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Internet Life mind computers

Web Design Tools (Windows)

  BY LAMONT WOOD   

Now that you've perused Web pages and sites from Iceland to Singapore, you might be getting the itch to join all those neo-Gutenbergs and publish your own Web page. You know you've got to learn about HTML (hypertext markup language), the coding scheme the Web uses to format text and graphics. The bad news is that HTML is an open standard; the people behind them are tinkering with new wrinkles as fast as you can learn them. The good news is that you don't need to be an expert to get started and that everything you need to know is explained somewhere on the Web. All the software you need is out there too, ready for downloading. Most is either freeware or very reasonably priced shareware, and even in the case of commercial packages there's usually a stripped-down demo version you can use for free. Sites of interest to budding Webmasters, include HTML primers, guides to layout, collections of artwork to spruce up your creation, and downloadable software tools.


Widely hailed as the best on-line HTML primer is the National Center for Supercomputing Applications' A Beginner's Guide to HTML. It takes you step by step through the subject, walking you from general concepts to basic tags (which marks text for formatting, such as would render this word boldface) to URLs to fancier tags (indented lists, mostly) to on-page images. Examples are included. All the major tags are covered, but keep in mind that people are making up more as you read this. The "acronym expansion" (i.e., glossary) is also worth reading for a beginner.

After you get past the point where you can do an HTML file, your next step might be to read Netscape Communications Corp.'s Creating High-Impact Documents. It covers advanced topics like Interlaced GIF files (images that come into focus instead of filling in from the top, so a user with a slow connection can surmise the contents long before all the details come in); JPG versus GIF image file formats (the former offers higher compression but the latter is better for line drawings); image sizing and scaling, and overlaying high-resolution atop low-resolution images. The text also covers the differences between the way Netscape Navigator and more generic browsers handle these topics -- which may be the best reason to read it.

The list of links at The Web Designer site is an excellent starting point for anyone interested in page creation. Included are material on HTML basics, design basics, common blunders, the differences between Netscape and generic HTML, net etiquette ("netiquette") and even definitions for the commoner smiley faces. Plus there's a very extensive list of mostly Windows HTML editors with reviews and download links. Many were still in beta testing. There's also HTML export templates for word processors, information on creating transparent GIFs (so that artwork can merge with the background), clickable image maps, click-stream counters, the Virtual Reality Markup Language, plus the meaning of hexadecimal color codes, and how to register your published page with "search engines." If this were the only Web designer site, it would be enough -- it's very complete.

The Assistance page at the Netscape corporate site at http://home.mcom.com/assist/net_sites/index.html is a great place to start when you're looking for Webmaster tools. Beyond the usual links to HTML editors, you'll find GIF file utilities, RTF converters, Netiquette tips, utilities for creating image maps, and information on the Netscape extensions to HTML versions 1, 2 and 3. (Yes, sadly, there are multiple versions of HTML, and Netscape has augmented them with its own wrinkles. You can write for Netscape Navigator or you can write generic HTML, but thankfully the differences will probably be minimized by the time HTML 3.0 gets hashed out.)

The list of downloadable HTML editors at The Consummate Winsock Apps List is both extensive and up to date. The reviews and links to the download sites are presented with well-thought-out graphics, including the screen icons of each package.

The Web has already become a branch of the entertainment industry, to judge by The Web Developers Journal, which is heavily reminiscent of a music industry trade magazine. Features include "Advanced Duct Tape HTML" (experimental HTML pages demonstrating various tricks), interviews with visionaries, product reviews, places to find software utilities, and comparisons of compression techniques. They cover Macintosh and Unix as well as Windows software. Although you have to wonder about the copyright credit: Sassy's Worldwide Dogbite Service, Inc.


The assembly of Web tools that the WebTools Org. site links to are more technical than most--syntax checkers, traffic analysis tools--and are of interest more to server mangers than page authors. But their stunning use of graphics is worth studying.

Mag's Big List of HTML Editors is very extensive, and includes reviews as well as download links. Most are for Windows, although there is also mention of Macintosh, Unix, and even OS/2 tools.

Gabriel's HTML Editor List classifies the editors under various headings (stand-along, template, etc.) and includes a "rant" from the programmer as well as links to each package's homepage. He covers all platforms, even NeXT.

The fact of the matter is that everyone these days seems to be writing on-line HTML primers, guides for the perplexed, tips for designers, complaints about the state of Web design, and lists of good and bad examples. This site is a good clearinghouse of such sites.

Windows HTML editors are the sole content of the HTML Editor Reviews. The author purports to be on a quest to find the ultimate HTML editor -- a hopeless task, since they sprout like weeds in spring. And as the site leads off with a plea for corporate sponsorship, so you wonder how long it will be around. But the reviews are thorough, showing first-hand use. As well as links to the download sties, there are also screen shots of the software in use.

Among other resource listings at the University of Toronto site is a list of Web software tools for Windows, with an excellent descriptions of each, plus download links.

Here's yet another list of HTML editors -- but an extensive one.

If you've gotten beyond the nuts and bolts of page creation, try the Style Guide For Online Hypertext. It explores various do's and don'ts, such as don't use "click here," just put in the link. (Not every visitor will be using a mouse-based interface.) Judging from what's out there, this is a voice shouting in the wilderness.

The Web Developers Virtual Library is sort of an on-line newsletter concerning the use of Netscape graphics. The newsletter's pages themselves embody leading-edge efforts at wringing every possible visual effect out of Netscape Navigator. If you're a graphic artist relocated from the paper domain to the Web domain, you won't want to miss it. Otherwise you may be left scratching your head.

Terse text and pretty Netscape formatting do not alone make a high-impact page -- you need little bullets, go-to-next-page icons, colorful horizontal dividers, and for Netscape followers, distinctive background "wallpaper". A lot of designers, having cooked up collections of these devices, offer them on-line for other designers to download and use -- and thus save themselves tons of time and effort.

For a highly accessible inquiry into the aesthetics of homepage creation, try Top Ten Ways to Tell If You Have a Sucky Homepage. Criteria include huge graphics, uncropped graphics with minimal content, pictures of pets, use of the "blink" command, links to the White House, cheesy "under construction" icons, pleas for a job, and a list of top ten sites that includes your own site.

The 10 Biggest Blunders That Businesses Make On the Web boil down to not having a plan, being too commercial, not have interactive features, going overboard on graphics, ignoring international visitors, and (worst) not having any site at all.

Alas, the CyberWeb's Top Tips for Web Authoring site reads like an art history lecture. "The web must be designed to serve the users, not the authors, editors, designers, or developers. When building Web pages always ask yourself, 'What will help users accomplish their objectives?'"

Off The Net is a newsletter by and for Web site managers published at the Netscape corporate site. A lot of it addresses management issues and server-side technical topics that will be over the head of the page-creation do-it-yourselfer. And when they say "check it out," they include the link.

Maybe you need a good starter collection of bullets, bars, and icons to spruce up the ol' homepage. With Netscape, shift-click and the file will be downloaded rather than displayed, and then it's yours to reuse. Pride of workmanship, of course, will demand that you run through your graphics software to add your own touches. We also found a good list of HTML tutorial sites, plus lists of collections of software tools and prefab icons.
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An essay entitled What Makes A Great Web Site? answers: worthwhile, fresh, well-organized content, with sparing use of graphics, and some interesting interactive feature.

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QUICK CLICK!
A Beginner's Guide to HTML

boldface

Creating High-Impact Documents

The Web Designer

Assistance

The Consummate Winsock Apps List

The Web Developers Journal

WebTools Org

Mag's Big List of HTML Editors

Gabriel's HTML Editor List

HTML primers

HTML Editor Reviews

Web software tools for Windows

yet another list of HTML editors

Style Guide For Online Hypertext

The Web Developers Virtual Library

little bullets, go-to-next-page icons, colorful horizontal dividers, and for Netscape followers, distinctive background "wallpaper"

Top Ten Ways to Tell If You Have a Sucky Homepage

The 10 Biggest Blunders That Businesses Make On the Web

CyberWeb's Top Tips for Web Authoring

Off The Net

a good starter collection of bullets, bars, and icons

a good list of HTML tutorial sites

What Makes A Great Web Site?