Free For Your Site

Joining the ranks of free code editors, PSPad Editor is in a class of its own. Rivaling even some commercial software, this freeware packs quite a number of features to satisfy most editors’ hunger for usability. Downloaded as an installer file, getting to work with PSPad won’t take long. Just a couple of the usual setup pages and you’re good to go.

Pre-configured to highlight syntax from most of the popular programming languages such as PHP, SQL and VB to name a few, you won’t need a separate code editor for each of these languages. PSPad Editor can read, analyze and highlight them. Another nifty feature of PSPad is the integrated FTP client. No need to open another application once you’re done editing your codes in PSPad. Send them directly to your web server via FTP without even leaving the PSPad interface. While the usual Help tab will bring you a sort of tutorial for the software, PSPad’s Help tab gives you more than that. It allows you to check and validate your code without typing the URL of the validator in your browser. W3C, RSS as well as CSS validators are available to make sure that your page complies with the standard.

PSPad Editors’ many features and easy to understand interface makes code writing a real breeze.

PSPad Editor is a Windows application.

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Having the right Flash menu in your site creates the impression of professionalism. With its smooth effects, it becomes a joy to navigate your site. FlashExtension is aware of this, that’s why they introduced the Picasso Flash Menu Builder.

Picasso Flash Menu Builder is designed to ease the creation of Flash menus. All you need to do with the Menu Builder is draw your buttons that will blend in with your site. Not into drawing? Then choose one of the ready made buttons available with the download. To use, just open up your Flash program and install the extension. Once installed, the component is now available and ready for editing.

A free copy is available as well as a paid version. The free copy has a small ad, located in the roll over. If you buy the product, you get the Flash object, as well as bonus themes. This expands your repertoire of possible flash menus. And whether you have the paid or the free copy, the amount of flash menus available to you is almost limitless. You can choose a menu that goes vertical or horizontal. Choose between pop-up submenus or drop downs. With the Picasso Flash Menu Builder, anyone can be an artist for their own site.

Picasso Flash Menu Builder v 1.0 is compatible with Win98/WinME/WinXP/Vista and requires Flash MX, Flash MX 2004, Flash 8 with the Extension Manager installed.

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Some people still prefer to use traditional text editors such as Notepad to write their HTML code. After all, it’s free and readily available. Software that specializes in HTML coding usually costs money, and people would rather stick with the old editor, just to save some cash. If this problem sounds familiar to you, then you might want to try HateML Pro.

HateML Pro is a PHP/HTML editor designed to ease the process of coding your web pages. One of its main features is the syntax highlighting, which is the process of recognizing code written in PHP (among other languages) and highlighting them accordingly. HateML also has an Automatic Syntax Checker, which automatically checks for syntax errors, saving you time from debugging. Another nifty feature is the Intellisense. It analyzes what you are coding and it presents you with code hints as to what you are trying to code, speeding up your work by removing the need to type every part of the code. Other features include an FTP client, a MySQL manager plug-in and a Code Browser.

Designed to help in web development, HateML Pro is the solution for a cost-free yet feature-packed editor to ease your workload.

HateML Pro requires basic HTML knowledge to work with coding and runs on Windows 98, XP, and Vista.

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Let’s go back to the basics. In order to publish a website, one usually works on an HTML editor and a separate FTP program to upload files onto a web server. This system works great for some, but not for others. The keywords here are simplicity and convergence. With a program called Planarchy, you can compose your pages and upload your files on a single platform.

Planarchy enables anyone to publish text and images onto a server with ease. No HTML background or external FTP client is needed – everything is taken cared of by Planarchy in the background. Just enter your newest post and click Publish. In a minute, you’ll be able to see your new entry on your web site. Before uploading the pages, the files are saved on a specified directory on your computer. This feature means you’ll always have an up-to-the-minute local mirror. In case something goes wrong, you’ll have a backup ready on your computer. The output pages are highly configurable. Choose how you’d like your entries to appear: a single page, spread across numerous pages, or specified by an entries-per-page value.

Consider it an alternative all-in-one blogging engine. Development and support for this software has stopped, with the latest version being Planarchy 2. However, it’s simple enough to use, and if you’re feeling adventurous, you might want to try it out. Planarchy 2 is compatible with Windows and requires Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 or higher.

