Creating quality web pages is an exciting, challenging, and demanding profession. Fortunately there are a number of excellent tools and resources available. The purpose of this page is to provide novice web developers with a brief, but fairly inclusive body of practical information and links to all aspects of web creation.

Our Top Picks for Web Page Creation

TOP INFO SITE          Top
 The Web Developer's Virtual Library
This is just an absolutely excellent general reference site for web site development. You will find a number of articles about all aspects of HTML coding and links to other good sites.

HTML EDITOR            Top
 Netscape Navigator Gold 3.01
For overall ease of use, this is our top choice. This is a true WYSIWIG editor that lets you quickly preview your pages in Netscape's browser. If you are not going to do any forms, Java applets, or Javascript, you can create excellent web pages without writing a single line of code. You can publish the page directly to an internet site from the editor. The learning curve is relatively short compared to many other products. You can still download this from Netscape for no cost (If you want the manuals though you will have to purchase them, but they aren't really necessary).
Learning curve - 1 week minimum.
Links to more HTML tools and tips

GRAPHICS EDITOR    Top
 Adobe Photoshop
If you are going to do Web Pages you will need to be able to create graphics. As a general purpose Graphics tool Adobe is excellent - but it is not cheap. It has a host of built-in image manipulation tools, special filters, excellent text creation, and many other special features. There are cheaper graphics editors available - but Adobe offers so much that if you are serious about creating web pages, this is a must have.
Learning curve - 1 week minimum.
Links to more Graphics tools and tips

ANIMATION                Top
 Microsoft Animator
For creating basic animations this is an excellent, easy to learn and easy to use tool. You can download it free.
Learning curve - 2 hours.

Mind Alchemy's Gif Construction Set
For creating special effects animations this is the best product I have found. It costs $29.95 and will take a little longer to learn how to use, but it offers some terrific special effects. You can download a trail version for free. For a good laugh, visit Mind Alchemy's 100 More Commandments.
Learning curve - 1 day.

SCANNER                  Top
 Microtek ScanMaker E6
If you are going to do web pages that include photos or original art, you are going to need a good scanner. Places such as Kinkos typically charge $10 to scan a single image. Sixty images at that price will purchase this top of the line scanner. If you need to scan slides, you will need to also purchase the slide scanning adapter (about anoother $600.00). ScanMaker includes Ulead PhotoImpact which is a pretty good graphics editor (though not as sophisticated as Adobe Photoshop). ScanMaker also comes with Caere Omni Page Reader which will scan text. Learning curve - 2 to 3 days.

IMAGE MAPPING       Top
 LiveImage
You have probably seen pages that allow you to click different places on an image to go to different pages. This is done via "image mapping" and is pretty difficult (but not impossible) without the aid of a software utility. LiveImage is very nicely done - easy to learn and easy to use. I personally tend to avoid Image Mapping because the size of the graphic tends to be large, but there are times when it is advantageous (maps are a good example).
Learning curve - 2 hours.

UTILITIES                    Top
ZIFF DAVIS
This is a terrific site for finding free or inexpensive Internet Publishing Software Utilities. They have software available for many other things as well.

Brief Discussion of common methods of creating special effects

JAVA                           Top
if you are not an experienced software programmer, I suggest you stay away from Java. If you are experienced in programming, but not in C, C++ or some other true object oriented language (Visual Basic and Delphi are NOT object oriented in this case) you will find a pretty steep learning curve for very little payoff. Currently JAVA will allow some unusual special effects on a web page and it can be somewhat useful for database applications, but otherwise it may not be the best place to invest your time.
 Symantec Visual Cafe
If you still want to explore Java, then Symantec is perhaps the best place to start. It is (in a limited sense) a WYSIWIG editor but you will be able to learn Java more quickly simply by using it and then studying the code it creates.
Links to more JAVA tools and tips.

JAVASCRIPT             Top
Again, if you are not an experienced software programmer, I suggest you stay away from Javascript. The learning curve to payoff ratio is poor. Yes you can do some neat special effects, but how many web pages really need them? There are a few utilites out there that will create Javascript code for some special effects.
Web Genie
This is free and might be useful. It creates the Javascript code for a dropdown menu of URLs. This lets users select the next page they want to go to from a menu list.
Links to more Javascript tools and tips

 ANIMATED BUTTONS       Top
This is the Javascript code that I use most often since it allows you to display 2 different versions of a graphic image button. One image displays when the users mouse is positioned ON the button, and one image displays when the mouse is OFF the button. Unfortunately it doesn't work in Microsoft browsers because Microsoft does not support the Javascript Mouseover event.

FRAMES                       Top
Frames are, generally speaking, a waste of time. They have so many serious drawbacks. Yes, I know, I used them on this site, but this is the only site I have ever used them on. If you are insistent about using them, then be sure to check out the Virtual Library's problems. Microsoft Front Page 98 claims to create them pretty easily, but I have not personally used that feature. There is also a utility called FrameGang available from Sausage Software that is helpful.

FORMS                         Top
Forms allow your web page to accept data input from the user and then to send that information somewhere. Currently there are no real good solutions for sending form data other than the use of a CGI script. It is possible to send data input by the user in a pretty simple fashion IF the user is using the Netscape browser. Unfortunately this simple solution does not work with a Microsoft browser. The best solution is to make sure that the server on which your pages are published has a CGI script available for your free use for extracting form data and sending it somewhere. Check out Virtual Library's Forms Info to get started.

CGI                               Top
CGI stands for Common Gateway Interface and is essentially a scripting language. A CGI script resides on the server and handles data which is posted via the HTML FORM ACTION TAG. It is commonly used to email information entered into an HTML form (comments, guestbooks, shopping carts, etc.) back to the creator of the form. For many applications, CGI is used with PERL - a database type of language. There are some drawbacks to CGI: 1. If 100 users are accessing the page with the form on it there will be 100 instances of that CGI script running on the server. 2. Most CGI scripts are written to run on UNIX servers NOT on WindowsNT servers. 3. As Java, Javascript, ActiveX, ASP and other substitutes grow in use, there will be less need for CGI and it will probably (my guess) be pretty much outdated in the next couple of years. Right now though it is still the best overall method for handling a form, and you should be able to find a free or inexpensive form handling script for any platform. Best 1st stop is to check with your server administrator.
Links to more CGI information

Links to Resources - Last Verified 11/09/97

HTML AUTHORING LINKS     Back to HTML Editor Info
The Web Developer's Virtual Library
Elsop Webmaster Resource
How Do They do That With HTML
Non-Dithering Colors by Hue
Netscape Page Starter Site
WWW Help Page
NCSA--A Beginner's Guide to HTML
LiveImage Client Side Image Mapping Program for Windows95
Step-by-Step Tutorial
HTML Web Magic
LiveImage Client Side Image Mapping Program for Windows95 &

JAVA                             Back to Java Info
JavaSoft Home Page
Java Resources
Java Shareware
How Do I
Essential Links For Learning Java

JAVA SCRIPT               Back to Javascript Info              
Languages:Java:Guides, Tutorials and Documentation
JavaScript Authoring Guide
Special Edition Using JavaScript Home Page
JavaScript
Timothy's JavaScript Examples
Wildman Tim's Custom Javascripts
IntraBuilder Resource Gallery
CyberLab's Javascript Laboratory
Netscape's Javascript
Utilities

CGI                              Back to CGI Info
CGI Made Really Easy
PERL for Win95
How to Create and execute CGI scripts
Cabernet's CGI Cellar