Available
Software
It is
recommended that you use a Web authoring tool with a graphical
interface, rather than try to write HTML (HyperText Markup
Language) code that can run hundreds of lines. There are three
main Web authoring programs used at UIC.
Macromedia
Dreamweaver
This is
the most popular of the three choices. Macromedia Dreamweaver
has many of the advanced features veteran Web designers demand
for their pages but also allows the novice user to get comfortable
with creating their first Web pages. (In fact, these pages
are being designed in Dreamweaver.) Dreamweaver also has the
capability of transferring your files from your personal computer
to the Web server of your choice. (This will be discussed
in the Transferring Files section.) The picture below shows
this very page being edited in Dreamweaver.
Netscape
Composer
Netscape
Composer is part of the Netscape Communicator suite of programs.
Beginning users who may not need the advanced tools Macromedia
Dreamweaver offers may wish to consider this very cost-effective
program. (It doesn't cost anything.) Netscape Composer allows
you to create simple Web pages, including formatting text,
organizing information in tables creating hyperlinks, and
adding images. UIC's Network Services Kit contains
version 4.5 of Netscape Communicator. <Click
here if you wish to download the NS Kit.>
Claris
HomePage
Claris
HomePage is another program available on campus. It has more
flexibility than Netscape Communicator but retains the menubar/toolbar
design people have become familiar with in programs such as
Microsoft Office and WordPerfect.
It should
be noted that all three programs give you the ability to look
at the HTML code generated and allows you to edit it as necessary.
HTML code is a series of tags placed on either side
of text or files to make them behave in particular ways when
viewed by a Web browser. The following picture
shows the HTML code for THIS paragraph.
Why the
ACCC does NOT recommend Microsoft FrontPage 2000
It has
been asked of the Academic Computing and Communications Center
to provide assistance with Microsoft's Web authoring program:
FrontPage. There are several reasons why it is not supported
by the ACCC and why it is not recommended that you use it:
- The
Web servers used on campus are UNIX-based, not Windows NT
servers that you may find in other schools or companies.
It has been found that UNIX-based Web servers have a tendency
to be more stable.
- Web
pages created in FrontPage have the potential to not be
browser-independent. That is, the page might be readable
in Microsoft Internet Explorer, but it cannot be read by
Netscape Communicator, which is the Web browser of choice
at the UIC campus.
- Web
pages created in FrontPage are not platform-independent.
That is, a page originally created in FrontPage cannot be
read by Netscape Composer, Claris HomePage, and Macromedia
Dreamweaver, even though all four programs are Web authoring
tools. This is because FrontPage enters code in certain
items resident only to FrontPage itself and NOT generally-accepted
HTML formats.
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