Computer Software: What You Need to Know About Popular Software

Website design software addresses an incredibly huge potential marketplace; tens and tens of millions of people create their own sites and blogs, interactive two-way web sites. Successful site building can be fun and profitable. Let's take a look at some software that can help you concretize your dreams on the web. Web design software tools fall into two basic categories WYSIWYG and HTML editing.

WYSIWYG stands for "What You See Is What You Get." With this software you more or less see as you develop it how your web page will look live. In many instances you can drag and drop layout elements into position. Because it is simple and visual, WYSIWYG is popular with novice designers.

WYSIWYG's "more or less" just isn't precise enough for advanced websites. Many site designers need a more precise tool. This is where HTML and more sophisticated web languages such as XML come in. The most widely used web scripting language, PHP, lets you mix HTML, PHP and other programming code. While it is said to be easy to learn, you have to be a programmer to apply it for any but the simplest web pages.

Many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offer free WYSIWYG website design tools for personal websites. Many blogging sites offer similar tools. The occasional ISP provides templates for quickly setting up basic business websites. But if you need e-commerce, multimedia, or other functionality you will probably have to look elsewhere or learn how to roll your own.

We may divide website authoring tools into four major categories. The first group is for professional designers that need database connectivity and e-commerce functionality, such as a virtual storefront. This professional-level software tends to be expensive and hard to learn. Two of the major players are Adobe Dreamweaver 8 and NetObjects Fusion 9.0. In the hands of experts they produce sophisticated websites. These websites have their own domain name. So don't budget only for the software, you'll also have to pay for your domain name and for the web hosting.

The second group is pitched to casual enthusiasts, non-profit organizations, and small businesses. Such software is relatively inexpensive and more user-friendly. But it won't build as complex websites with interactive features such as storefronts. Like the previous category, this one develops web sites with individual domain names.

The third group of online site-builders consist of simple website and blog creation tools. You usually pay a set-up fee and monthly fees that may include web hosting. Take a look at some of these solutions such as AtomicShops.com, Homestead.com, and Blogger.com and see if they meet your needs. The fourth group of web design programs are 100% free. Two interesting programs are NVU 1.0 for website design and WordPress 2.0 for blogs. They may compete well against programs from the third group. But don't expect them to do what Dreamweaver can do in the hands of a professional. Usually these solutions don't involve paying for your own domain. Once again, to some extent you get what you pay for.

Levi Reiss

Levi Reiss has authored or co-authored ten books on computers and the Internet. He teaches Linux and Windows operating systems plus other computer courses at an Ontario French-language community college. Visit his new website http://www.linux4windows.com which teaches you how to download and run Darn Small Linux on Windows computers, even if they are "obsolete." For a break from computers check out his global wine website at http://www.theworldwidewine.com with his new weekly column reviewing $10 wines.