Resources

Here's my listing of some very useful Web Design Software and Web sites that I've found. I'll be adding more links to this page as and when I make a new discovery. If anyone has a suggestion for something that could be included here then please contact me with details.

Some of the software is free, some is time limited trial / shareware that will require purchase if you want to continue to use after the trial period. On the whole, most listings here are free and open source - I am not hosting sponsored links.

Some of the web sites offering tutorials may require forum membership.

 

Browsers

It pays to have as many browsers as possible for testing your sites. Unfortunately not all browsers are born equal and you can't guarantee which one your end user will be using. Your beautiful design might look great in Internet Explorer but fall apart in another browser or even a previous version that browser.

Software Title Description Freeware/ Shareware
Multiple IE's For WIN XP Only allows installation of multiple versions of Internet Explorer on your PC - Read the website first and do not try on any other flavour of Windows! Freeware with Support via forum & website
Firefox Mozilla Firefox - is the open source browser that has been developed by the Mozilla Foundation. Its roots are the Netscape Navigator browser which I believe is to be discontinued post AOL's take over of Netscape Freeware - Mozilla Public License
Safari Safari is the native browser of the MAC - there's a PC beta version available now. Text always looks nicer to me in Safari. Makes for less eyestrain whilst reading on the web. Public Beta
Opera Opera is a very quick and full featured browser. Can take over your system a little by setting itself as default for many file types! Freeware

 

WYSIWYG / Code Editing Software

WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get

Software Title Description Freeware/ Shareware
Nvu (n-view) WYSIWYG editor. Features tabbed editing for making more than one page at a time. Allows switch between WYSIWYG screen and Source Code editing. Available for PC, MAC and Linux Freeware - Mozilla Public License
WeBuilder 2007 MS Office style interface. This is a code editor for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, ASP and Ruby. Page output can be previewed instantly inside program or launched in your browser of choice. 30 USE trial (not 30 day) $39.85 to buy.
HTML Kit A good code editor and free. Doesn't quite have the polished feel of WeBuilder but is extensible - there are many plug in modules available, also free Freeware
 

Color Pickers / Website Themes

Software Title Description Freeware/ Shareware
Color Scheme Generator 2 Color wheel tool for generating color palette and hex codes. Free to use Website borne tool
Contrast Checker Checks contrast of content area against the background color. Important for accessibility. Free to use Website borne tool
Free Layouts.com Lots of free to use website designs and blog templates Most are free - link back to designers site is customary
StyleShout.com Cool Web site designs + useful liks to tutorials A link back to the authors site is required

 

Online Tutorials

Software Title Description Freeware/ Shareware
W3 Schools Tutorials for just about any web language you can think of. HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP etc Website based resources
Webmonkey Web developers resources Website based resources