Leland Initiative Web Tutorial Series: Overview of Last Lesson In the previous lesson we covered some of the advanced features of HTML. These included frames, forms, and scripts. Getting Some Help with Your Web Development It used to be that the only way to build a web page was by learning and using HTML code as we have done in the past 8 sessions. At that time, if you wanted your own page then you had to sit down with Notepad or another text editor and type out the dozens--or even hundreds or thousands--of lines of HTML code that comprised your web page. Even though you may have found that HTML coding is not really that complicated, having to do a large site this way could obviously be time-consuming (and could wear out your fingers in the process!). Luckily, you don't have to do your whole web site through straight HTML coding. Knowing the HTML code is definitely useful, but there are now a number of software programs that can help you out. Some of these programs actually make it so that you don't need to know any HTML at all. Others show you HTML coding on the screen, but they also provide shortcuts that will put the code in for you, depending on what you are trying to do. Some of these programs are available for free or as "shareware" (which asks for a small donation for using the program), while most of the more sophisticated programs cost something. I will cover some of the more widely used programs below. In addition, I'll mention some other "helper" applications that you might find useful. I'll also provide links for each of the programs. HTML Editing Programs HTML Helper This is an excellent program for beginning HTML writers. Many popular HTML functions are made available with just a click. It also incorporates some of the advanced HTML features we covered in the tutorial. Using HTML Helper, you could be viewing your very own web page that you made within just a few hours. HTML Helper is a free program. Internet Creator Internet Creator is capable of producing any type of web site, but has special tools that allow businesses to set up an on-line catalog or store quickly and easily. The program includes site setup wizards that can collect information about your organization, then set up business tools like e-mail based ordering, a shopping basket ordering module, payment and shipping choices, and a sophisticated searching capability. You may not be interested in setting up an online store, but you can still use the wizards to handle other web site functions. Although it might not fit your needs perfectly, Internet Creator is free, so it's worth looking into at least. HotDog Express HotDog Express walks you through creating a web page in four simple steps. This program is designed for beginners--even if you had no experience using HTML, you could still build a web page with this program. As a matter of fact, I used an older version of HotDog to create my first web site. HotDog Express has a 30 day evaluation period, after which you must pay $50 for the full program. CoffeeCup Express Makes web page creation on the net a snap. This extremely simple web page program walks you through each and every step of the creation of your web page. Perfect for beginners who want to get their first web page up and running fast, but complex enough for professionals who need a fast jump-start on a project. CoffeeCup Express can be evaluated free-of-charge for 15 days, and costs $20 after that. FrontPage '98 FrontPage '98 is a very good HTML editing program. Many comparisons of these kinds of programs have FrontPage coming out on top. It has features that make it very easy to create tables, add frames, and even create forms. It also makes extensive use of wizards that will walk you through creating some of the more widely-used kinds of web pages, such as user feedback pages, discussion groups, and so forth. In terms of creating a simple web page, you can simply type in the text and make it look like you want, and FrontPage handles all the HTML code behind the scenes. The main drawback to this program is its price--a copy of it costs about $100 here in the US, so it may not be the best choice unless you're planning to build a fairly large web site or will include a lot of advanced features in the site. Other Related Programs Paint Shop Pro I just can't say enough good things about this program. Paint Shop Pro has been out for years, and best of all you can get a free version of the program. But don't be fooled by the low, low price! Paint Shop Pro is a powerful image editing program that offers many of the features of expensive programs like Adobe PhotoShop. In fact, many times I prefer using Paint Shop Pro to PhotoShop, simply because it is much easier to use. If you want to edit a few simple images that you'll be using on your web site, then you should definitely pick this up. With Paint Shop Pro, you can smooth out images that are a little "rough on the edges", create transparent GIF files, cut and paste pieces of one image into another, and much more. If you're going to do really, really professional images on your site, then you might need something more powerful, like PhotoShop, but for 90 percent of your everyday imaging needs, Paint Shop Pro is easier to use. Adobe PhotoShop PhotoShop is regarded by many as the top image-editing program--and for good reason. PhotoShop allows you to do just about anything you can imagine with an image. You can do all the basics like creating transparent GIFs and merging images, but PhotoShop also allows you to apply numerous "transformations" to images--such as giving an image an "embossed" effect. PhotoShop's features are too numerous to cover here, but the web site listed above will tell you everything you might want to know. The major drawback to PhotoShop is its price, which is almost $1,000! BrowserSizer BrowserSizer is a low-fat tool to help you see how yourr pages will look on screen resolutions of 640-by-480, 800-by-600, and 1024-by-768 pixels. You can control the window size of Internet Explorer (3.0, 4.0, or 5.0) and Netscape Navigator (2.0, 3.0, or 4.0). This program provides the accurate size of the browser as it would appear when viewed full-screen at the selected resolutions. Color Picker Color Picker is an easy-to-use HTML- and JavaScript-based Web page color picker. It's unique in that it features only Netscape's 216 browser-safe colors. With it you can also change to bold or italic, change fonts and font sizes, and even test with different background images easily. This is a good program to use for ensuring that the colors you use in your web pages look right on other users' browsers. Next Session In the next session, we’ll go over some of the basics of pulling it all together. You'll learn about things you can do to make your web site more appealing to users. Lesson 8 | Table of Contents | Lesson 10 This series was developed for USAID’s Leland Initiative by the Research and Reference Services Project (operated by the Academy for Educational Development). |