Independent surveys of software tools or web-based services by users are a valuable addition to your decision-making toolkit. And what can be more important than choosing which software tool you will use to build and operate your webiste. With this in mind Jennifer Kyrnin has a collection of user reviews for web editors and FTP clients. Coffecup Direct FTP scores 5 stars, along with sitespinner and shutterbug. I have used HTML-kit, which I can recommend.
If you have ever visited Lisa Irby’s website 2createawebsite blog, you cannot failed to have seen an eye-catching email and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) subscribe box. I know I have and asked myself how did she do that. Well, now we can find out; after numerous requests she has recorded a video on how I created my RSS subscription box. It’s nearly 15 minutes long but well worth watching.
If you are venturing into CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to layout your webpages, and you should because it’s a powerful way to layout a webpage, you’ll need all the help you can get. CSS isn’t easy to master, but there are tools to help you. A free (Open Source) and excellent tool is baseline css. Baseline makes it easier to develop a website with a pleasing grid and good typography. I like free tools.
We are all used to surfing the web, or ‘googling it’, when we’re searching for ideas and inspiration, but have you tried looking offline? Creating website layouts needs good inspiration and ideas to stimulate your own creativity. And some offline ideas could be just the ticket. Mike Kus has found 10 pieces of offline inspiration for web designers.
If you send regular emails or an email-based newletter to you visitors, and like me, you like the professional look of HTML emails instead of just plain text, you’ve probably wondered how to do it. Using CSS is the answer but one of the problems you’ll dicover is it doesn’t always render correctly across different email clients. So, some of your readers could be looking at a mess instead of your carefully crafted message. Campaign monitor have compiled a PDF guide to help you by telling you exactly what is supported, and what isn’t, with each email client.
Lets face it, any tools, techniques or ideas are always welcome.
