Resources
(No guarantee that links are valid after publication date)
Accessibility
• Web Accessibility - ADA Guidelines http://webdesign.about.com/cs/accessibility/index.htm
• This free service will allow you to test web pages and help expose and repair
barriers to accessibility and encourage compliance with existing accessibility
guidelines, such as Section 508 and the W3C's WCAG. http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp
CSS
• Cascading style sheet example for printer output (Rich Lovett) -- 6/2005 meeting
• CSS example for printing and one for screen (Kelli Behr) -- 6/2005 meeting
• Fly-out menu example using only CSS (Barbara Hensley; Zip file) -- 6/2005 meeting
• Files from Roman Madrigal's CSS class (1.2 Mb Zip) -- Cascading style sheet class 1/12/05.
• Cascading style sheet resources -- From Roman Madrigal at the 11/2004 meeting
• CSS Tutorial
• BrainJar.com
• CSS Layout Techniques
• Position Everything - CSS examples
• CSS Introduction http://www.uwplatt.edu/~web/wtc/css/
• CSS Design: Taming Lists http://www.alistapart.com/articles/taminglists/
• University of Arizona tutorial http://uaweb.arizona.edu/resources/tutorial/css/
• The beauty of CSS design http://www.csszengarden.com/
• Eric Meyer – CSS guru http://www.meyerweb.com/eric/css/
• CSS Creator site is a place for you to learn about and create CSS, Cascading
Style Sheets. Also has a forum. http://www.csscreator.com/
• http://css.maxdesign.com.au/
• Free/Cheap CSS Online Training
• http://www.westciv.com/courses/free/index.html
Cold Fusion
• Basics of creating a ColdFusion form (PDF)
• What ColdFusion is (PDF)
Development
• Website redesign RFP -- City of Overland Park, KS
• Developing a site specification http://www.webstyleguide.com/process/specify.html
• Experiments in Web Programming http://www.brainjar.com/
• Color meanings http://www.selling-it.com/Useability/Color/Use_Color_Meanings.htm
• The Ten Most Violated Homepage Design Guidelines http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20031110.html
• Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2003 http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20031222.html
• Web Resource Guide (Coding, HTML, etc.) http://www.irt.org/
• http://www.webmonkey.com A good reference site if you are not sure how to accomplish a task, according to Barbara . Kevin Kelley added that regular visitors may even be greeted with helpful information by their most frequently visited instructor.
Domains
• Check the registration for a domain: http://www.checkdomain.com/
E-mail
• Mailcall - it's almost free. It's a utility available on PC Magazine's site
(http://pcmag.com). They're charging an annual fee now for unlimited downloads. This utility lets us review the email on the server and delete unwanted stuff before downloading the mail into our mail handler. Invaluable these days!
• This is the free e-mail translator I use to try to cut down on spamming: http://www.colmgallagher.com/bewilder_spambots.html
Flash
• http://FlashKit.com
• http://www.flashgallery.com/
• http://www.actionscripthero.com/blog/
Frontpage
• Thomas Brunt's OutFront, a Microsoft FrontPage learning community. http://www.outfront.net/index.htm
Graphics and Clipart
• Bullets, buttons, backgrounds http://www.ender-design.com/rg/index.html
• Makes buttons or logos http://www.cooltext.com/
• Clipart http://www.free-graphics.com/
• Gif Animation http://www.gifanimations.com/
• http://www.grsites.com/textures/
• Awesome Clip Art for Kids: http://www.awesomeclipartforkids.com/
• Microsoft's Clip Art and Media: http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/default.aspx, is one of my favorites for free small images. (I don't use their download; I just do a quick screen print and open and crop into PhotoShop and size them.)
