Five Great Tools for Intermediate Web Design

I have been doing a bit of code writing and experimenting with cascading style sheets. Here are five tools I have been utilizing frequently:

1.  I have been using the Firefox Add-on Firebug.  Once installed, Firebug allows you to see the HTML and CSS code that generates the elements you find on other pages.  It is a great learning tool.

2.  I have also been using pixlr to edit and create backgrounds.  It is a great online editor for those like me without a decent editor on the hard drive.

3.  If you need a title image, or just cool fonts, go to File Cart.  They have more than 10,000 fonts.  If you take the time to search, you will certainly find one that suits your site for a banner image.  Hint: just click on “details” and type in the text you want, copy the image, and you have a 800×90 banner.  If you want it small go to #2 above.

4.  For real tutorials and great examples of best practices go to W3Schools.  They have solved most of the problems I have run into so far.

5.  Finally, Fireshot is what I have been using for screen shots of web pages that I like.  It works like a charm.

Bonus Tip. . . Use Picnik to easily crop and resize photos (like I did on the screenshot from W3Schools above).