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For those of you who are still in denial, it’s time to face the facts: laying out web pages through HTML tables is a dead art. Even if CSS designs are becoming more commonplace, a lot of webmasters who are used to designing with tables are hesitant to switch. This is usually because it takes more effort to create layouts in CSS, especially if you’re not too familiar with the language. Fortunately, Cascade DTP is there to translate your desired layout from your imagination straight to CSS code.

Cascade DTP creates clean, organized code based entirely on CSS. You’ll have full control of how your web page elements look. This includes your typography, layout, borders, images, and scrollbars. You can position your graphics and text virtually anywhere you want and you can repeat your background images vertically or horizontally. These features make web designers less dependent on image files for creating the look they want. This has its advantages, including faster loading time for web pages and search engine optimized code.

As for the final product of your efforts with Cascade DTP, you can save it as a complete HTML file, a separate CSS file, or you can paste the CSS code onto an HTML editor. You can also save your work in the custom .cas4 file format if you want to edit it using Cascade DTP in the future.

If you’re really a table enthusiast, you can still use them on your pages – but only to display tabular data. After all, that’s what tables are for, right?

Cascade DTP runs on Microsoft Windows versions 95 and above.

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Usually, web masters need to know CSS and HTML before they can make a text-based navigational menu for their web site. True, they can use images rather than text links, but images aren’t ideal for search engine optimization. With the CSS Menu Generator, creating an appealing yet search-engine-friendly menu only takes a few steps.

First, you go to the CSS Menu Generator’s main website and select one of three CSS menu styles. Then, you’ll be taken through a short online wizard that lets you choose the size and colors of your menu. You can also input the link addresses and text you’ll be using.

The application is user-friendly, except for the fact that you need to know the hexadecimal values of the colors you want. You can look up these values online or through the color selector tools of imaging software such as Photoshop - although it would’ve been more convenient if the application page had a link to a similar tool.

Once you’ve gone through the wizard, you can see a preview of your menu. If you don’t like what you see, you can always press the “Back” button on your browser and change your menu settings. The wizard will generate both the CSS and HTML code for your menu, and all you have to do is paste it within your website’s CSS and HTML files. Overall, it’s a great tool for web masters who are new to CSS and HTML, as well as web design professionals who want to create simple menus without the fuss.

CSS Menu Generator can run on any Internet Explorer 4.0 or compatible browser.

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You can build RSS feeds for your web site for free by using your computer’s handy text editor – but this only works if you either have a lot of time on your hands or you’re some kind of masochist. If you don’t want to go through the painful route of manual coding, you can use RSS Builder. This application helps you automatically set up news feeds, making it useful for web site owners who want to keep their readers updated with the latest additions to their site.

The RSS Builder interface is simple - even the most hesitant web masters can use it to implement feeds on their site. The Feed Properties window lets you input your site URL, email address, feed description, and feed title. You can also add images and implement CSS or XSL style sheets if you want images and layouts displayed with your feed. When you’re done, you can use the built-in FTP client to upload your feeds to the web server.

Along with the embedded FTP client and style sheet support, RSS Builder includes support for podcasts and enclosures, XML previews, and a built-in HTML editor for text and layout formatting. All these features give you full control of your feed’s content and look. RSS Builder will prove to be a valuable application for bloggers and podcasters, especially if their blogging software doesn’t include automatic feed generation.

RSS Builder requires Microsoft Windows versions 98 and above. A NET Framework 2.0 installation is also needed, and you can easily get this via the RSS Builder setup.

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Some WYSIWYG HTML editors are notorious for creating messy code. This makes web developers waste precious time cleaning up code after using their HTML editor. Sometimes, this problem even makes them go back to manually editing HTML with text editors like Notepad. Evrsoft 1st page boasts of creating clean code that doesn’t need fixing and correcting later on. The application is also known for keeping your code intact, without adding any extra tags that are unnecessary for your web site. This feature alone makes it useful for both beginning and professional webmasters.

Evrsoft 1st Page has a flexible user interface that increases your productivity through customizable toolbars and keyboard shortcuts. It also allows you to choose from 3 web development modes: Easy, Expert, and Hardcore. It is also loaded with features such as hundreds of built-in scripts, an HTML Source compressor that reduces your file size, a spell checker, a thesaurus, and wizards that make the coding process fuss-free.

1st Page supports various web languages such as JavaScript, VBScript, SSI, CGI, Perl, ColdFusion, and ASP. It also contains built-in scripts from these languages, although the number of scripts per language is varied. You can preview your work in up to 4 browsers to check for compatibility. Other useful tools include the Complete Web Building Reference and the Instant Tag Help, which provide help for both beginners and more experienced users.

The program runs on Windows platforms and requires Internet Explorer version 3.02 or higher.

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FileZilla is an FTP browser that is big in features but small in size. This is a must-have for webmasters who want to upload and download files from their FTP servers, but need a simple interface to do so. The application itself is light, and you can even run the program from a USB stick - perfect for the web master on the go.

FileZilla contains the basic tools needed for FTP browsing. This includes the ability to drag and drop files from your computer, upload/download queuing, SSL/TSL secured connections, and timeout detection. It also supports SFTP for encrypted data transfers. The program also has more advanced features such as a Site Manager, support for custom commands, multi-language interfaces, and firewalls. You can also resume unfinished uploads and downloads if your FTP server allows it.

