Browsers

Opera 3.6

Opera has recently become my favourite browser. Remember when you could fit a browser on a floppy disk? Nor can I. Until now that is: Opera is only 1.2 Mb. It's fully HTML 3.2, JavaScript 1.1, CSS 1 (style sheets) and Java (via Sun's plug-in) compliant and will happily work on a 386 (they're currently working non-Windows versions), so its super quick to load up and run.

But the best thing is that you no longer have to test on multiple browsers or platforms. Because Opera is properly HTML 3.2 compliant and doesn't support proprietary extensions, getting your page right on Opera means it will look right with any other HTML 3.2 browser. If you don't believe me, give it a go - after all its only a 2 minute download... And 'no' I'm not on commission!

Netscape Navigator 4

Whatever Microsoft may say, Jalfrezi's Tips n' Tricks page statistics show that Netscape Navigator browsers are still very popular. So if you only run a Microsoft browser you'll need this one as well to verify your pages are looking as expected. Originally released as part of the Communicator package, Navigator 4 is now available as a stand-alone program.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5

I have to say that MSIE 5 is really rather good - much smaller and more stable than IE4, but still a whopping big download. Just don't think about installing the Active Desktop.

Graphics Packages

Xara Webstyle

Xara WebStyle lets you create top-quality, custom-designed, web-optimized graphics - buttons, bullets, dividers, 2D and 3D headings and backgrounds - with your choice of color, text, font, shadow and size.

How's it done? You simply create your own graphics by customizing any one of the extensive collection of ready-made WebStyle template graphics, designed by professional artists. These template graphics are vector files, which means they can be scaled, re-colored and have your own text applied without any loss of quality (unlike the normal bitmap collections of web clip-art). The intuitive WebStyle editing tools are designed to be simple and quick.

Xara Webster 2

Superb software for creating web graphics. All the buttons you see throughout Jalfrezi, including the toolbar on the left were created using Xara Webster. Webster provides you with a massive library of vector graphics which you can edit, stretch and colour as you like. It will then export them into Internet ready (ie. small file size) graphics of your choice. Includes support for animated gifs.

Xara3D

Xara3D makes it unbelieveably easy to make 3D text and animations. Superb compression facilities make this software ideal for creating great looking graphcs for your website. The animation to the right took just 2 minutes and is only 15.5 Kb!

PaintShop Pro 5 & Animation Shop

One of my favourite bits of software, PaintShop Pro 5 is a quick-loading general purpose graphics package. It is very simple to use and includes the ability to create compressed .jpgs and transparent .gifs; perfect for websites. It also enables you to edit your pictures with some great tools, and to convert from and to just about all possible graphic file types. Version 5 now supports many of the features found in the vastly more expensive Adobe Photoshop, including layers and plug-ins. Version 5 also comes with Animation Shop which enables you to easily create animated gifs.

GIMP

An excellent image manipulation program for UNIX systems. The Gimp is a freely distributed piece of software suitable for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring, along similar lines to Adobe Photoshop. It can be used as a simple paint program, a expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, a image format converter, etc.

Gimp is extremely expandedable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plugins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.
Thanks to Tim Hempstead for the tip.

Gif Construction Set

Through easy to use wizards, the Gif Construction Set will help you animate your graphics and build them into a gif. One of the few packages that actually helps with the animation process.

HTML Editors

HTML Notepad 2

Based on the standard Windows Notepad, this is a superbly simple piece of software for editing the HTML code of your website. It contains a toolbar, menus and keyboard shortcuts for speeding up authoring. I use HTML Notepad for just about all my authoring, partly because it boots up in a flash and it is just so quick and simple in use (Microsoft take note). HTML Notepad also includes a handy HTML guide and colour code generator.

AceExpert HTML Editor

AceExpert is a cracking, highly customisable HTML editor with a number of surprising features. Not least of which is the global search and replace tool enabling you to automatically make the same in changes in any number of files. There's also an excellent set of JavaScript codes and well as a built in browser, style sheet creator, spell check and HTML validator.

CoffeeCup HTML Editor 7

One of the best HTML editors I have seen. CoffeeCup's HTML Editor 7 covers all the current tags and also provides a library of animated gifs and JavaScript code to insert into your pages. Intuitive to use and very much up to date.

File Tools

WinZip

WinZip is the industry standard file compression and uncompression software for Windows. Its been around since the first days of file compression and if you don't have it already you're more than likely going to need it soon, especially if you want to get your own copy of Jalfrezi.

Stuffit Expander

Similarly to WinZip, Stuffit Expander has become the industry standard compressed file expander for the Mac. If you use a Mac and you want to get your own copy of Jalfrezi, you'll need Stuffit Expander.

Ace FTP

Now my FTP tool of choice. Ace FTP has a full intuitive Explorer style interface, supports multiple connections and resumes incomplete downloads. It has a built in file viewer to check files before you upload them and allows you to edit files directly on the server. There's not much more you could really want.

Other Authoring Tools

CoffeeCup Stylesheet Maker

The easiest to use style sheet writing software you are likely to find. CoffeeCup Stylesheet Maker essentially automates the process of writing style sheets. Simply applying the desired style attributes to the required tags gives you a ready made style sheet to cut n' paste into your web page.

CoffeeCup ImageMapper

As with the Stylesheet Maker, CoffeeCup's Image Mapper is easiest to use image map creation software you are likely to find. Load in your image, select the hot spots with the shape tools and cut n' paste the image map code into your web page.

CSE HTML Validator

Validating software is vitally important for web authoring. CSE HTML Validator is one of the best and provides options for checking your pages against almost all current specifications including HTML 4.0, Internet Explorer and Netscape extensions.

InfoLink Link Checker

InfoLink offers the assistance needed to keep all your web pages up to date by providing an easy-to-use interface with many ways to control your link verification needs. InfoLink has many features to help you verify your pages more easily. With visual frame support and verification of the most popular HTML hyperlinks, InfoLink should be in every web developer's toolbox.