Web Designers' Resource....

-Revised: Nov 26, 07

Instead of writing a book of how to do and ideals, I'll just list a few links that I came across over the years that are helpful to web design related help and support...

-----------------------------------

--Image & Web Hosting:
NOTE: A place to store your files…

+ Village Photos - Free Image Hosting
http://villagephotos.com/
(Great for linking images from your portfolios onto other sites instead of from yours, avoiding "bandwidth" loss problems.)

+ Lycos Tripod - Free Web Hosting
http://www.tripod.lycos.co.uk/
(The best free hosting I came across that has PHP & MYSQL support, though have their "limitations" but what do you expect for being "Free"?)

-----------------------------------

--File Uploaders:
NOTE: Programs of putting your files onto your site…

+ CoffeeCup FTP - Free FTP Software
http://www.coffeecup.com/free-ftp/
(Great, plus free. Maybe to get you to check out their other great programs...)

+ Core FTP - Free FTP Client
http://www.coreftp.com/
(Not bad for free...)

--------

+ SmartFTP – FTP Client
http://www.smartftp.com/download/
(Great, but spendy these days...)

+ BulletProof Software - FTP Client
http://www.bpftp.com/
(Okay, but a bit more complicated, but might work better for others...)

-----------------------------------

--HTML Editors:
NOTE: Programs of creating web pages…

+ Microsoft FrontPage 2000
Comes with Microsoft Office 2000
(May be simple, but okay for beginners though comes free with Microsoft Office.)

--------

+ CoffeeCup - HTML, Flash, & Web Design Software
http://www.coffeecup.com/html-editor/
(Not free, but a great HTML/”You name it” editor. Don’t have to worry about learning any coding, does it for you...)

-----------------------------------

--HTML Help:
NOTE: A few resources for help…

+ HTML Color Chart
http://www.allfreebackgrounds.com/backgrounds/backs/colornames.htm

+ Java(TM) Boutique - Color Picker
http://javaboutique.internet.com/ColorPicker/

--------

+ Webmonkey - Reference HTML Cheat Sheet
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/reference/html_cheatsheet/

+ Funky Chickens - HTML Help
http://www.funky-chickens.com/

+ Dynamic Drive DHTML - HTML, Etc. Help
http://dynamicdrive.com/

-----------------------------------

--Graphic Tools:
NOTE: Programs of designing images with…

(Graphic Software)

+ Microsoft Paint
Start Menu – Programs - Accessories – “PAINT.EXE”
(Hey, I used it before anything, plus it’s free and a fun tool to use once in a while. It’s great to start with, so can’t argue with that. Comes with Windows...)

+ Project Dogwaffle 1.2 - Free PC Paint and Animation
http://www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/free/
(Great image filtering effects and animations. Nice artistic tool…)

+IrfanView - Popular Graphic Viewer
http://www.irfanview.com/
(A free little thumb-sizing/resizing image and color filtering tool. Also has a built-in universal image, video, and music opener. Also edits icon files, though I heard you can also design screensavers with it…)

--------

+ Ulead GIF Animator 5
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1175263344612
(A high-end image animation program. Exports to a wide variety of file formats, including JPEG, PNG, Flash, AVI, MPEG and QuickTime.)

+ Adobe Photoshop
http://www.adobe.com/digitalimag/ps_pse_comparison.html
(Spendy, but one of the best tools for designing with...)

--------

(Graphic Software Support)

+ 3D Animation Workshop
http://webreference.com/3d/indexa.html
(Ideals for designing 3D based objects. Something to mess around with…)

+ Pegaweb - Web Design & Photoshop Tutorials
http://www.pegaweb.com/index.html

+ Eyes on Design - Adobe Photoshop Effects
http://www.eyesondesign.net/pshop/tuts.htm

+ Photoshop Café – Adobe Photoshop Tutorials & Resources
http://www.photoshopcafe.com/

+ Planet Photoshop – Adobe Photoshop Tutorials & Tips
http://www.planetphotoshop.com/

-----------------------------------

--Forum Software & Support:
NOTE: Messaging communication software and tools…

(Forum Software)

+ phpBB • Creating Communities Worldwide
http://www.phpbb.com/
(Okay, but it’s free, so can’t argue...)

--------

+ vBulletin - Instant Community
http://www.vbulletin.com/
(Second best, but comes with a price...)

+ Invision Power Services
http://www.invisionpower.com/community/board/index.html
(The best and powerful, but a price tag comes with it...)

