Website Design Software
There are many types of web design software, each with a certain kind of task in mind. Some focus on the layout of a Web page, while others let you modify the site as though you were drawing them. They all have their benefits and detriments, so you will have to understand your needs to find the right choice.
- Text editors are the most basic form of web design software, but they work. The most basic text editors, such as Notepad, simply save plain text. Others have special features such as tabs, automatic indentation and code coloring to make it easier to organize and navigate the code. The more advanced ones easily support various programming and scripting languages. UltraEdit, NoteTab and Notepad++ are good examples.
- Code-based web design software has more features than basic text editors that are geared toward designing web pages. They give the user direct access to the code for maximum efficiency, but they also include a number of additional tools. These can include an FTP client, a code validator, a preview function, code cleaner or a number of other similar features. Examples include HTML-Kit, Expression Web, and Aptana Studio.
- WYSIWYG, or What You See Is What You Get, software allows the user to edit the web page visually, much in the same way he might use a word processor. These are typically the easiest web designers to use, but they can sometimes produce inefficient code. Also, since many users of these systems don't understand HTML or web coding languages, they aren't equipped with the knowledge to fix problems when they occur. Dreamweaver and Frontpage are perhaps the most well-known examples of WYSIWYG web design software.
- Many websites today are built on Content Management Systems (CMS). This is a special type of software that resides on a web server which allows users to remotely modify the content and layout of the site without the use of external tools. Some examples of CMS are Joomla!, Drupal, Concrete5 and the extremely popular blogging platform Wordpress.