Web design is one of the fastest growing fields of industry presently and it is only going to continue to grow. If you are just diving into this industry after graduating, or if you are self taught, you are going to want to choose the best web design software to fit your design style and the types of websites you will be building. Here are some reviews of some of the most popular web design software currently available to help make the decision a little easier for you.

Adobe Dreamweaver

Dreamweaver has certainly increased in popularity over the years due to its versatility and ease of use for the professional web designer. Dreamweaver was originally developed by Macromedia and was acquired by Adobe in 2005. It is available for use by both Mac users and PC users. Dreamweaver continues to be improved and updated with the most recent version being Dreamweaver CS5.5. Adobe’s website lists the following features for this software:

Multiscreen preview panel

jQuery mobile integration

CSS3/HTML5 support

Live view rendering

Build Android and iOS apps with PhoneGap

Integrated CMS support

FTPS and FTPeS support

Site-specific code hinting

Integration with Adobe Creative Suite

W3C validation

Subversion support

Adobe Browser Lab integration

CSS inspection

Intgelligent coding assistance

PHP custom class code hinting

Simple site set up

CSS starter pages

CSS support

Integrated FLV content

Microsoft Expression Web (Quartz)

This software replaced Microsoft’s Front Page. It is an HTML editor and web design product and is part of the Microsoft Expression Studio suite. The original version, Microsoft Expression 1, was released in May of 2006. Since then three more versions have been released, each one offering more and better features than the last, with the most recent version being Microsoft Expression Web 4. MicrosoftStore.com advertises Expression 4 as offering the following features:

Supporting both standard and HD video encoding

Professional code editing

Graphic design and illustration creation

Vector artwork and bitmap image integration

Direct import of Photoshop images

Support of PHP, HTML/XHTML, XML/XSLT, CSS, JavaScript, ASP.Net, ASP.Net AJAX, Silverlight, Flash, Windows Media, and Photoshop

Built-In accessibility checker

Import and export of a wide variety of file formats

SuperPreview feature which allows multiple browser debugging

Easy addition of Silverlight, Flash, Deep Zoom, and Windows Media File with drag and drop

Generate and edit modern CSS layouts

WMV, VC-1, and H.264 Silverlight video encoding and insertion

You can choose the FTP method for publishing your site: FTP, SFTP, or FTPS

NetObjects Fusion

Fusion is a product of NetObjects, Inc. and has been around since 1996. Between 1996 and 2010 twelve versions have been released of Fusion. It is a truly easy to use program, and offers some very nice tools that are very user friendly. NetObjects.Com lists the following features included with this software:

NetObjects Cloud Burst technology

Website management

New image processing engine

Form components

Mobile templates and SiteStyles

Photo galleries

CSS controls

SEO improvements

Image bank

Database components

Site Wizard (features templates, SiteStyles, page and mobile layouts)

Modern templates with Ajax elements

Improved code generation methods

Site Safe (back up)

Drag and drop for text, images, photos and other media

Jeremy Miller is the owner of Bugon Website Services and enjoys helping website owners market their website on the worldwide web. Two of the largest underestimated and ignored costs are web development and proper search engine optimization. With a business it is absolutely imperative to invest time and resources into both.

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1. Know Your Target.

How did you find your designer, if you have one, or how do you plan to choose one when you are ready? What are you expecting to find when you decide to hire a designer? Being clear on what you want and don’t want is one of the first steps to finding the right person or team to work with. What are your expectations? By listing out what you need and what you expect from them, you’ll be able to define it clearly for your designer. If you’re not sure, ask your designer what they will be giving you. It may sound silly to ask such a simple question, but it’s surprising how many times people aren’t clear in the expectations for a project or relationship.

2. Take Note of Your First Impressions.

When you are considering a designer, what about them attracted you? Are they warm and easy to talk to? Would you feel comfortable agreeing or disagreeing with them? Do they seem interested in you, or only interested in getting you as a client?