• Discovery.com clipart (requires credit): http://school.discovery.com/clipart/index.html
• http://www.coolarchive.com/
• http://www.firstgov.gov/Topics/Graphics.shtml
HTML and Javascript
• Handy JavaScript code snippets from the 1/2005 meeting (Zip file)
• The following is an alphabetical list of all HTML 4.0 elements. http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/html40/alist.html
• HTML Code Tutorial http://www.htmlcodetutorial.com/
• http://dynamicdrive.com/
• http://www.opencube.com/
• http://www.echoecho.com/
• http://www.useit.com/alertbox/ (Jacob
Nielson’s Newsletters & Info)
• http://scriptsearch.internet.com/JavaScript/
• http://www.codelifter.com/
• http://www.htmlbasix.com/
• http://www.metalusions.com/
• http://www.htmlcodetutorial.com/
• http://www.netmechanic.com/
• http://www.likno.com/
• http://www.freewarejava.com/
• http://www.freewarefiles.com/
• http://www.a1javascripts.com/
• http://www.javapowered.com/werks.html
• http://www.javascript-2.com/
• http://a.webring.com/hub?ring=javascript4u
• http://www.crays.com/jsc/
• http://www.javascriptkit.com/
• http://javascript.internet.com/
• http://java-scripts.net/
• www.delorie.com/web/ Delorie Software provides a number of free services to the web community to assist web authors who wish to make their information available to the largest audience. These tools provide alternate ways of viewing your pages, so that you can ensure that your content is received properly by all viewers.
• http://www.mattkruse.com/javascript/
Icons
• http://www.iconbazaar.com
• http://www.iconarchive.com/
• http://www.iconbazaar.com/index.html
• http://www.coolarchive.com/icons.cfm
Internet/Browser
• Good spyware remover. http://www.safer-networking.org/
• Mozilla and Netscape's tool bar add-on. It's available at http://placenamehere.com/pnhtoolbar/ We use this (in Mozilla) to check a site on the web for W3C and Bobby conformance, to see how the page looks without style sheets, etc. It installs in a most unusual way--it automatically attaches itself as an added tool bar in Mozilla (and presumable does the same if you're running Netscape).
• Mozilla browser, available at http://mozilla.com as a free download.
• Browsersizer - shows how a page looks on various size screens. It's available
at http://www.applythis.com/browsersizer/ They sell a version called BrowserMaster but the free version is all I ever use.
Legal
• PC, e-mail and Internet use policy (City of Shawnee, KS)
• http://www.lawguru.com/ Who
said lawyers don't have a heart? At LawGuru.com, hundreds of attorneys hand
out free advice to anyone in a legal jam. That service lets users trim legal
costs by getting preliminary questions answered for free. At LawGuru's BBS,
you can either explore a library of previously answered questions or submit
your own. For example, we were worried about the legality of posting copyrighted
material to our website, so we did a search for "Internet copyright." According to a lawyer in San Jose, California, it would be "safe and prudent" to
avoid posting copyrighted material altogether. Getting advice from LawGuru
isn't the same thing as getting legal representation, but it can help you
save on those nightmarish legal bills.
Maps
• http://www.Mapquest.com Mapquest offers street maps for major cities all over the world. Its Interactive Atlas allows users to adjust the level of detail. Type in an address and click on the map to zoom in to street level, or zoom out for regional views. You can also find places of interest, such as tourist attractions, lodging, and ATM machines. The Driving Directions section of the site gives detailed turn-by-turn instructions that can help even the most direction-impaired drivers. Members of Mapquest can build their own custom maps at no charge, and registration is free.
• http://www.MapsOnUs.com For both long-distance and short road trips, Maps On Us is one of the best sites around. You'll find loads of useful features that you can't get with a paper map. By linking up with online yellow pages, the site allows you to find everything from department stores to gas stations, all within a one- to 200-mile radius of your location. You'll also find long- and short-distance driving directions with your choice of the shortest or fastest route.
