|
Browser
Software
You have two main choices:
Netscape Navigator and
Microsoft Internet Explorer - both are free!
The latest version of
Netscape Navigator at the time of writing is 4.71 and version
6 is being Beta tested.
Microsoft Internet Explorers latest version is 5.5. Whatever
version you start off with, it's worth downloading the latest
version and using it, however, you should avoid using Beta
versions if you are using it in schools. The downloads can
take a lot of time so you might also like to try and get the
software on CD. PC magazines often give away this software.
So which do you get?
Both have slight advantages and disadvantages. My personal
preference used to be Netscape, but, as I suspected, Microsoft
Internet Explorer has become the most widely used choice.
You can have both browsers present on the same machine - useful
if one or the other starts misbehaving.
Other choices are Opera,
and of course Web
TV.
There are others - often in a hurry we use the browser that
is now provided with Edit
Plus, our main text editor.
Domain
Name
It is possible
to connect to a computer by using it's IP address, but since
humans can not remember IP addresses very well, we use domain
names instead. For example a computer with the IP address
205.168.252.107 is more commonly known as http://www.discovery.com.
If you intend a web site for the world as a whole to use then
you can buy the right to use a domain name. It will cost you
approximately £80.00 (UK) or $70.00 (US) per 2 years.
Domain names have a suffix which tells you the nature of the
organization owning them. Examples are shown in the table
below.
| Suffix |
Meaning
|
| .com |
Commercial
(US) |
| .co.uk |
Commercial
(UK) |
| .edu |
Educational
(US) |
| .ac.uk |
University
(Academic)(UK) |
| .sch |
School |
| .net |
Network
provider (ISP) |
| .gov |
Government |
| .mil |
Military |
| .org |
Organization |
Web
sites
Use a web site to provide you with a home
page, i.e. the page on which your browser software starts.
It is quite possible to use someone else's web site as your
home page to begin with. You can create a web site of your own
to provide additional information on the Internet. If your ISP
does not provide free web site space, then there are several
organizations which will be happy to do so. The links below
are examples of some and the amount of space they offer.
Whatever
you choose to put on your web site, try to include some piece
of information which is unique and not available anywhere
else.
Web
page editor
The easiest way to construct a web page is
to you a 'WYSIWYG' web page composing program. There are lots
available, we've listed a few in the table below:
|
Editor
|
Cost
|
Comment
|
| Netscape
Composer |
Free
|
A versatile
and easy to use product which offers lots of features
but, can't cope well with JavaScript and inserts un-needed
non - breaking spaces. An excellent beginner's program. |
| Microsoft
Front Page Express |
Free
|
Easy
to use, offers lots of features but, it writes horrible
code! Looked on with scorn by professional web designers.
Use this program if you hate getting technical. |
| CoffeeCup
Free HTML |
Free
|
Extremely
simple web page program walks you through each 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. Nice feature is 60 pre - built templates. |
| Under
Construction |
$39.95
US
|
Easy
to use web page editor which includes 30 JavaScript, 20
Java applets, and 200 animated GIFs. |
| Macromedia
Dreamweaver |
$299.00
US |
Forget
the rest - this is the best!
A very professional and versatile program which allows
complex behaviours, styles, works well with frames and
has all the bells and whistles, including an FTP program
for transferring files to your server. Disadvantages are
the price and that it is definitely not a beginner's
program. Get the manuals and CD - they'll cost an extra
$10.00 US. |
Text
Editors
Once you understand HTML, you'll want to add
JavaScript and Perl to your website. To do that, you need
a good text editor. It's possible to do this with the rudimentary
text editors included in the packages above, or even use Microsoft
Notepad but, why make things hard for yourself...
|
Editor
|
Cost
|
Comment
|
| Edit
Plus |
$30.00
US
|
A versatile
and easy to use product which offers lots of features
and copes well with JavaScript, Perl and other programming
languages. It features a clip text library which saves
time and now includes a basic browser, allowing you to
quickly check pages you've constructed. We use it all
the time. |
| Ultra
Edit |
$30.00
US
|
A very
powerful program offering similar features and more. It's
ideal for coding. Two very useful features are that it
will also serve as a hex editor (which means you can load
and edit any file format), and that, two files can be
compared to find differences - a boon when debugging.
|
Graphic
Editors
Sooner or later, you'll need to change or construct
an image for use on the Web. To do that, you'll need a good
image editor. By far, we recommend Paint Shop Pro which offers
most of the features you'll require. Newer image editors have
been produced specifically for web work, and, not only alter
the image but, also construct the HTML required for the image.
|
Editor
|
Cost
|
Comment
|
| Paint
Shop Pro 7.0 |
about
$90.00 US
|
Full
featured image editor which handles gif, jpeg (jpg), png,
bmp and a host of other file formats. It also incudes
animation shop for making animated gifs. We would be lost
without it. |
| Adobe
Photoshop |
$609.00
US
|
A very
powerful program used extensively by graphic artists and
which has lots of add ons (which also work in PSP). Very
expensive. |
| Macromedia
Fireworks3 |
$199.00
US
|
An excellent
program for creating vector graphics for web use. Allows
you to create an entire web page - graphics, HTML and
JavaScript. Quiet complex so perhaps not for a beginner.
We use it increasingly. |
| Macromedia
Flash |
$299.00
US
|
A
unique program which produces Shockwave movies. It's also
very useful for constructing animated gifs. Using Flash,
it's possible to construct an entire website without using
any HTML, virtually. Wonderful for introduction, (welcome
pages), and demonstrations. |
|
