The Innovation Hubs

Continuing where I left off last week, I want to introduce everyone to three new web design programs that are completely free and easy to use.

The first is KompoZer.  They advertise themselves as Easy Web Authoring!  And that couldn’t be more accurate.  KompoZer is a complete package of software; it has the functionality of the file management software and the user-friendly, eye-popping web page authoring.  This software is probably the closest to Open-Source as you can get.   Downloading for free is easy to do, and for those who are into programming can find all the source code easily available.

The next program on my list is Web Plus Starter Edition.  Not necessary an Open-Source program, in reality it’s much closer to free trial software to a program that can be purchased.  This program is my favourite from today’s list, primarily for the easy drag and drop design system and the no HTML knowledge required.

You can import links, photos and stream videos from Youtube.  Includes web gadgets that will help shape blogs, forms, and hit counters to monitor web statistics.   It also includes Automatic site checker, image optimization, and built in publishing tools, and in case you get lost, refer to one of their tutorial videos as a reference.

Last and certainly not least, CoffeeCup.com has provided Free HTML Editor 9.5.  This version is a trimmed down version of the HTML Editor software that’s available to purchase.  It’s also not for everyone, but for someone who wants to learn HTML, CSS and other web design languages, this is a great program.  No visual aid, so you can’t cheat as you build.  It’s certainly compatible with the entire popular browser, and even supports some of the newer languages like HTML5 and CSS3.

Still with the topic of free webpage design software, I recently came across the website Moonfruit.com.  It’s 100% an online resource, and only works online with their templates.  They do have some nice ones to look at though.  The major advantage is you don’t have to have any software and it’s completely free to use.  Included is also access to their online library of backgrounds, images and animations.

Until then…