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Metty is a simple tool that even novices can use to create clean meta tags for their web sites. It contains a form with several textboxes in which one enters key facts about the web page. With one click, Metty automatically generates the meta tags which can be copied and pasted onto the head of the web page. This being the case, a little know-how with HTML will go a long way.

Meta tags used to be crucial for search engine rankings. Although their significance has declined over the years, meta tags are still useful in aiding search engine spiders and directories with categorization. This is especially true when including relevant keywords in the title and description tags.

Metty actually comes in two versions – a downloadable freeware, called Metty Freeware Meta Tag Maker, and an online tool, called Metty Online Meta Tag Generator. Both have the same interface and functionality. They feature easy import of existing HTML files from your hard-drive or the web. You can also save tags as a file for use as a template, and have limited support for Dublin Core meta tags. The Freeware version can generate 33 meta tags while the Online version can generate 30.

Version 1.1 of the Online version has also been updated to be XHTML compliant. Users can observe that the code it generates now end with a terminating slash and that tags are written in lower case – all in accordance with the stricter XHTML rules.

Metty Freeware Meta Tag Maker is compatible with all Windows versions from Win95 to WinXP.

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For some writers, scribbling a quick draft before intensive editing is easier than trying to get things perfect the first time. For some artists, a rough sketch before putting in the all details is also preferred. WAP Prototype Maker provides the same functions for WAP site developers.

It is unfortunate that the program’s home page lacks the basic how-to’s or even an FAQ section. You really have to download and install WAP Prototype Maker to get a feel of how it works. Thankfully, a fairly informative Help option is provided in the menus. The instructions are simple enough that once read, you will be able to generate a set of WML pages in no time.

The almost plain vanilla user interface features a tree structure to create and arrange several pages. One or more texts, links and images can be attached to a single page, and their attributes can be changed individually. In effect, you get to see a visual representation of your site map.

You can also test and see how the WML pages look like by opening them in your favorite browser. Try to follow the links to test the navigation. Then, go back to the drawing board if you find anything you’d like to change. No programming knowledge is necessary to use the software itself. However, since the user will most probably need to edit the code at some point for polishing, it would be good to have a working knowledge of HTML at the very least.

WAP Prototype Maker is compatible with all versions of Windows.

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Nvu (pronounced N-view) is a web site creation and editing program from Linspire. You can create web pages via HTML or WYSIWYG editing, and jump between both modes with a simple mouse click. This feature makes Nvu useful for both experienced web programmers and those new to web site creation.

A CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) editor is built into the application, allowing you to see any changes live on the web page you are editing. Pre-loaded style sheets also make CSS templates easier for those with no coding experience. If you find that you’ll use some tools within Nvu more frequently than others, you can also customize toolbars to suit your working needs. Best of all, a code validator tool ensures that your HTML code is valid and clutter-free.

Among its many features, Nvu also has an FTP site manager that lets you drag and drop files to your web sever, making it easy for you to upload new web pages as soon as you’ve finished them. Overall, the Nvu web site editor covers all the necessary stages of web site creation. This makes it an important addition to every webmaster’s toolkit.

Nvu runs on most Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X systems.

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If you’re the type of web publisher who’d rather hire a designer than figure out all the CSS stuff for yourself, save yourself some trouble by creating professional-looking menus with CSS Tab Designer. This easy-to-use application lets you visually design CSS-based menus and navigation bars for your site. All you have to do is select a style, input your tab items, and save the HTML file that you will paste on your web pages.

With over 60 styles and colors to choose from, you can use this application to create menus for several of your web sites. Expect more than static menus with CSS Tab Designer, because some styles are animated on mouse-overs. The tab templates also come in horizontal and vertical orientations, making them usable for most site designs. If you’re not ready with a list of your own tab items, a “Fill With Samples” feature lets you preview the style you’ve selected with some sample tab items. The application also lets you preview your finished CSS tabs on a variety of browsers including Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera, Safari, and many others.

CSS Tab Designer works with Windows 98, XP, and Vista.

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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.

Go to Cascade DTP CSS Editor

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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