• http://www.FreeTrip.com If you plan to trek across the country, Free Trip specializes in long-distance trip planning, and helps you stay on budget along the way. We typed in Los Angeles to Chicago, and asked to be notified of hotels for under $50 on our route. Our results included the distance in miles, our estimated driving time, and detailed directions for our trip, including many budget hotels.
Miscellaneous Free & Cheap Stuff for the Web
• Tips on redesigning a web site -- From Karen Sorensen at 3/2005 meeting
• Live streaming video -- Diagram (PDF) showing how to configure (City of KC, MO)
• The Internet Archive's Wayback machine is handy for looking at older versions
of any site: http://www.archive.org/web/web.php
• Auctioning municipal vehicles online (PDF) -- Research by City of KC, MO
• Making error messages look better -- City of Overland Park, KS
• Calendaring Tool Has a free version, but that has ads. They also have an ad-free
version for $18 a year. http://www.calendars.net
• Stuffit Expander - WinZip is still the best for making ZIP files, but for unpacking
them you can't beat this free alternative. • http://www.aladdinsys.com/win/index.html
• Miscellaneous sounds http://www.soundamerica.com/codec.htm
• http://thefreesite.com
• http://www.puzzle-maker.com/
• http://babelfish.altavista.com/ (Web language translator)
• http://www.allprofitallfree.com/index.html
• http://reallybig.com/
PDAs
• PDA users frequently store their PIN number, computer passwords, and Social
Security numbers on their handhelds. The study says 65 percent of people who
store bank data on their handheld do not encrypt that data. Even more frightening,
6 percent of PDA users queried in the study have had their handhelds lost or
stolen in the past. The survey solicited information from 332 people working
in IT and sales, 43 percent of whom are working for companies that employ more
than 1,000 workers. The solution is simple, encrypt and password-protect the
important data on your PDA. Here are some alternatives for Palm and Pocket PC.
Some are free, all are free to try. Strip 0.5 for the Palm OS is a free program
that stores passwords and PIN numbers. Secret 2.4 for the Palm OS is a password-protection
tool that allows you to search for important encrypted passwords. It's free to
try and $19 to buy. PocketLock for the Pocket PC is free to try and $29.95 to
buy.
PDFs
• To convert an Adobe® Portable Document Format (PDF) file to HTML online http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/access_simple_form.html
• Adobe's Acrobat costs hundreds of dollars. But if you need to create a résumé or
other document in PDF format so everyone can read it, Adobe's Online PDF creation
service is a lifesaver. It costs $10 a month, but you can try it free for five
documents. https://createpdf.adobe.com/index.pl/3015120110.90375?BP=NS6&v=AHP
• PDF - The free program is called pdf995. It costs $9.95 but you can get
the full version free if you're willing to tolerate a pop-up ad every time you
create a PDF. There is a companion file called pdfEdit995 (same price rules)
that adds features such as support for watermarks, the ability to convert some
external links to live links, and an Optimize command for Web pages. Both are
available for download from http://www.software995.com.
• One catch with many of the low-cost PDF makers is that they produce big files
-- not nearly as compact as the ones created by Adobe. However, one product that
seems to strike a good balance between file size and price is PDF X-Change 2.5.
It's $49.50 from Tracker Software (http://www.docu-track.com/index.php?page=22). In nearly all cases, its files are smaller than those created by Adobe.
Photography and Images
• Photoshop tips -- Pointers and shortcuts presented at the 5/2004 meeting
• More Photoshop tips -- From Johnson County Wastewater at 6/2004 meeting
• The USDA Online Photo Center provides a complimentary source of high-quality
digital photographs, a select few of which appear on these web pages. http://www.usda.gov/oc/photo/opclibra.htm
• Hemera: http://www.hemera.com/hemera/index.jsp?ref= (It's not free...but very cheap for good quality photos ($4.95 for 5, or $99 a year). The one caveat is that you need to ensure that the graphics you purchase from them aren't able to be copied.
