The Tools of the Trade
Working with the web requires that you become familiar with a variety of software. The good news is that most of this software is Open Source and free. Below is a list of commonly used items that you can download and play with to familiarize yourself with web development.
General Links
Tutorials to Learn Code
W3Schools (a great set of tutorials and a reference for when you forget)
CodeAcademy (learn all sorts of code including HTML, CSS and Javascript)
This is a list of ports that transfer data on the web
Links to Common Developer APIs
Below is a list of Free Software that you can use.
Webserver Tools
FTP Clients
Filezilla (I recommend this one)
The Linux Operating System
Ubuntu (Ubuntu is the first choice for Linux newbies)
Web Server Installations
These two options make it easy to install everything you need to run a webserver.
WAMPserver (Apache, MySQL, PHP for Windows)
XAMPP (for Mac and Windows)
These are the separate components you need for a webserver if you prefer to install each of them without using the bundles above.
WYSIWYG Programs
KompoZer (Just dowload, unzip, and click on the .exe file)
Tools for Graphic Design
General Purpose Links for Photo, Audio and Graphics Tools
WebJournalist has a great selection of tools
Text, Photo and Graphics
Open Office (Just like MS Office, only free)
Gimp (Great alternative if you can’t afford Photoshop)
InkScape Similar to Adobe Illustrator
Useful Tools for Web Design
Web Fonts
Google Fonts API (let’s you add more than the standard fonts)C
Color Pickers for Web Design
Color Picker for Hexadecimal Color
Grid Design
Mocking Up Web Pages
Balsamic– used to develop web page mockups
Dummy Text- Generators
Content Management Systems
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