SOFTWARE> Graphics Software : Authoring Software

Software

To make a professional-looking site, you will need both graphics software and authoring software.

Graphics software is also known as Image Editing, Image Manipulation, Photo Editing and a variety of other things. The most famous one is called Adobe Photoshop - although that's very expensive and you don't need it unless you're really serious about Graphic Design. I'm happy with PaintShop Pro, which is about a tenth of the price and does all you need for the web.

Basically, graphics software is used to alter the characteristics of a picture. You'll need it to make your pictures the right size and format for use on your site, as well as making titles, banners, buttons and the like.

You may already have software that does the job. Sometimes you get a graphics software package when you buy a scanner (although don't confuse it with the actual scanning software, which can only do very basic functions). For example, Photoshop Elements, a cut-down version of Adobe's Photoshop program, is sold with higher-end scanners. You can also get fully-functioning versions of graphics packages on Computer magazine cover-CDs at times - that's how I got my first version of PaintShop Pro.

If you don't have anything suitable, you can easily get hold of basic graphics software for free. I'll suggest some options on the next page.

Authoring software saves you the yawnworthy task of programming a site in html. While I agree that it helps to know some basic html, I'm all for efficiency. Good authoring software helps you to make a site of any complexity quickly and easily. This software is also known as WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). To make a proper site from scratch, you'll need good software. For minor updates, you can easily do that in freeware. For those on a limited budget, you can use Dreamweaver, (the very best web-authoring software) as a fully functioning "evaluation" version to build the site, then use freeware html editors to update it - at least until you can afford to buy Dreamweaver.