Web Design & Technology: Design Tools

What is a website platform?

It is the underlying structure or software used to create and support a web page or website. Depending on the purpose of your website, and the resources at your disposal, there are several types of platform to use:

• Development platforms are language-based. Examples include ASP or PHP. If you're not familiar with any of these, just know that they're all languages you can use to develop websites.

• Content Management Systems are a really popular platform for building websites. They give you ways to get a website online and easy tools to manage your content. Examples include WordPress or Joomla!®

• Templated website builders are platforms developed by a company that typically incorporate hosting and design into one product. Most often, they use a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) designer that makes designing your site easy, and integrate publishing your site to the Internet.

The following articles list and explain these options and debate the pros and cons of popular website platforms:

There are many types of software available to web designers for: designing web pages, editing HTML text, tranferring files to your website, and even manging content online. The following are example lists of the tools available, with download links to free and easy-to-use software:

List of HTML Editors

FTP Client Software

Content Management Systems