3. Remember that Communication is Key.

Does your designer “get” you? Do you feel he/she listens to you and your wants/needs? Or do they give you something they think you need? You want to feel comfortable discussing what your ideas are. Being able to leave a conversation feeling like you were heard is critical to building a relationship and getting what you want.

4. Being Flexible Will Help You Both.

Is your designer adaptable? If you change your mind or get a new idea, how would your designer respond? If your designer offers ideas that are different from your original plan, how open to you to considering changes? If it takes longer than you thought, how will that affect what you are doing? Figuring out how to grow with your project to help it reach its potential is key to developing a successful project. It may mean growing with your designer; it may mean finding another to get the result that suits what you want.

5. Consider Whether Your Designer is a Marketer or an Artist.

Marketers will design based on what will sell or generate leads in your target market. Artists will design based on what looks good. Know what you want before you decide on the designer.

6. Look for Someone You Can Talk To When You Want.

Can you talk to your designer on a call or in person? Can you brainstorm with them? Can you share examples of stuff you like? If your design company is too big to give you individual attention, or they don’t speak English fluently, or they are unreachable, consider how well they are serving you.

7. Integrity is a Biggie.

Integrity is key to any successful relationship. Does your designer come through for you when they say they will-or let you know immediately if something changes? Do you feel confident that your designer will stick with you to give their best to get what you want?

8. Ask About their Background and Other Projects.

How does your designer stay current to the latest design and/or marketing trends? Does your designer offer input or suggestions based on experience, knowledge and/or education? Do you feel like you learn and your business grows from the relationship?

9. Often the Greater Commitment You Make, the More You’ll Learn or Get Out of It.

When you pay for the high-quality service, you expect high quality service. You also often are more willing to take time to get things right and work together because of your investment. Short-changing yourself by selecting the cheapest designer and expecting the highest quality will only bring you disappointment.

Written by Chelsea O’Brien from Tech Diva Media, a web design and marketing business. For her portfolio and more information, please visit http://techdivamedia.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6239615

Your website is the first thing that people will see if you are trying to sell on the web, blogging, or affiliate marketing through content. So it is very important to make sure your site is A+ grade without paying tons for it. So what I want to do is show you a few simple ways to keep cost down yet not having your site looking like it is second-rate and lacking credibility.

One thing you can do for a cheap price and have a nice site coming from it is to hire someone off elance.com guru.com or any other freelance site. This will offer you an inexpensive way for you to get a great site template or a site completely coded for relatively cheap. It still is more costly than doing it by yourself but if you have no wish to learn any HTML or any coding this is great. This will run you $250-$500 for a simple site that is functional and attractive.

Second tip is to get a template learn some simple coding and upload that code to your FTP. How do I learn this you may ask? Well just Google HTML tips and Basic CSS and this should at least get you being able to tweak your template. Where do I get templates? Again Google is great free resource for all. It will help you understand some basics better. Although it will still take time and if time is something you don’t have try our next tip.

Third you can simply get a simple WYSIWYG software and drag and click to a great looking site. This is very easy and usually requires no real coding or knowing code except maybe putting in affiliate code which if you don’t know how to do that you may need to read a little on just simple copy, paste how to’s. Some hosting companies, I actually think most hosting companies, will have a free WYSIWYG site builder for you to use with templates that can be used.

In conclusion you can find the help out there and make a great site that will look attractive and great. So you will have a site that you are proud of and make money get your point out there with a blog or anything you want . You will know though that your site will be grade A and not a cheesy site that people will run from it will give you the credibility you need. Now go out and make that site and get your business up and running.

Ors Veress is an Author about a variety of subjects. He mainly writes about investments and ways to invest your money and how to make money online. Receive a free newsletter of his from his site http://Newsletter4Free.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6239888

Web style fads come and go - one moment a particular look may well be heralded as the next finest factor, then the next moment it’s considered old and overused. In a struggle to maintain up with stiff competition, most webmasters seek guidance from all corners of the world wide web in order to get probably the most eye-catching, but soothing designs for their internet sites. A number of points have come up and while most are true, you’ll find some myths that refuse to die. Here are a few of the classic examples of web designing myths that have fooled thousands of webmasters.

Simple is boring. Unless your site actually is often a bonanza of pictures, videos and flash sequences, there is certainly no reason to bomb your viewers with an excessive amount of color and action on their screens. A classic example of how basic is still the best way to go would be Apple.com. Its pages are mostly in black and white, producing it less complicated for visitors to find what they want. Less stuff also means a quicker loading time, which makes world wide web viewers very happy.

Men and women don’t read long paragraphs of text. Okay, so possibly they don’t. But that’s undoubtedly no reason why you shouldn’t put up these lengthy introductions, explanations and descriptions on your pages, specially in locations where it’s absolutely required. It gives the site a feeling of professionalism, credibility and legitimacy. For example, people do not read the terms and conditions of a specific software program they’re downloading, but surely they’ll be suspicious if they encounter a download that does not have this. In the event you must location long paragraphs of text, ensure to put in bold or capitalize specific parts which you want your visitors to read or notice.

Navigation Bars are still the approach to go. Let’s face it, navigation bars and buttons have gone out of style a lengthy time ago. Before, they became truly common because of how they blended in, felt like a part of the page itself, then lo an behold! They hold a link to yet another part of the site. Properly, times are various now and with folks hurrying here and there, web viewers want a website that has links to what they will need in plain website and all in 1 page. That is why landing pages became well-known. Men and women want a link to the videos section to be beside a massive icon of a video camera or a roll of film, and they want a link to the maps section to be beside a large icon of a map. People don’t want frills anymore and would rather go for the obvious and in plain sight.

Sharing internet site information is plagiarism. If somebody takes content from your internet site, posts it on his own website and declares it to be his, then that is plagiarism. However, in today’s social-media driven world, closing your web site off to the rest of the world wide web may mean a drop in site visitors. Should you want your site to gain more visitors nowadays, you have to compromise and be okay along with your internet site content becoming shared by way of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Come have a look at the most effective little organization web design packages on the internet: web design

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We cannot buy creativity in stores; it is something we learn from our experience. Well, this might sound like an attempt to stir your heart for a moment but actually has no direct effect at all. Nevertheless, I believe that creativity is innate; it is something you inherit from your parents’ genes or your great grandfather’s blood.

A pinch of my humble history

I still remember how my first grade teacher chastised me from doodling while she lectures in front of the class. At that time, doodling was my only outlet to escape from her dreary monotone voice, to the point that quitting doodling will lead me to endless dozing.

Yet I still felt compelled to heed her words. I had no choice but to stop and listen to her constant monotony. Although my hand stopped from moving, my mind had not. I kept on doodling through my mind and imagined things that I loved. That time, I was sure that no one-not even my strict villain-looking teacher-could stop me from doing lovely things.

Creativity and Web Design

I am a self-taught web designer. Having been a Botany graduate like me, I felt I had no means of making it “great” in this artsy field. I took up Botany because I was somehow influenced by my friends to take up this boring course. So I continued to learn by myself; I literally spent lonely weekends figuring out how Photoshop, CSS, and HTML worked, while skipping meals and sleep. However, it paid off. I started working part-time for a nearby design firm while studying biotic communities, protozoa and their correlation to Kingdom Plantae, and stuff like that. Well, to cut the story short, I finished it with garish flying colors- honors, certificates, medals, you name it. Yet these things never forced me to take the outlandish job of a Botanist; I followed my design dream instead.

If you doubt the idea of creativity as being innate in a person, believe that you can learn it by yourself instead. I once doubted it, and I doubted myself as well for doing that. Being creative does not mean you have to be a son of painter Juan Luna or one of the grandsons of Burt Bacharach. Creativity maybe innate, but still, I believe that creativity can be learned.

When I started working for a professional web design firm, I somehow got the feeling of being chastised for the second time. My boss told me to quit obsessing over my baroque inclination and start giving what our clients wanted. It was actually delivered harshly, yet I considered that as an opportunity to nurture my creativity. I read gazillions of books about design and creativity; I soaked myself with art nouveau, avante garde and contemporary arts.

