Articles You do not have to pay a high price for software. In fact, you may not have to pay at all. Marlyn Tadros 2004 Many of my non-techie friends and partners ask about learning web design. When I first learnt web design, only HTML existed, and I had to learn what we now call 'hand-coding'. It was easy, not only because HTML itself was easy, but also because you could learn by example. You could go to any site and view the source of the code [in your Browser click on View | Source], and copy it. At that time, the code was clean, neat, and uncomplicated. It was easy to understand, and you could just copy the code and it will function exactly as it did on the original site. Now things are different HTML is no longer the only language for design. In fact, even though its basic principles still apply, HTML itself evolved and morphed into xml and other code that is more complicated. Once you get to the source code, you will see other embedded code such as javascript, php and/or asp, and you may also see software generated code that is bound to completely confuse you. While I was hand-coding, I always thought that things would develop in such a way as to make it even simpler. But that did not happen in terms of hand-coding. Now, it is easier to use software to create palatable designs. Besides the confusion about which software to use, there is always the problem of the high cost of software. By far the best design software to use are Dreamweaver [any version is great, but it goes for approximately $399 + tax], and also FrontPage [which generally comes with Microsoft Office but you can buy separately for approximately $169 + tax]. Both of these are expensive. If you can pay, then this is what you need to get for web design. It is a worthwhile investment. As for my partners who are primarily from the developing world, I am not sure this is a good idea. It is only a worthwhile investment if you intend to really put some effort into training. But.. cheer up! There is a solution. One thing you do need to remember though, is that nothing is just do-able in one day. As with anything new, there is some level of training that staff members need to have in order to have web capability. There is, of course, always Open Source software, which is software that developers create and are ready to share for free with others. Yet it is more geared towards techie people and the developers themselves. I think that most of what we see is still slightly more complicated for non-techies, and is not yet what my partners would want. What my partners would rather have is software that is straightforward, that does not need script adjustments of any kind, and that will just do the work. Such as content management systems [CMS]... after installation. As great as CMSs are, they too need someone to install the scripts first and non-techies may not be able to do that on their own. But then this is what makes the Internet a great tool. You can find not only free software to use, but also tutorials and other gadgets that you can use for the creation of a website, or just stand-alone gadgets such as messageboards and 'blogs'. There is always someone out there who is also ready to help. Certainly we, at Virtual Activism, offer online workshops that do just that. Many could also help with the initial installation, but you do need to be careful about who you give your passwords to if you will ask for direct help on your website. Suggestions you may want to check out Here are suggestions as to where you may want to begin, depending on what you are looking for. Those sites have downloadable software and other web-gadgets, for anything ranging from simple mailing lists to web design software and spam-assassins [software that eliminates spam and junk email]. I have used quite a few of them myself:
Having said all that, here are a few points to remember:
|
Content
of this website is licensed under the following license:
