Virtual Middle School Library Home

Freeware, Shareware, and Commercial Programs for Writing Web Pages

• Bare Bones Software - Producers of BBEdit which is a program which may be used to write web pages.
• HTML Editors - Yahoo's list.

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Browsers

• Browser News - News and download site. 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 Page Design - The emphasis here is on the layout of the page and not on writing the HTML.
  • Web Site Planning - An introduction to web page writing for educators by Donna McMullin of Copper Hill School.
  • Usable Web - Index of web sites and articles which are helpful in planning a useful, usable web site.
• Writing HTML
  • HTML 4.01 Specifications
  • 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.
  • The Bare Bones Guide to HTML - Here is where you can get a list of all the tags in the current version of HTML.
  • The Top 100 Web Development Cheat Sheets - All kinds of help for writing HTML, CSS, and lots more.

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Cascading Style Sheets

• Learning CSS - Links to many articles and tutorials on Cascading Style Sheets. By W3C.
• 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.
• Cascading Style Sheets, Level 1 - 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.
  • Barry's Clip Art Server - Good for icons and animated gifs.
• Individual graphics sites
  • ZSPC Super Color Chart - A great help for choosing background and text colors for your web pages.
  • Complete HTML Color Chart
  • CoolText Online Graphics Generator - A great place to design a cool logo for your site (for free).
  • MediaBuilder - This well-organized site has free graphics for your web pages. It is also a great source of animated images.
  • Clip Art Warehouse - Good for icons and smilies.
  • Cool Clips - Free clip art.
  • MacGallery - The MacGallery has over 850 Mac images, icons, buttons and product pictures for your web pages.
  • Soo-Hyoung's Library Clip Art - Clip art for libraries and reading.
  • Library & Media PR - A good source of library graphics.
  • Mr. Donn's List of Free History and Holiday Clip Art
  • Classroom Clip Art - A large collection of graphics which may be used by students and teachers for noncomercial purposes.
  • KidsDomain Clip Art - Good clip art for schools and holidays.
  • Awsome Clip Art for Educators - Good holiday graphics.
  • Wise Gorilla - Free clip art for education and for world religions.
  • 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.
  • The Icon Archive - Lots of free icons.
  • Clip Art ETC - Clip Art from the Florida Educational Technology Clearing House.
  • Civil War Clip Art
  • Barracuda Backgrounds
  • Absolute Background Texture Archive - a very large number of background.

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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.
• Google Gadgets for Web Masters - News, games and other goodies to add to your site.
• How to Build a Web Site with Free Stuff - By the Web Developers Virtual Library.

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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.
• Browsrcamp - If you are a PC user, use Browsrcamp to see how your web site will look on a Mac.

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

• Web Design Reference - this site has information and links to tools for web design.
• 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.
• Search Engine Submission Tips - by Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch.
• Who Links to Me? - Find out who is linking to your site.

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