WEB DESIGN SOFTWARE

My name is Margaret MacGillivray and I run a shop in Helensburgh, Argyll. We sell quality Scottish gifts - and our friendly, homely little coffee shop sells home-baking, home-made soups and snacks.

Since I first started to publish web sites using Apple's Claris Home Page Software, the internet has changed considerably and the variety of web design software applications has grown out of all recognition. I have taught myself how to create and manage many different types of web sites and so I thought it would be a good idea if I was to put together a list of my essential web design software. These are the foundation of my online work - and have led me to great success selling products online in my Scottish Gift Shop

There are some fantastic programmes which work on your local computer - for instance, one I use all the time is Coffee Cup HTML Editor - it is easy to use and has some great features including:

1. a library of tags which are used to format your documents - this means I can quickly look up the tag details to make the page look pretty.
2. A preview window which allows you to see how your web design looks in your favourite web browser. This is a quick way to test your design and also helps me see what improvements I can make to a page before I publish it online.
3. A wysiwyg editor which you can use to drag and drop elements on to the page (although I prefer to do the coding without this, it will create perfectly competent web pages for you.

I have just bought another Coffee Cup Programme - called Firestarter. Although I prefer not to use much Flash in my web sites, because it's not very search engine-friendly, there are some times when having a flash image gallery is appropriate. To download a free trial of CoffeeCup Firestarter - Click Here.

Another programme which I use all the time is Adobe Photoshop Elements - if you only buy one programme to help you with your web site, this is one I strongly recommend. Why? Well, it's possible to publish web sites in many places online without spending any of your own money, but if you want to customise a web page or site and don't have access to a really good graphics/photo editor, then you are stuck. Adobe Photoshop Elements absolutely rocks!

I'd go further - you can try the free download of Creative Suite 4 Introductory Offer which will be available for you to test for a month and which you should really enjoy.

Digital Cameras are essential for web design. Although they have become much cheaper, you don't always need to buy brand new to do the work for your web site. I have had some great success buying second-hand photographic equipment on eBay - but I would caution you to check out the eBay seller's profile before you make a bid.

The Top Forum Software
Spice up your web site with the ultimate community message board solution! I have flirted with the idea of running an online forum for ages; everywhere I go, I come across discussion boards which use vBulletin. Now, I'm not going to pretend that installing scripts such as this (which need database facilities) is something which you are likely to be able to do straight away, but the guys at vBulletin take care of that for you. :) - and having a strong community of people is one way to market your online business effectively.

If you are looking for free web hosting for your web site, then Blinkweb and Squidoo are two great places to start. For paid hosting, why not try our own web hosting at Sablehost Web Hosting - we are confident you will like the service and reliability.

Margaret MacGillivray Luckenbooth Software Ltd Cardross G82 5JZ Contact 01389 8418870

Web Design Clients

Chi-chi Fashion
Baby2Body
Craigmarloch Nurseries
Nan's Babies

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