(PHP/MYSQL Tools )
NOTE: Needed for PHP scripting forums – listed above –

+ phpMyAdmin - MySQL Database Admin Tool
http://www.phpmyadmin.net/home_page/index.php
(Great and free.)

--------

+ MySQL - Open Source Database
http://mysql.com/
(Also great, but a bit more powerful, though comes with a price...)

--------

(Forum Support, Skining, Modding & Etc.)

+ Natural Born Skinners - vBulletin & IPB Skins
http://www.nbsdesignz.com/home
(For most communities…)

+ Invisionize - Completing Your IPB Community
http://www.invisionize.com/
(For Invision Boards…)

--------

+ SMILEY GENERATOR
http://www.smileygenerator.us/
(Create custom smiles for your community...)

+ Click Smilies - Free Smilies
http://www.clicksmilies.com/
(The name says it all...)

-----------------------------------

That’s all I have for now, though some other great sites I know are now down, reason I didn’t list them. Hope this helps and happy designing.

NOTE: Please “STICKY” me.

Nice list. I wouldn't reccomend Front Page though, it's got a long history of producing broken, messy, spaghetti code that only works on IE.

There are alternatives out there tho.. Coffee Cup comes to mind, I know there is a pretty good open source one floating around somewhere too.

Personally I just use dreamweaver in text mode.

Zach said:

Nice list. I wouldn't reccomend Front Page though, it's got a long history of producing broken, messy, spaghetti code that only works on IE.

There are alternatives out there tho.. Coffee Cup comes to mind, I know there is a pretty good open source one floating around somewhere too.

Personally I just use dreamweaver in text mode.

Click to expand...

Yeah, FrontPage has its "issues" alright, though I manage to get around it, but just listed what I used, never got to fully experiment around with other HTML editors to give an opinion, but other suggestions are helpful too.

FrontPage... man that program is garbage.... it's so outdated and didn't even like it when it first came out. Dreamweaver 8 and CS3 are a choice for me. Bad thing is if you have less than 512MB ram installed on your cPU, CS3 will refuse to install.

A host i recommend is http://dreamhost.com and i say that because they live up to their packages. I never liked free host because users turn away from lost of spam and constant ads.

A good site is http://forums.digitalpoint.com and is good for figuring out how to make a good site. I've seen sights perfect in design but get no traffic or no bookmarks. Thanks for the resources. I booked marked for some of the ones i haven't seen.

Aeris

AerisHeaven said:

FrontPage... man that program is garbage.... it's so outdated and didn't even like it when it first came out. Dreamweaver 8 and CS3 are a choice for me. Bad thing is if you have less than 512MB ram installed on your cPU, CS3 will refuse to install.

Click to expand...

Well, didn't mess with much else, like I said, so just a suggestion, but learned to deal with it, just like the game of "life".

AerisHeaven said:

A host i recommend is http://dreamhost.com and i say that because they live up to their packages. I never liked free host because users turn away from lost of spam and constant ads.

Click to expand...

If you can't afford hosting, it's not bad for a free one or for someone starting out, always can upgrade.

AerisHeaven said:

A good site is http://forums.digitalpoint.com and is good for figuring out how to make a good site. I've seen sights perfect in design but get no traffic or no bookmarks. Thanks for the resources. I booked marked for some of the ones i haven't seen.

Aeris

Click to expand...

Well, feel free to post, the more resources, the better.

Gimp - Graphics:
www.gimp.org/

This is one of the best (Free) imaging tools i've used, if not the best.
Oh and congratulations with the list, great sites...

insanemaniak said:

Gimp - Graphics:
www.gimp.org/

This is one of the best (Free) imaging tools i've used, if not the best.
Oh and congratulations with the list, great sites...

Click to expand...

Interesting little tool ye posted. GIMP has a nice photo editing feature, similar of Photoshop, though never heard of it, but don't get around as much as I use to...

Those free open source tools are the best, though hard to find... Each one does something quite different then the other.

What about the Nvu html editor???
www.nvudev.com

Its a really good html editor and its free!

great guy!!
i really need them,thanks a lot!

laozing said:

What about the Nvu html editor???
www.nvudev.com

Its a really good html editor and its free!

Click to expand...

Interesting... Never heard of it, but looks promising...

coffeefcy said:

great guy!!
i really need them,thanks a lot!

Click to expand...

Well, thanks, if your referring to me that is... Every graphic designer is different of how they design, so what ever I can do to help others, as of myself, makes a difference, though doesn't mean it puts any of us out of ideals.