So far all the stuff we've talked about can be done with the software that comes with Windows (or Mac) and any browser (like Netscape or Internet Explorer). But there are also hundreds of other resources for beginning web builders out there on the 'Net. Most of them are even free.

Great Graphics

We've talked a lot about using graphics to spice up your site, but how do you *get* the good graphics?

Well, you could spend $600 for Adobe Photoshop and take the time to learn how to make them.. Or you could go visit one of these cool websites that offer graphics. Some of them are totally free, a few are pay-sites.

Art Today
http://www.arttoday.com

This is a pay site - $24.95/year - but it has such an extensive collection of graphics for both web and print, fonts, and clipart that it's a good investment if you plan on building websites. The over 800,000 images and 2,000 fonts are searchable by category, keyword or format. Some of the content is members-only, but there's also some freebie stuff.

Icon Bazaar
http://www.iconbazaar.com

XOOM sponsors this site that's chock-full of free graphics. You can download them for use on personal sites. Includes animated icons and alphabets, web-ready graphics and lots of computer related imagery.

The Graphics Ring
http://www.graphicsring.com

Not just a single site, but an entire webring of sites that offer free graphics. Over 100 different sites, most of them put up by generous individuals who just want to show off their talents with web graphics. Some of the sites are really cool, others blow chunks.. but with a little persistence you can find some real gems.

The Free Wallpaper & Web Graphics Ring
http://www.roysons.com/ring/

And one more webring. This one combines sites with graphics for your computer at home together with web-graphics sites.

Desktop Publishing.com
http://www.desktoppublishing.com

This is the ultimate reference site for desktop publishing. It has literally thousands of links to sites with info about DTP software, web software, tips & tricks, tutorials, and especially clipart you can grab for use on your own sites.

Software

You got a text editor with Windows, and both Netscape and IE can be downloaded free, but what about when you want to do a little more?

Tucows
http://www.tucows.com

This is one of the best places on the Net to find great freeware and shareware. They have thousands upon thousands of programs archived for you to download, including freeware, shareware and demos. Searchable index, browsable catagories and expert recommendations abound.

ZDNet Software
http://www.hotfiles.com

This is another great place on the Net to find great freeware and shareware. They have thousands upon thousands of programs archived for you to download, including freeware, shareware and demos. Searchable index, browsable catagories and expert recommendations abound. Here are some of the programs I've found on ZDNet that have come in handy.

FTP LE

If you don't already have this - go get it now. The easiest and most used program for FTP (File Transfer Protocol) for Windows. You'll need this, or something like it, to upload your site onto the server. Explorer-like double pane window shows you what on your hard drive and what's in your folders on your server. Simple one-click file transfer, even drag-and-drop. Lets you create, rename and manipulate directory structures both on your local drive and on your server. Freeware.

WinZip

Windows comes with a Zip utility... if you don't mind working with DOS (gag!). But WinZip is a whole lot easier. Has wizards to help you find and organize your .zip files, and even a browser plug-in that will automatically unzip files as you download them off the 'Net. Freeware.

Paint Shop Pro

This is a shareware version of a very popular graphics program. It's not quite as powerful as Adobe Photoshop, but with a 30-day trial period and $99 purchase price, it's a lot cheaper, not to mention being much easier to learn. You can create web graphics, including buttons, navbars, icons and bullets, edit photos (though not with the precision or as many powerful tools as Photoshop), and translate formats. Comes with a fairly useful help file and plenty of tips.

Map This

Map This is freeware, download the program and use it as much as you like. It creates the <MAP> tag and coordinates for image maps with the click of a few buttons. MUCH easier that calculating all the points yourself...

Thumbs Plus

This shareware thumnail program is a great way to organize all the images on your computer. It creates thumnails of all your pictures and stores them in a searchable database. You can resize, rename, edit, convert and even run a slideshow. 30-day trial, $39.95 to register.

WWW Gif Animator

I used to use MS Gif Animator, back when they were giving it away for free, but lost the program in a hard drive crash and now you can only get it with FrontPage.. so I've switched over to this freeware one. It's pretty good, with an intuitive interface and lots of ways to spice up your ani-gifs.

Text Pad

Very like the simple WordPad, but has lots more features. Spellchecking, multiple file search & replace, macros, block indenting and file comparsion to name a few. Can be specifically configured for HTML hand coders like me. Shareware, 30-day trial, $40 to register (and well worth it, in my humble opinion).

Hosting Services

Ok, so now you've got a great website all built, where do you put it?

Well, you could contract with us for webspace (grin). We offer a number of different plans, starting at $15.95 a month. Visit our Hosting Services page for more details. As a special thank you for using our tutorial, we are also offering a $9.95/month plan for personal sites.

Most ISP's give you a few Megs to host a personal website when you sign up for dail-up service. Your URL will look something like this:

But if for some reason you don't have an ISP, or don't want to use your ISP, or they don't offer you enough space or cgi's, there are a number of places out there where you can free (yes, I said FREE) web hosting.

Tripod
http://www.tripod.com

A major player in the free-hosting world, they give you 50Megs, and put ads on all your pages, plus an annoying pop-up window. They also offer Premium Service, for a low ($3 - $6 /month) fee you get more disk space and no ads. Certain content restrictions apply.

Xoom
http://www.xoom.com

Pretty much the same Tripod, Xoom does have a truly extensive collection of graphics you can use on your site for free.

NetTaxi
http://www.nettaxi.com

Still another freebie hosting service that puts pop-up ads on all your pages.