Listening nurtures creativity

Taken directly from my mother’s mouth- failure to listen is failure to improve and learn. I remember she used to say this every time I disobeyed her over my obsession to drawing and sketching.

Having no one to guide you is like living life in agony. Imagine life without that “someone” to correct you if you’ve gone creatively bent and stubborn. That is harsh. Yes, life is harsh without mentors; life is stark without someone to guide you.

Creativity is the beginning of EVERY design process

A life full of copycats is not life at all. I began to realize this when designers became ubiquitous and designing almost turning into a poor man’s profession. Childish as it may sound, I loathed the idea that everyone these days can be a designer, that a YouTube video can transform an unsung local soccer boy into a designer. That really is childish, so I changed my attitude. I considered it as a tool to push myself to become a better designer, a radical believer of creativity as the beginning of every design process.

Honestly, I treat poseur and faux web designers as motivators to keep improving my talent; they are my enemies and my energizers. Whenever I feel drained and out of ideas, I think of these no-bearing copycats as imaginary enemies that will devour my career if I stop pushing myself to creativity.

Joseph writes about SEO, Blogging, and Web Development. He works for Endless Rise as a professional writer. Endless Rise provides SEO services to SEO Resellers You can become an SEO reseller today with no cost or obligation.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6240352

The movie Fast Five just recently hit the theaters, and it’s one of the most successful films of the franchise.

Why am I talking about a Vin Diesel movie? You’ll find out soon enough.

Speed is the name of the game. Even on the internet, internet users and website visitors want to get things done quickly, and the only way to do that is if websites load quickly and fast. As a web designer, it’s important for you to learn to develop fast loading websites. If you’re developing websites for your own use, a website that loads fast means increased traffic and productivity. If you’re a developer for a client, then they’d definitely favor your services over other web designers who’s websites load slower than molasses could walk.

Here are some tips on how to optimize your websites to load faster:

Minimal use of Flash, graphics
Flash effects and graphics are nice, but they slow down your websites to a crawl, especially for people on dial-up or slower internet connections. If you can, try to minimize the amount of graphics on your website. It’s the content that matters anyway, unless it’s a photography website.

Optimize your HTML code
Broken links and unwanted tags bog down websites that are otherwise efficient and fast. As a web designer, it’s your job to make sure your codes are written efficiently and working the way they should. Maintain your websites at least once a month to make sure there are no broken links in any of the pages.

Use simpler designs
Don’t believe what your 60-year-old computer science professor tells you - if something is simpler, the better, and the same is true for web design. The fastest loading websites stick to designs that are simple and efficient, usually a white background. Look at Facebook, Yahoo, Google, etc. With less effects on the monitor, the less stuff there is to load on the screen, and the content is easier on the eyes.

Try to use the entire cover area
Maximizing the content area helps websites load quickly and enhance readability. Two birds with one stone.

Follow these simple tips and you should have a fast loading website in no time. If your websites load quickly, you’ll keep your visitors glued to the screen and not looking at other websites that might steal their attention from yours. Design your websites to be fast and furious.

Professional website design Calgary is the future of the internet and online marketing. For Calgary website design -related tips and services, visit us at Commerx.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6240642

The World Wide Web as we know today is a vast interlinking of websites all over the world open to all for information sharing, working, socializing and entertainment. It was first envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990 and he called his program WorldWideWeb, with one essential component, that of universality.

In these times of phenomenal technological growth where the web has spread its consuming net to all corners of the globe, certain universally accepted rules have to be put in place to ensure order and the full realization of the Web’s potentials. This is the role of web standards as represented by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA). The standards include the following:

• HyperText Markup Language (HTML)
• Extensible Markup Language (XML)
• eXtensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML)
• Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
• Document Object Module Level 1 (DOM 1)
• ECMAScript (Standardized JavaScript)

The technical details of the web standards are best left to the experts, but the impact of the standards to the industry and the user public is of paramount concern.

To Web Developers

Proponents of web standards argue that the standards would make web development easier, faster and more systematic because there are set rules and processes to follow. While others claim that the standards hamper innovation, creativity for enhancements is still encouraged as long as such enhancements do not go outside the bounds of the standards.

