is the easiest and most effective way to work with ZIP files both for experts and amateurs.
Freeware (For personal use).
Operating System(s): Windows 9.x, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows NT
Version 5.5
File size: 1.96 MB
StuffIt Expander. Macintosh. Shareware ($).

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About these Web design tools:

The files marked Freeware may be downloaded and used as long as you like - for free.
Files marked Shareware ($) have a limited time of use and may stop working after the expiration date. After the expiration date you may have to pay a registration fee (less than commercial software) to be able to continue to use them.

Still can't find the Freeware you need?

Visit new freeware. Yahoo adds new free software the every day.

Do You Need Help? Don't be shy, if you have questions or need help creating your Website, just ask me. I work cheap -- free. The only dumb question is the one not asked!

If you find this Website useful, donate as little as a $1.00 through the Amazon Honor System to help me keep it free. Paying is fast and easy: just click the Pay now button to begin. Your credit card is secure. Your privacy is protected.

Step 2 - Design (Cont.)

Website Design Tools

Tools for a Website