Although the interface is simple enough, beginners to FTP browsing might need a little extra help. The FileZilla Wiki featured on their web site provides all the necessary information you’ll need when installing, configuring, and using the application.

SourceForge has given FileZilla several awards such as Project of the Month in November 2003, and Best Networking Program of 2006.

FileZilla runs on Windows NT4, 2000, and XP.

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Everyone, at one point or another, has prayed to the gods and wished for a simple, easier way to create applications and web sites in PHP. That is, everyone who is a PHP developer. The free trial version of PHP Designer 2007 lets you edit, analyze, and verify your code without all the manual fuss. Although it’s called “PHP Designer”, it also supports other web languages such as HTML, MySQL, XML, CSS, JavaScript, VBScript, Perl, Python, and Ruby. You can easily switch among these languages or embed them into existing code.

This feature-rich application makes PHP development faster and more productive. The program’s interface is easy-to-read and intuitive. PHP Designer also includes syntax highlighters, intelligent code suggestion, programming tips displayed while you type, a structured project manager tool, extensive code libraries, and wizards that make coding simpler. All these tools provide a breath of fresh air for the beginning and professional web site developers who always find themselves drowning in code confusion.

Other tools included in the application are an FTP browser, Todo and Bug manager, code templates, database connection manager and browser, and the ability to export into HTML, RTF, or LaTex. You can even document your code in a few simple clicks with the phpDocumentor wizard.

PHP Designer 2007 Free Trial Version runs on Windows XP and Vista and requires Internet Explorer 4 or higher.

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Most web sites work better with a mailing list – they can easily inform people of site updates, let them know of new products or services, or encourage people to make return visits. This makes email newsletters one of the most powerful marketing strategies out there. However, managing email newsletters can either be costly or difficult.

That’s where Dada Mail (formerly Mojomail) comes in. Dada Mail is a web-based application that lets you create and manage mailing lists for your email newsletter. It supports email validation, subscribe/ unsubscribe features, and address PIN verification. It also has administrative features such as password protection, the ability to manage multiple mailing lists, as well as full WYSIWYG customization for your newsletter.

The program can create emails in either plain text or HTML format and send it with or without file attachments. You can also use it to send a variety of messages such as simple announcements, HTML designed newsletters, and discussion mailing list messages. This allows for more flexible communication between you and your subscribers. Users can even syndicate your newsletter’s content, or search through message archives.

Security is another important feature of Dada Mail. Subscribers’ email addresses and IP addresses aren’t logged at all, so you can assure them of their privacy when they sign up for your news letter.

The program is also under GNU General Public License terms, which means that you can modify or improve the application – if you’ve got Perl programming skills.

Dada Mail runs on any web host that allows the use of CGI scripts.

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Finding the perfect keywords for optimizing your web site is like digging for gold – it takes a lot of patience, research, and hard work. If you do it right, it can be very profitable and rewarding. Because of this, it’s no surprise that keyword research takes so much time and effort. After all, it will be the foundation of your search engine marketing campaign. Thankfully there are applications like Keyword Digger that help streamline the process.

Keyword Digger is a simple program that suggests relevant keywords you can use for implementing SEO on your site. This is useful for web publishers who want to try their hand at SEO, and for seasoned SEO professionals who want to come up with a keyword seed list.

To use Keyword Digger, enter one of your chosen keywords into the search box and click the “Go” button. The program then “digs” for similar keywords and shows you how many searches for those keywords have come up in the previous month. The results are based on the searches made on 3 of the most popular search engines in the world: Overture, Yahoo, and MSN.

As if it wasn’t useful enough, the developers of Keyword Digger created a “Rebranding” tool you can use to market your web site through distributing the program. This tool lets you put any 468×60 ad banner within the program interface, making it visible to anyone who uses it. You can also add a URL that will lead visitors to your site when they click your banner. This makes Keyword Digger useful to those who are looking for a creative web site marketing strategy.

Keyword Digger will run on any version of Windows.

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The CoffeeCup Free HTML Editor is a practical program for advanced users who want to make their job easier, as well as beginners who want to develop their HTML knowledge. It’s a handy tool that gives you more control of your coding without the manual work required by text editors like Notepad. You can easily drag and drop code, and automatically create tables, frames, and forms through simple wizards.

Even though it’s a free application, it’s probably just as feature-rich as other HTML code editors out there. You can create a webpage from scratch or use the Quickstart option. This feature automatically writes code for the text and background colors, meta tags, and scrollbar colors based on your specifications. Whether you use Quickstart or not, you’ll have access to DHTML, XHTML, PHP, and JavaScript tags that you can simply drag and drop onto your webpage – a useful feature for those of us who need more tags than we can remember.

You can also preview your work in up to 4 browsers, making it easier for developers to see any browser compatibility issues. The ability to upload and download your website directly from the editor is also convenient. Additional features include HTML validation, a spell checker, a thesaurus, and a website color schemer.

CoffeeCup Free HTML Editor works with Windows 2000, XP, Media Center, and Vista.

Go to Coffee Cup Free HTML Editor