To Users

Accessibility, usability and compatibility must be guaranteed to each and every Web user across the globe. Web standards must ensure use of the Web by all people who are capable of using it including those with physical impairments to include helpful output devices like voice browsers, Braille browsers or hand-held browsers. Compatibility will also be less of a problem as the standards will create programs that will make old versions compatible with new ones and new versions to automatically degrade to old versions. This is like a dream, but even the World Wide Web started as a dream.

Conclusion

Aware of the problem of inconsistencies between web designs and varied browser versions, web developers who are advocates of web standards are concerned with the universal accessibility of the Web especially with the emergence of additional software and hardware that are now able to browse the Web like telephones, PDAs and pagers. With this in mind, they are pushing for the universal acceptance and adoption of web standards to make the Web a better place in which to communicate, work, socialize and be entertained. In short, web standards are surely something to be embraced, the ultimate goal being that of making the web truly inclusive for all.

Need help with your business website design? Call us today, we’re happy to help you with your questions. Lloyd Roberts | 123 Web Design Bournemouth 123 Web Design Bournemouth http://www.123webdesignbournemouth.co.uk

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Dreamweaver was originally created by Macromedia and was built to be used as a versatile web development application. Adobe acquired Macromedia in 2005, and along with it came Dreamweaver. Adobe has been perfecting the program ever since with 3 more updated releases since 2007; Dreamweaver CS3, Dreamweaver CS4, and Dreamweaver CS5. The most recent version being Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 released in April of 2010. Dreamweaver has been referred to as “the Microsoft Word of web design applications” due to it solidly establishing its position as the industry standard. This sort of praise certainly doesn’t come undeserved either.

To a novice, Dreamweaver CS5 can seem a bit looming at first. However, once the program is learned a whole new web design world is opened up. To a professional, Dreamweaver only increases the speed at which they are able to create, edit, and maintain websites and it offers a wide array of features to make everything a little easier:

• Multiscreen Preview
• jQuery Integration
• CSS3/HTML5 Support
• Live View Rendering
• Application Building for Apple and Android with PhoneGap
• Integrated CMS Support
• FTPS and FTPeS Support
• Site Specific Code Hinting
• Adobe Creative Suite Integration
• W3C Validation
• Subversion Support
• Adobe BrowserLab Support
• CSS Inspection
• Intelligent Coding Assistance
• PHP Custom Class Code Hinting
• Simple Site Setup
• CSS Starter Pages
• CSS Support
• Integrated FLV Content
• Great Customer Support

Dreamweaver CS5 has also been reviewed by some of the top consumer research companies around, and they have nothing but good things to say. Check out some of these ratings:

PCMag.Com- 4 out of 5

Macworld - 4 out of 5

Layers Magazine - 4.5 out of 5

Accompanying these fantastic reviews, Adobe’s Dreamweaver line has also received a number of impressive awards:

- Visual Studio Magazine’s Reader’s Choice Award 2010 for Best Web Design and Development Tool

- Visual Studio Magazine’s Reader’s Choice Award 2004 for Best Web Design and Development Tool

- Software and Development Magazine’s Hall of Fame

- Builder.Com’s Reader’s Choice Award for Best Web Development Tool

- WebSphere Advisor Magazine’s Gold 2002 Award for Best Web Site Development Tool

- Personal Computer World’s Editor’s Choice Award

- Personal Computer World’s Best Web Productivity Software Award

- CNET’s Editor’s Choice Award

Some critics have complained about the price tag, $400, but the way I see it in this industry is you get what you pay for. If you pay bottom dollar you are going to get a program that has very limited options, bugs, and often times is not user friendly. You’ll then end up searching and paying for new software that better suits your needs, when you could have just paid the slightly higher price tag for Adobe Dreamweaver and saved yourself the trouble.

In short, I would recommend Dreamweaver to both the novice and the professional web designers and can almost guarantee you’ll find what you’re looking for with this superior product.

