Free Tools to Build Web Pages

From LoveToKnow Web-Design

Free tools to build web pages can save a lot of time, and they can make creating a web page much easier for both amateur and professional web designers.

Finding Free Tools to Build Web Pages

While free web design software like Dreamweaver or Frontpage are certainly important tools for many web designers, there is also a great deal of free software available for web designers to create and modify web pages, build flash applications, and perform many other important tasks that web designers need to accomplish.

Free Web Page Building Tools

When it comes to programming web pages, there is a wide range of tools available that can make your job a lot easier. Many "old school" web designers still use Notepad, or some other simple text editing software, to directly edit web page files. However, with new web page programming languages and standards, the Web 2.0 designer now needs to be knowledgeable of, and able to utilize more advanced software in order to keep up with newer trends such as XHTML, XML, CSS and other more dynamic languages. LoveToKnow Web Design offers an assortment of articles that can help you locate the free web page design tools that you need.

Free Flash Web Page Tools

Flash animation and even entire web pages written using Flash coding are becoming more commonplace. Some companies utilize Flash applications to offer not only web content, but also entire product catalogs and order forms. Creating a Flash animation or web page doesn't have to be complicated, and with the many free Flash web page tools that are available, it doesn't have to be expensive either. There are countless sites throughout the Internet that also offer free flash animations, so you don't even need to know how to develop a Flash application in order to use it on your website.

  • CoffeeCup Software offers the popular free web design tool that lets you build web pages using free, high quality design software. But the folks at CoffeeCup have also created a number of add-ons to the software that lets you create Flash applications. Keep in mind that many of these do require a fee, or you can download the free trial versions.
  • AnvSoft FLV Player allows users to download and watch FLV (flash) movies without requiring any other FLV encoder or Flash environment installed.
  • Easy Templates offers Flash web page templates that you can edit using a simple text editor, and no Flash development software is required.
  • FLV Video Converter is a free tool that converts Flash videos (FLV) into other video formats that may be easier for you to view or otherwise work with.

Rover Software offers this application called RImageOrFlashControl which you can use to add an picture or flash to your web page by creating all of the required parameters to properly display the flash on your web page. Black Box Chart is a very inventive free application that lets you create an interactive Flash chart that you can display on your website.

Content Management Systems

A content management system, also known as a CMS, is a powerful tool that lets you update content on your website without ever having to write a line of code. Most web designers put a CMS in place after the basic template of the website itself is in place. This allows the new website owner (who may not be a developer) the ability to add new content to the website without the hassle of uploading and downloading files, editing HTML or otherwise getting involved in the technical aspects of the website.

  • Make Updating Web Pages Easy discusses the advantages of using a CMS, and lists the most popular ones including WordPress, Drupal and SurrealCMS.
  • Strategies to Developing Websites describes the long list of CMS applications that allow you to easily expand a website, including popular tools like Joomla!, Plone, and Mambo.

Forums, Chat Rooms and Blogs

Once you've created a basic website, it's important to expand the site by incorporating social networking tools where people can get involved and interact with each other. These include forums, chat rooms and blogs. There are plenty of free forum solutions that don't include annoying ads. For FrontPage users, there are a lot of web templates available to add a forum to your web page as well. For more options, read this LoveToKnow Q&A that lists the software options available for hosting a forum.

Free Graphics

Probably some of the most sought-after content of web designers are high-quality images. With most content developers hoping to earn an income from their work, it can be very difficult to find this content for free, but it isn't impossible. Luckily, one of the more effective advertising methods online is offering free content, and many image developers offer a great deal of royalty free content in order to advertise their skills. The LoveToKnow web graphics page lists a wide variety of those free graphics.

Do you have any free tools to build web pages that you like to use? Share more about them in the comments section below.

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