Seven Free Tools to Create your Web Site

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Coding your HTML by hand gives much better results ...
a WYSIWYG program. You can get the layout that youwant, and make small ...
... comes free with Windows - but a much bett Coding your HTML by hand gives much better results thanusing a WYSIWYG program.
You can get the layout that youwant, and make small adjustments easily.NotePad comes free with Windows - but a much better texteditor is NoteTab Light. This has a sidebar with HTML tags -double-click to enter the tag you want, with a dialog boxfor those that have options or preferences, such as size,colour, placement, etc.
Download it fromhttp://www.notetab.com/ . There is also a NoteTab mailinglist, where you can ask questions, and exchange tips andtricks - subscribe to the basic list by sending a blanke-mail to mailto:[email protected] you're used to coding, an award-winning program isFirst Page from http://www.evrsoft.com/ .
It runs in easy,normal, expert and hardcore modes - so you can learn to useit and continue to keep up with your web page output.Version 3 is due out any day. A built-in browser lets youview your pages as you create them, there are buttons ormenus for tag creation, JavaScript wizards, HTML referenceguides, template facility, and much more.
Don't buy an HTMLeditor until you've tried this freeware!You'll need to check your pages for errors. I use CSEValidator Lite from http://www.htmlvalidator.com/ You canalso buy a PRO version, but I've found the free versionenough for my needs.
You can correct errors directly in themain window, and each error is explained as you highlightit.Graphics often need a bit of a tweak before you add them toyour pages. Cropping, making the background transparent,resizing, or just finding that picture that you **know**you've got somewhere on your hard drive! Irfan View cancarry out all these tasks, and includes a great browserwhich loads at the click of a key, and displays thumbnailsfor you to choose from.
Available from many freeware sites(see below), you can also download fromhttp://softwarecenter.net/irfanview/Uploading to your server (the computer where you web site isstored and accessed from) is done using File TransferProtocol, or FTP for short. Two good freeware programs areFTP Explorer from http://www.ftpx.com/ and WS_FTP, availablefrom many freeware sources (see below).
Both have graphicalinterfaces, very similar to using Windows Explorer. You candownload a free WS_FTP tutorial in PDF (Adobe Acrobat)format by Steve MacLellen from my e-book library athttp://www.freesitebuilder.co.uk/library/library.htmlIf you haven't got Adobe Acrobat reader, use thelink on my library page to download a free copy.Another essential check - dead links.
The web is a veryfluid medium - sites arrive, move, and disappear regularly,and if your site has a link to one that has vanished ormoved, your visitors get a "404 page not found" errormessage. Your reputation and business can suffer, not tomention your rankings with directories and search engines.
Iuse Xenu's Link Sleuth, fromhttp://completelyfreesoftware.com/ - the reports are easy tounderstand, and can be saved to read off-line.Finally, a task that is all too often forgotten, but whichis absolutely essential, - backing up! If the worst happens,you need to be able to create all or part of your web sitequickly - and the only way is to run regular backups. Youcan use the Backup program that comes with Windows, but Ifind the Swedish program MyOwnBackup much easier to use, andmore flexible.
Create different sets to back up your website(s), important data, e-mail, or whatever you want tokeep secure. You can create new archives or add new orchanged files to a current archive, restore complete sets orindividual files, zip archives, and span diskettes.
The helpincludes *9 Steps to a Complete Backup* to guide beginners.Download from the main sitehttp://home4.swipnet.se/~w-42000/MOB/ (Sweden) or the mirrorsite http://www.nt-eng.com/mob/ (USA).Some of my favourite freeware sites:http://www.completelyfreesoftware.com/http://www.webattack.com/http://www.jumbo.com/http://www.moochers.com/ Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com .