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A Webmaster's Toolkit and Tricks

Copyright © 2004-2005 Jason OConnor 
Oak Web Works
http://www.oakwebworks.com/


If you own a website, operate or run a website, or you're a 
webmaster, this article is for you. A successful website is 
created and managed by a person with an effective toolkit who 
knows how to use each tool. There are a huge amount of software 
applications out there for people to use for creating, building, 
coding and running websites. Here are the ones you'll find in my 
tool box. I've been using these for many years and have had 
wonderful success with each one of them. 

As a bonus, I am going to include a few tricks for some of the 
tools that may be of interest to you. (These 'tricks' are for pc 
users only.)


** Toolkit Item 1 - Dreamweaver **

I have a client who owns and runs a small business website and 
who has been using Microsoft Frontpage since he started. He is 
not a programmer or Web designer and has been very frustrated 
managing his website. Frontpage adds strange html code behind the 
scenes that takes control away from the user and often produces 
undesirable results. I suggested that he try Macromedia's 
Dreamweaver, which is the software I have been using for many 
years. It's excellent and does exactly what you want, does not 
add extraneous code and makes the life of a webmaster a breeze. 
After playing with it for a while, my client thanked me profusely 
for suggesting it. Get it at http://www.macromedia.com.

Dreamweaver Trick:

To make a global change in your website, that is, change some 
specific text or html code on every page in your site, here's 
what you do: In your top menu bar, choose 'Edit' > 'Find and 
Replace . . .'. In the dialog box that pops up, choose 'Entire 
Local Site' in the top dropdown box labeled 'Find In'. This will 
allow you to make a global change. Also, note the other choices 
in the dropdown box. Using this feature will save you lots of 
time.

Dreamweaver Trick:

Did you know Dreamweaver has a 'Check Spelling' feature? If not, 
go to the top menu bar and click on 'Text' and then choose 'Check 
Spelling' at the bottom of the menu. Or you could simply use your 
'Shift' F7 keys.


** Toolkit Item 2 - Photoshop **

Since images on the Web are both illustrations and photos, 
Adobe's Photoshop is hands-down the best choice for graphics 
manipulation for a webmaster. It has a little bit of a learning 
curve, but well worth it if you want to include awesome graphics 
on your website. It allows you to create buttons, borders, 
shapes, symbols and of course, it allows you to change, alter, 
edit and improve any kind of digital photograph. Get it at 
http://www.adobe.com.

Photoshop Trick:

The Web allows two main graphics file formats, .jpg and .gif. 
Therefore, any image you plan to use on your website needs to end 
in one of these two extensions. (The Web allows the .png 
extension too, but you ought to use either .jpg or .gifs only). 
So, whenever you plan to use a graphic on your website that you 
created or edited in Photoshop, you need to save it as one of 
these two file extensions. And you also want your images to be 
optimized so they are not large causing long download times for 
your site visitors. Do this by going to your top menu bar and 
choosing 'File' > "Save for the Web . . .'. You will then be able 
to choose .gif or .jpg in the top right of the dialog box that 
opens up. You'll also be able to see 1, 2, or 4 versions for the 
same image, optimized in different ways and having different 
sizes for you to choose. Always use this tool in Photoshop for 
Web graphics.

Photoshop Trick:

Want to create soft, almost rounded edges on your rectangular 
images? Here's what you do: In your vertical 'Tools' window in 
Photoshop, choose the top left tool called 'Rectangular Marquee 
Tool'. Then click and drag your mouse on your image to make a 
rectangle that is 5 to 10 pixels smaller than your actual image. 
Make sure that it is equidistant on all four sides. Then go to 
your menu bar and choose 'Select' > 'Inverse'. This chooses (or 
selects) everything outside the rectangle you just made. Finally, 
go to your menu bar and choose 'Filter' > 'Blur' > 'Gaussian 
Blur' and type 1-5 pixels in the dialog box. That's it, and now 
your image will have soft edges.


** Toolkit Item 3 - WS FTP **

This is a great tool for moving your files back and forth from 
your pc to your server. Dreamweaver has a feature that allows you 
to connect directly to your server to download and upload html 
files and images for your website. But I prefer to have more 
control over moving files back and forth from my local pc to my 
server that houses my website. Therefore, I use WS FTP (FTP 
stands for File Transfer Protocol). This tool enables me to move 
my files with ease and with complete control. Get it at 
http://www.tucows.com.

FTP Trick:

This is more of a suggestion than a trick. To make changes in 
your html files, always download the latest file(s) from your 
website's server down to your local machine first. Then make your 
changes, edits or updates, save your work, and upload the file(s) 
back to your server. In other words, do your entire html editing 
on your local machine and upload the latest version after your 
editing back to your live server. Try to avoid editing files 
directly on your server. This methodology will help ensure that 
your site visitors don't see files 'in progress' or errors.


** Toolkit Item 4 - WebTrends **

This tool is vital for anyone wishing to conduct intelligent e-
marketing campaigns and has interest in improving one's website. 
It allows you to analyze your website statistics. It tells you 
how many people visited your site, how they got there, where they 
went once they arrived and a huge amount of other critical data. 
Get it at http://www.webtrends.com.


** Toolkit Item 5 - WebPosition Gold **

If you want to know how your website is ranking in the search 
engines, this tool is a must have. It allows you to set up a 
profile for your website asking you to enter keyword phrases and 
choose search engines. By running the program after you complete 
your profile, it will tell you where you rank for each engine for 
each keyword phrase. If you find that you're not ranking well, 
you can make changes to your website and run the program again in 
a few days or weeks to determine if your rankings have improved. 
Get it at http://www.webposition-gold-2.net.


If you purchase these tools and learn to use them properly, 
you'll have everything you need to create and manage a website. 
Your toolkit will be complete. I am sure there are other great 
tools out there, but these are the ones I use, (and I have no 
affiliation with any of these companies). I've found them to be 
extremely helpful. Another webmaster 'trick' I use is to utilize 
great websites that contain excellent tips, tricks and resources 
for creating and managing websites. Below is a partial list of 
the websites I visit regularly.


* Webmonkey - http://www.webmonkey.com
* HTML Goodies - http://www.htmlgoodies.com
* World Wide Web Consortium - http://www.w3c.org
* Webmaster Directory - http://www.webdevsites.com
* Free HTML Validator - http://www.feedvalidator.org
* Webmaster resources from Webmaster Toolkit. - 
http://www.webmaster-toolkit.com
* Webmaster.org - http://www.webmaster.org
* The Webmaster's Reference Library - 
http://www.webreference.com
* SitePoint : New Articles, for Web Developers and Designers - 
http://www.sitepoint.com
* Webmaster's Color Lab - http://www.visibone.com/colorlab
* SiteProNews - http://www.sitepronews.com
* Webmaster Tool Collection - 
http://www.webmaster-tool-collection.com



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Jason O'Connor is president of Oak Web Works 
(http://www.oakwebworks.com) where you can get a free webmaster 
newsletter and he also runs Sports & Broadway Tickets 
(http://www.bestshowticketslasvegas.com).
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