Jeremy Miller is the owner of Bugon Website Services providing a wide array of website marketing services to over 1,000 clients worldwide. Not only is providing great marketing services important but equally important is providing online business owners with pertinent online website resources for free.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6239882

Most web designers spend too much time trying to figure out what to do to keep visitors on their websites that they forget what not to do to keep them from running off to another website.

What NOT to do is just as important, maybe an even more significant aspect of web designer, than what to do. The moment a visitor views your website, it’s up to you, the web designer, to make sure you designed your website in such a way as to hook his or her attention as long as possible.

Here are some tips on what not to do when designing a website:

1. Sound and animation overload
It’s so easy to fall into the trap of, “Hey, I’m a badass web designer, I can design my website with sounds and flying animations!”

Many amateur designers think flashy graphics is all it takes to attract a huge following. NO! In fact, too much sounds and animation tend to distract visitors from viewing what they came to your site for - the content. So please, easy on the background music and flying colors, please?

2. Annoying pop up windows
If there is a list of 10 commandments on what not to do when designing a website, this should be put up as the first commandment of all time. Pop ups has got to be one of the most annoying inventions this side of the internet. Have you ever clicked on a link in a website and suddenly 50 different windows bombard your screen?

As a designer, forget pop up windows as a way of generating income on your website. They are unethical, and eventually you’ll lose more visitors than you gain from them.

3. Image backgrounds
Image backgrounds speak of one thing - amateur. But having an image for a background also does something else other than distract the visitor from viewing the site’s content: they also slow down the page’s loading times, which is a big blow to your credibility as a web designer.

Successful websites have extremely fast loading times, like Google, Facebook, Yahoo, etc. So take a lesson from these big guys, don’t use image backgrounds and make sure your pages load fast.

Follow these simple tips and you should have a decent, fairly successful website in no time. Sometimes it isn’t about what you do, it’s what you don’t do that keeps visitors glued to your website and that they keep coming back.

Professional web design Calgary is the future of the internet and online marketing. For Calgary web design -related tips and services, visit us at Commerx.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6240640

If you didn’t know, a favicon is that little icon that appears both in your bookmarks in your web browser, your tabs in your web browser, and next to your navigation bar for whichever website you are on.

Adding a favicon to your website is a smart thing to do for a number of reasons. For one thing, adding a customized favicon significantly improves upon the level of professionalism for your website and company which people associate with it. It’s another part of your branding which you should definitely not neglect.

Secondly, using a favicon on your website also separates your website from everyone else’s. Not only does it help to differentiate your site from other bookmarks which someone might make within their web browser, it also puts you a leg up upon any website without an icon. Finally, it’s also extremely simple to add a favicon to your website, so there’s no reason to not do it.

Now that I’ve outlined what exactly a favicon is and why it is important to have one on your website, let’s talk about how to add a favicon.

First off, you have to design your icon. Your favicon should be 16 pixels by 16 pixels in height and width. You can create an icon using your graphic designer of choice. I personally prefer Adobe Illustrator but I know a lot of people like to use Photoshop.

You can even get by using Paint which is a free program which comes with Windows. If you have an existing graphic or logo for your company, you might think about shrinking that or taking a piece of it in particular and shrinking that and making that your icon if you don’t feel like creating one from scratch. If nothing else you might just take the initials of your company and write them in a flashy font.

Once your icon has been created, you should save it as a .ICO file. If you are having trouble with this, you can save it as a JPEG, GIF, or PNG file and then convert it with one click using a free service which I cannot link to here but will link to a mention of it at the end of this article. This service will churn out the exact file which you need for your website.

Now that we’ve designed our icon and rendered it down to an icon file, all that’s left to do is publish it on our website. After we have uploaded this file using either an FTP program or your WordPress theme if your theme has a custom area for uploading your icon file, the changes will take place immediately and you’ll see your icon in your browser.

If you don’t have a theme/design for your website which does this for you, click on this link for how to add a favicon to see the two lines of code which you must upload along with your icon to your site to ensure that it gets properly displayed and for that link to the icon converter service for free.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6239758