Consulting Services

These are some of the tools I use for developing my websites. I'm not claiming these are the best, but they serve me well. Most of them are available in newer and better versions.

A very simple but powerful HTML editor. You have to know HTML, but the features of the editor help you with syntax and keywords, so it's not quite as challenging as using something like Notepad.

Lets you develop your web pages either by writing the HTML directly or with a WYSIWYG design view. A good combination of features that makes it easy to develop pages quickly without sacrificing control over the actual HTML. The template feature is especially useful.

For converting documents to Acrobat (PDF) format.

For vector and raster graphics. There are more recent versions, but I haven't upgraded yet.

A shareware product that makes it easy to create photo galleries. The photo gallery for www.sammybarnes.com was created with this product.

An FTP program allows you to transfer files over the Internet between a local PC and a server. There are many to choose from.

This is the web hosting provider I work with. The resellers program makes a standard web site quite affordable. Most of my websites use the standard plan that includes free domain registration.

A budget hosting service affiliated with OneWorldHosting, for low-end, low-cost websites.

The simplest e-commerce provider. Both www.fmco.com and www.metropolitanwinds.com use PayPal for accepting donations.

My Internet Service Provider. I recently upgraded to Fiber DSL, and so far it's great. My only complaint is that Verizon is much too aggressive about filtering spam at the network level. When I configure an email address at one of the OneWorldHosting domains to forward messages, Verizon users cannot receive the forwarded messages. This problem has been in effect since early 2004.

This is the registrar I prefer for websites where it's not appropriate to use the domain registration that comes free with my hosting service.

The customer for www.supplypartners.com wanted photographs for the website. I found royalty-free photos at a reasonable price here. It is a little disconcerting, however, when you start seeing the same photos showing up other places.

This is a great tool when you're trying to find out background information about a website. Almost every registrar has a "whois" service, but this one is not affiliated with a vendor. You enter a domain name and it will tell you who it is registered to and when the registration was done. Sometimes this helps you decide whether a website is legitimate or not. Recently registrars have started to offer ways to keep your personal information hidden from WhoIs inquiries. Sometimes you can get more information by figuring out who the registrar for the domain is, then using the WhoIs service at that registrar's website.

See the second edition at Amazon

A really nice book to teach beginners how to make web sites. It covers both basic HTML and design tips, including how a web page should be different from a printed page. There are brief mentions of technologies other than HTML, enough to give you an idea of whether you want to persue them or not. I used the first edition.

See the second edition at Amazon

The Niederst book is good for learning, but once you know the basics you need a reference manual to get detailed syntax information. This book covers HTML, Cascading Style Sheets, Javascript, and the Document Object Model (DOM), which you need for Javascript. I used the first edition.

See the second edition at Amazon

PHP is a server-side technology for making dynamic web pages. I used the first edition.

See it at Amazon.

Combining PHP with a MySQL database makes a web page that can store and retrieve information in a database.

This is a collection of tutorials and references about web development technologies. I used the tutorials for Javascript and PHP. I also use their HTML Color Names page for picking colors for my web pages.