Software

Authoring web pages can be a complicated business, but thankfully there are plenty of tools out there to help you.

Browsers

To check that your site appears correctly (or at least least reasonably) in all the major browsers, it's well worth having a copy of each on your machine.

:: Firefox

Firefox is not just another piece of software. It is built by a community of volunteers passionate about maintaining innovation and choice on the web, and preserving the standards that make the Net so different from gated online communities that preceded it. Our source code is free available for anyone to inspect and hundreds of experienced developers help us make our code more secure and add the exciting new features Firefox users have come to love.

:: Mozilla

A full-fledged browser suite based on the latest Internet standards as well as a cross-platform tool kit, Mozilla is targeted at the developer community and enables the creation of Internet-based applications. It was developed in an open source environment and built by harnessing the creative powers of thousands of programmers on the Internet, incorporating their best enhancements.

:: Chimera

Chimera is a new project aimed at delivering a best-of-breed browser for the Mac OS X platform. Chimera uses Cocoazilla, a variant of Fizzilla that consists of a UNIX back end wed to a Cocoa front end.

:: Netscape

Netscape is another browser suite including mail, newsgroups and AOL Instant Messenger. Newer versions include tabbed browsing and again based on the Gecko rendering engine.

:: Microsoft Internet Explorer

Rightly or wrongly the most used browser. Comes bundled with Windows and Mac OS so you probably have it installed already.

:: Opera

Opera has a huge range of features and close adhesion to the HTML standards. You can download a free (banner-ad supported) version, or pay for a fully registered copy. It's small yet feature packed.

:: AOL

AOL is often overlooked by web site designers and coders. Considering the majority of people accessing the internet in the US use AOL it should be high on your list of browsers to check. AOL is available for both Windows and Mac.

:: SAFARI

Safari offers you a superior Web experience with outstanding performance. Even the most complex of pages load at breakneck speed. In fact, Safari loads pages more quickly than any other Mac Web browser. But that’s not all. Safari uses the advanced interface technologies underlying Mac OS X to offer you an all-new view of the Web, one that’s much easier to use.

HTML Editors

Coding by hand can get a little tiresome, especially when you have to type the same things over and over again. Many specialised HTML editors still allow you to have complete control of your page's code, but also provide you with additional tools to get the job done faster.

:: UltraEdit-32

UltraEdit is ideal for those who prefer to code by hand but would like some extra features to remove the monotony. This software automatically creates backups of your files, it doesn't throw in extra formatting and is ideal for editing CSS and Java Scripts. Throw in it's ability to work with Hex too and you have a very powerful tool.

:: Dreamweaver MX

The mother of all HTML editors, with a price tag to match. Dreamweaver is the ultimate package offering just about everything you could ever want including a built in WYSIWYG editor. To be honest, only serious programmers need this level of software and most of us can get by using the free, or at least low-cost, editors. But if you've got the cash and you want the best, you can't really go wrong.

Graphics Applications

You'll need a decent graphics app to create the image files for your site. Here are some suggestions, but anything that can work with GIF's and JPEG's is enough to start with at least.

:: Paintshop Pro

The hugely successful Paintshop Pro combines excellent features with an easy-to-use interface. Once you've learnt the basics you'll have no problems creating and editing images in a wide variety of formats. You don't need to understand what all the options do although you're sure to find many of them invaluable, so it's worth making the effort to read some of the documentation. A free trial version is available to download.

:: Adobe Photoshop

One of Photoshop's many strengths is the versatility of its tools and this has been stretched to new limits with version 7.0, the professional image-editing standard, helps you work more efficiently, explore new creative options, and produce the highest quality images for print, the Web, and anywhere else. Create exceptional imagery with easier access to file data; streamlined Web design; faster, professional-quality photo retouching; and more.

:: Fireworks

From the same people that brought you Dreamweaver comes Fireworks, a highly powerful graphics application that can do just about anything. Again, it's not cheap but high-level users will find the rich features it delivers to be worth the expense.

:: Flash

Flash is probably the most popular web animation system available. You can use it to create everything from simple animations or icons right up to entire pages and sites. Any browser with the necessary plug-in can view these files, and support is growing all the time.

FTP Software

You'll need a FTP client to upload pages to your server. If you use Dreamweaver or one of the other HTML editors it may include FTP software.

:: Leech FTP

Leech is a slightly more advanced FTP client, ideal if you're doing a lot of uploading. Tasks are queued so you can do more than one thing at once if you need to. A major advantage over FTP Explorer is that you can see your local files within the program, which cuts down the number of windows you need to work with. It's also completely free to download and use.

:: WS FTP

If you're looking for a more feature packed FTP client, try WS FTP. In addition to the most important functions of uploading files, you'll find more to help you get the job done. The full version is available on free trial but must be registered after 30 days, or you can use a Light Edition [LE] for free.

:: Cute FTP

CuteFTP is aimed at the higher end of users who require more than just a simple upload client. One of it's most notable features is its logging - each command to the FTP server is clearly shown. A free trial is available for download, but the full version must be paid for.

:: Transmit

Feature packed FTP client for Mac OSX. Notable features include folder synchronisation, contextual menus, Drag and Drop file transfer.