Web Resources

There is an amazing amount of free help available to you, the web designer, on the Internet. Graphic designers, web usability gurus, and web development companies are among the many who would like to help you make your website the best it can be. There are a number of reasons why they are offering you this free advice or stuff. Be aware of what their reason might be. Are they trying to sell you something? Did they steal copyrighted work and are passing it off as their own? Do they enjoy web design so much they want people to see their work? Or do they love you just for who you are!! With that caveat, go ahead and take a look at some of these resources. I have tried to list ones that I like. However, the web changes so frequently, new sites are being added. You might want to use a search engine to find other resources. If you find a good one, email me. I will add it to this list. On the other hand, if you find any of the following links no good, let me know. And, of course, make sure you have permission from the author to use their resources.

WebDesign "Supermarkets"
These sites contain a combination of web tips, graphics, and free scripts. You want discussion forums, listserves, the latest from the W3C? It's all here.

Some of my students say W3Schools is all you need to design a website in any language. I think they are trying to run me out of a job. W3Schools rocks.
WebDevelopers.com has a free forum and various tips, tutorials and creative ideas for web developers.
WebDeveloper's Virtual Library has a little of everything including tutorials, listservs, forums and the latest news in web design.
There used to be a website called The Mining Company:"We mine the Web so you don't have to". They changed their name to About.com and broadened out to report on multiple topics. They did however retain their web design and HTML gurus, Jean Kaiser and Jennifer Kyrnin. You can receive design tips in AboutWebDesign and HTML tips in AboutHTML.
Lycos has a division called Webmonkey devoted to webdesign. They have a couple of newsletters you can subscribe to. I have found their newsletters to be somewhat less helpful than some of the others.
Web Usability with Dr. Jakob Nielsen takes a slightly different slant as it discusses ways to make your web pages more user friendly. A noble effort, indeed.
Builder.Com is CNET's webdesign superstore.
Web Design is About.Com's superstore with listserves and tips.
MediaBuilder.Com has a bunch of images and online tools. I especially like their Buttonmaker tool.
HTML Help is offered by the Web Design Group and include tips, tutorials and special tools.

Specialized Online Tools!
Rather than buying a program to create or do something, these websites let you use their software for free. The negative of most of these tools is your page or image has to be online so they function best as a quality check when you are done.

Google.com- The world's best search engine just got better. Click on the "Image" button and search for images on the web to use on your website. Remember to check for copyright issues.
Button Generator has some really cool funky buttons for free. Of course, you can pay more for even cooler, funkier buttons.
FreeButtons.com has more buttons, buttons, buttons. Of course, you can always Google for free buttons and find even more. All one really needs in life is Google!
HTML Validator is a site that analyzes your html code. Biggest problem: Your site has to be online already. Not a bad tester to run your webpage through when you think it's perfect. It may tweak it a little more perfect!
Dictionary.com has a spelling helper and a thesaurus for that just right word.
CoolText.com allows you to type in text to create cool banner images. The graphics are professional looking. Cool!
FlamingText.com allows you to type in text to create cool banner images. The graphics are professional looking just like CoolText.
Visibone Color Lab This Webmaster's color palette tool arranges all of the websafe(looks the same on either a PC or a Mac) 216 colors by hue, so designers can easily pick colors that don't clash. Click on a color and you will get the RGB, CMYK, and hexadecimal codes. Then, you can click on up to 7 more colors to see how they line up next to each other and how different text color show up.

A Few Other Miscellaneous Resources
I am not sure why I am adding these. Everything you could want is in the big superstores for free, but... Here are a few more, maybe, unique sites.

WebWord is a web usability forum. Usability is basically "how easy your website is for viewers to use". Mostly suggestions from the web usability guru, John Rhoades.
Webrings on Web Design is a page that takes you to a webring directory for sites on web design.
JS Kit is a server-side javascript website that lets you use their scripts to create polls, comment sections, user reviews and all sorts of interactive stuff right on your own website.
Pixel2Life.com has tutorials and forums on various subjects. Check out the Photoshop help topics and HTML Tips and Tricks.
ActionXChange.com is a Photoshop users nirvana. Hundreds of cool effects you can do with the most widely used image editing tool on the planet. It's free and if you sign up, you can download "actions" which automatically let your Photoshop create the effect for you.
The Animation Factory, which houses more than 10,000 3D GIF animations for use on personal Web pages (you need to purchase a license for commercial use).Warning: Go easy on animations. They can load slow and ugly!
The popular WebGround site features more than 7000 textures (all JPEG).

They'll Host your Webpages for Free!
These organizations will provide webserver space to you for free. Of course, expect to see some advertising.Note: There are ways to block the advertising. See Rholl if you want to do that.

BraveHost.com is a new one. Suggested by HTML genius Linda Baumann, it allows 50 MB and she says it works slick. Let me know if you have a problem with this site and I will fail Linda in future classes.
FreeWebs.com is, at the time of this writing, the best. It allows 100 MB with no advertising but only 50 files including images.
Tripod is probably the most reliable as they have been around for years. They are currently offering 50 megabytes free space, plenty for several websites.
FreeWebPage.org Is there anything such as a good free webserver? No, of course not. But this is as good as any.
FreeWebPages.org Add an s to the above website and what do you get? Another free webserver.
Freeservers.com is a new one. Try it and maybe you'll like it.
Angelfire is a Lycos network free webhosting service.
SwiftDesk.com has webspace hosting plan but even more importantly, they have free file storage space that you can transfer your files back and forth between school and home.
Homestead.com offers 16 MB of space. They put a small(50 pixel?) frame at the top of the browser window with their name and weblink.

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