• FEMA Photo Gallery (requires credit): http://www.photolibrary.fema.gov/photolibrary/index.jsp
• FirstGov: http://www.firstgov.gov/Topics/Graphics.shtml
• Microsoft's Clip Art and Media: http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/default.aspx, is one of my favorites for free small images. (I don't use their download; I just do a quick screen print and open and crop into PhotoShop and size them.)
• Natural Resource Conservation Service: http://photogallery.nrcs.usda.gov/
• Bicycle/Pedestrian images: http://www.pedbikeimages.org/index.cfm
• Census Bureau Photo Library: http://www.census.gov/pubinfo/www/photos/index.html
• http://www.coolarchive.com/
• http://www.firstgov.gov/Topics/Graphics.shtml
Search Engine Information
• How to get your site listed on search engines -- City of Overland Park, KS
• http://www.searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/index.php
• Atomz: http://www.atomz.com is a search engine that is free to websites with fewer than 500 pages.
Testing
• Irfranview, graphics viewer: http://www.irfanview.com/
• Place to download older versions of Internet Explorer: http://www.skyzyx.com/archives/000094.php
• Xenu link checker is free and available at http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html Lets you check for broken links, orphan files, etc. either locally or on the web.
• "A Real Validator" even though it's $25. Lets me check locally for W3C conformance
(saving having to upload to the web to do this). It's available at http://arealvalidator.com/
I found it originally on the W3C website.
Traffic Analysis
Here are some free alternatives to WebTrends for analyzing your web server log files to get traffic counts:
• Analog -- http://www.analog.cx -- this one is widely used
• Webalizer -- http://www.mrunix.net/webalizer/ -- this is another well-known one
• Nedstat -- http://www.nedstat.com/f35e34_index.htm
• HTTP-Analyze -- http://www.http-analyze.org/
• Related free stuff -- http://www.thefreecountry.com/webmaster/loganalyzers.shtml
Training
• Software & Technology http://www.hplearningcenter.com/ This site will help you find out more info about some of your favorite Training from the Source books. You'll be able to find out info about the books before buying them, and then you'll be able to get help, find bonus materials and chat in the forums to help you progress through the lessons after getting one. http://www.trainingfromthesource.com/
• Virtual Training Center (VTC) http://www.vtc.com For
$25.00 a month, receive unlimited, in depth training on a number of classes.
A QuickTime player is required. Downloading it is easy. It takes only a few minutes
if it isn’t already installed on your station. Sit back and watch a full screen demonstration, usually 2-15 minutes, then practice on your own. It’s possible to learn a software application without having purchased it. The speaker’s
Australian accent is fun and easy to listen to. A 30 day trial version is available,
as well as a CD versions.
Weather
• Free weather on site - http://www.wx.com/
Word Processing
• StarOffice - Once a free download, Sun's new StarOffice Suite 6.0 costs $75.95
and fits the bill for most users looking to generate word processor documents,
build spreadsheets, and create presentations. Like most productivity suites StarOffice
comprises five basic applications.
Writer: Think Word, as it's used for document creation and publishing. Calc: Like Excel, Calc is a spreadsheet-generation tool for data analysis.
Impress: This PowerPoint-like application creates presentations.Base: Base works as a database engine.
Draw: Use this for graphics and illustration publishing. StarOffice has gone through many improvements over the past couple of years, making it more interoperable and easier to use than previous versions. With a much-needed UI facelift and more support services, Sun is making friends with individual and corporate users alike. Longtime MS Office users should find menus, file types, and general functions to be very familiar if not exactly the same as Microsoft's productivity applications. Since StarOffice adheres to Microsoft's standard file extensions and formats, most users won't be troubled by slight variations in layout and design. We opened several documents with StarOffice that were originally generated in MS Word and Excel and found only minor variations in visual elements such as bulleted lists and tables. You won't run into problems with basic text documents.
XML
- A study guide on XML Web Services from Dan Davis, Jackson
County, at the 10/2006 meeting (Zip file).