Virtual Middle School Library Home

Freeware, Shareware, and Commercial Programs for Writing Web Pages

• HTML Editors - Help with choosing your web writing program from About.Com.
• Bare Bones Software - Producers of BBEdit which is a program for the Macintosh which may be used to write web pages.
• Best Free HTML Editor - a list from Gizmo's Freeware.
• HTML Editors - Yahoo's list.

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Browsers

• Browser News - News and download site. There is also helpful information on writing pages which are compatible with all browsers. Please remember that your web site should work with more than one browser.

General Guides to Creating Web Pages with HTML

• Web Style Guides
  • Web Design Basics - From About.Com.
  • Writing Good Web Page Content - An article by Larisa Tomason for NetMechanic.
  • Usability.gov - A US government web site which will assist in writing clear and understandable web sites. There are also guides to testing the usability of your web site.
• Writing HTML
  • W3 Schools - A very good way to learn HTML, CSS, and many other topics in web page writing. There are very good examples here.
  • HTML 4.01 Specifications
  • HTML 5 Tutorial - HTML 5 is official now. This is a tutorial from W3 Schools.
  • Building Web Pages with HTML 5 - This is a guide from Web Monkey.
  • W3C HTML Page - This is where to find the latest word on HTML from the World Wide Web Consortium. There are also links to tutorials.
  • Five Great Resources for Learning How to Code
  • DOCTYPES - A line at the top of your page which tells browsers and validators what to expect. This is information from Browser Watch.
  • Articles About Mobile Web Design - From About.com. Plan to make your site convenient for mobile phone users.

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Cascading Style Sheets

• Adding a Touch of Style - An introduction to the use of cascading style sheets.
• Getting Started with Cascading Style Sheets - A tutorial for beginners.
• StyleMaster - A Macintosh and Windows shareware program which will help you understand and write cascading style sheets.
• Learning CSS - Links to many articles and tutorials on Cascading Style Sheets. By W3C.
• Cascading Style Sheets - The official document from W3C.

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XML and XHTML

• HTML Tidy - A free program for cleaning up your HTML and converting it to XHTML.
• W3C Validator - Will check your newly edited XHTML document.
• XHTML Guidelines - Guidelines for version 1.0 from W3C.

Graphics and Backgrounds.

• Graphics Search Engines
  • Clip Art Search Engines - This is an all-in-one search page for icons, graphics, and sound files. Search sites include HotBot, Lycos, and Filez.
• Sites which list other graphics sites
  • Web Clip Art - From About.Com. Many, many links to clip art collections.
• Individual graphics sites
  • 50 Best Free Tools To Create Perfect Color Combinations - From the Smashing Aps site.
  • ZSPC Super Color Chart - A great help for choosing background and text colors for your web pages.
  • Complete HTML Color Chart
  • 10 Best Web Sites to Generate Buttons Online - Suggestions from Smashing Apps.
  • Clip Art Warehouse - Good for icons and smilies.
  • Hassle Free Clip Art
  • Soo-Hyoung's Library Clip Art - Clip art for libraries and reading.
  • Library & Media PR - A good source of library graphics.
  • Classroom Clip Art - A large collection of graphics which may be used by students and teachers for noncomercial purposes.
  • Philip Martin's Free Clip Art - Good for educational web sites.
  • Discovery School Clip Art - Clip art for reports and web pages. Do read the conditions for use.
  • School Clip Art - Free clip art for educators and students.
  • Clip Art ETC - Clip Art from the Florida Educational Technology Clearing House.
  • Civil War Clip Art
  • Absolute Background Texture Archive - a very large number of background.
  • Clip Art 101 - If you can't tell a JPEG from a GIF, this is a good article from Education World

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Imagemaps, Forms, Frames, Java, etc.

• Frame Tutorial - How to put frames on your page.
• Java Boutique - A good source of Java applets.
• The Java Script Source - A Cut and Paste Java library.

Counters, Search Engines, and Other Goodies to Add to Your Web Site

• Atomz - A free search engine for your site.
• Stat Counter - An excellent way to track visitors to your web site. Basic statistics are free.
• Analytics Toolbox: 50+ More Ways to Track Website Traffic - Many ways to see who is visiting your site.
• Google Gadgets for Web Masters - News, games and other goodies to add to your site.
• How to Embed Almost Anything in Your Website - video, music, maps and more. This site is by Digital Inspiration.

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Checking for Errors

• W3C HTML Validation Service - Check your pages for HTML 4.0 compatibility.
• Validation of Cascading Style Sheets
• AnyBrowser.Com - Check your HTML and links. This site also has links to free graphics and other page building resources.
• IE NetRenderer - If you are writing your page with a Mac, you may use IENetRenderer to see how it will look in Internet Explorer.

Links to all the page writing resources that you could possibly need

• HTML Goodies - Articles on every aspect of writing a web site.
• Web Reference - Well organized source for all your page writing needs.
• Webmonkey - Articles, tips, tutorials. By HotWired

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Promoting Your Site

If you want others to find your site, you should submit your URL to a number of different search engines and subject indexes. You can submit to each one separately or use one of the announcement services.

• 131 (Legitimate) Link Building Strategies - How to properly promote your web site. This is an article by Chris Sherman of Search Engine Watch.

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This site is maintained by Linda Bertland, school librarian. Please address any comments, additions, or corrections to info@sldirectory.com.