Tools of the trade

So with my Corporate Athlete website up and running now, I thought I'd let you know a little bit about the process of managing a website.

A lot of Content Management Systems (CMS) I have come across are sh1te, putting it bluntly!

I have preferred in the past to manage the content myself using basic html editing and a few tools are essential to enable this.

1. An FTP(file transfer protocol) program, this gives you the ability to upload and download your web pages to and from the server where the site is held
2. A Text editor (normally notepad is enough)

These two are essential tools the following are the not so essential:

3. GUI editor, such as Dreamweaver or FrontPage, both quite complex to use, but very useful if you are setting about creating your own website from scratch. My preferred is Dreamweaver, because of the "clean" code that it creates.
4. Image Editor, such as CorelCraw or Photoshop, you'll be able to manipulate photos and design logos and headings etc. Both quite complex to use but worth the investment in time to learn if you are developing your own sites..
5. Internet Explorer and Firefox installed on your PC. Currently IE is the most used browser, but Firefox is gaining consumer appeal! You need to be able to test on both Browsers to make sure your site displays on both.
6. PDF writer, CutePDF is free, adobe do a writer too but it is expensive
7. Video Editing tool, most software which comes with your video camera is limited and generally awkward to use. I use Ulead Video Studio, cheap and very flexible!

If I get 5 minutes i'll let you know how and where you get an FTP program sorted...