What Software do I Need?
    There are many different types of software for web publishing out there.  I have used just about all of the lower end software and can tell you this, price doesn't matter.

HTML EDITORS
    The best HTML editors that you will ever use are called NOTEPAD!  Don't waste your money buying a program that does little things for you.  If you want to code all your pages in HTML you can do it all in Notepad.  Notepad is preinstalled on both Windows and Macintosh.  To get to it in Windows open the Start Menu, hit Programs, hit Accessories, then Notepad.  For Macintosh simply open the Apple Menu in the top-left corner of the screen and hit Notepad.  There are some decent freeware HTML editors that offer small advantages. Take a look at Download.com and see if you can find one to fit your needs.
 

WYSIWYG EDITORS
    My personal favorite amongst WYSIWYG HTML editors is Netscape's Composer, it is free and has the ability to do many things much more expensive programs can do.  This entire website is done in Netscape Composer.   In case you don't know by know, WYSIWYG mean What You See Is What You Get.
    When you get into paying for a WYSIWYG app, one of the first choices of most people is Microsofts Frontpage.  I personally don't like it.  MS Frontpage is a RAM hog, and in order to preview the finished product you have to open the browser too, Netscape Composer already has the browser open, so in reality, you're running two apps in one!  MS Frontpage does have some nice features though, WebBots allow you to access easy to use cgi scripts.  You can also set themes using (I think)Cascading style sheets.  But I also found it hard to work with frames in Frontpage.
    Another great WYSIWYG editor under $100 is Claris Homepage.  It runs about $30 to $80 depending on the version.  It is an awesome program. It has great frame support, native Quicktime embedding, great access to forms, and the ability to instantly switch to the raw HTML.
    When you get into High end editors, the most popular are Adobe GoLive and Macromedia Dreamweaver.  I have never seen or used either, but from multiple reviews in magazines, I have decided that when I decide to buy a high end piece of web-production software I will choose Adobe's GoLive.  Why, well for me it is a very personal choice. I use Quicktime a lot and Adobe GoLive has built in Quicktime Movie Editing software.  Also, GoLive integrates incredibly with the other Adobe apps, which I use very often, If I used Flash or Fireworks a lot, I most likely would have chosen Dreamweaver.  When it comes to high end, I don't want to push either way, but you can download a demo of Dreamweaver.

Multimedia Software
    I cannot stress it enough, Quicktime 4.0 is essential to every web surfer.  For the webmaster, the benefits are exponential, imagine 72:1 audio compression, while still maintaining quality!  That's the power of the QDesign Music 2 compression codec built into the Professional Edition of Quicktime 4.0.  Quicktime 4.0 is downloadable from www.apple.com/quicktime/download
Once you have the player, you can get info on the $30 upgrade to Professional Edition.
    Winamp and RealPlayer are also good pieces of multimedia software.  Although not much on the creation end, WinAmp allows you access to MP3 files which you can place for download on your webpage, drawing more traffic.  RealPlayer allows you to watch streaming video and play many different sound file types, although not as many as Quicktime 4.0.
    Windows Sound Recorder can also be helpful.  Wav's are nice for small sound clips as the time to load the Quicktime plug-in on older machines is the same time it would take to download the same file in Wav format.  Wav files are also embeddable into your web pages as background music.

Free Internet Providers
    Geocities, Fortunecity, Angelfire, many others.  There are literally hundreds of sites on the internet offering free webspace, but many have major space limitations and/or fussy rules, as I learned the hard way.
Pro #1-It's free!

Pro #2-You are part of an online community, free chat, graphics and a free homebuilding program come with most free  pages.

Con #1-Space some places will only give you ONE megabyte of space, for major graphics and/or multimedia,
this in NOT enough

Con #2-Rules and Regulations-Most places with good amounts of space require you have a page up and you must wear the  host sites banners on your page or in popup windows.  I.E. I had 80 mb worth of stuff at Xoom.com and they trashed it all because I didn't have a page up.  Also, you're not allowed your own ads, and other things aren't allowed, such as e-commerce sites and porn at most sites.

Your Internet Service Provider
    Your Internet Service Provider will usually provide ":free" home page space with your account.  The average from what I've seen in 5 megabytes, which is alot better than 1 or 2, but still not that good, but have no fear, you can usually extra, at about 10-20 extra dollars a month per extra 10 megs.  For that, you could get your own domain and have it hosted.
    To post a page on your ISP's server, you will need an FTP client, in Composer, it can be done without, but you still want to have one just in case.  For PC's I recommend Bullet Proof FTP, it will resume downloads if the connection is lost or times out.
For Mac's I recommend Fetch 3.03, available at MacShare.com.

Get a Domain and have it hosted
    For 70 dollars you can get www.yourname.com.  To have it hosted somewhere, it will cost extra, most places charge you by month or by year.  Prices can vary from $7.95 a month to over $300 a month.  The best deal I have found, however is at www.mympc.com  For a one time payment of $180 you get a domain name, 200 megs space and many other cool services for 2 years, at the end of two years, you only need to pay $35 a year to keep the domain name, the hosting is paid for forever!
To get a domain, go to www.internic.net.  Soon other places will be able to register different domain names.

Pictures
    Pictures and graphics are the most stolen thing on the internet.  I admit it that even I've done it.  But usually, if I can, I will obey the correct laws.  When you hit Save Image As, be sure of one of these two things

1. The Picture is free to distribute and/or is clipart.
2. If it is not free, make sure you've paid for it and/or will agree to the other terms given out by the creator

Video and Audio
    Video and Audio on the internet mostly follow the same copyright laws as anything else.  Believe it or not, it is very very legal for me to have the MP3 of Citizen King's Better Days.  It is legal because I own the CD.  All the music on this site, I own the song on a regular audio CD.  As long as I don't freely distribute the audio, it is still considered being part of my personal use when it's on my personal website.
    Video follows more closely to the Picture end of things.  We've all seen the FBI warnings at the beginnings of VHS tapes, but everyone has dual VCR's anyway!  Video is allowed to be reproduced, as long as it is with the owners permission.  Now, if I had a copy of Independence Day and played it over the web, that would be illegal, If you read that FBI warning carefully, it limits ALL reproduction,  Audio is allowed, Video is not.    All the Quicktime movies on this site are Courtesy of Apple Computer Inc.  1984 is directed by Ridley Scott.  That last sentence just made all the Movies from Apple legal.. Apple has a rule that says you can use our stuff as long as its tasteful and you give credit.

Code
    On the internet, it is very easy to steal code, simply hit View, Page Souce.  Code is perfectly legal to take and use.  Code is considered intellectual property.  Which means that all you have to do is add, change, or delete a single thing and it's legal.  I do it all the time.

BACK TO TOP