uk.net.web.authoring FAQ  version 0.1 (draft) 2000/10/20

 Contents

 1 Introduction
 2 Newsgroup Usage and Charter
 3 FAQs
     3.1 What programs hould I use to author?
     3.2 What issues are there using ...?
     3.3 What should I pay for/where should I host?
     3.4 How much should I pay for a website?
     3.5 How do I become a web author?

 4 Resources
     4.1 Authoring Technologies
     4.2 Authoring Programs
     4.3 Analysis tools
     4.4 Accessibility
     4.5 Hosting
     4.6 Search Engines
     4.7 Related Newsgroups
     4.8 Small business
 
 5 Other FAQ type stuff at the end (maintainer/suggestions etc.)
 _________________________________________________

 1 Introduction

   This is a faq...

 2 Newsgroup Usage and Charter                                   (JS)

   "See <URL: http://www.usenet.org.uk/ >, news:uk.answers, 
   news:uk.net.news.announce, for UK News hierarchy information,
   including the official copy of our charter at 
   <URL: http://www.usenet.org.uk/uk.net.web.authoring.html >.  


 3 FAQs
 3.1 What programs hould I use to author for the web?            (RW)
  HTML Authoring:
      Text Editors - These are purely a matter of choice. 
    The editor will have no consequence in the quality of 
    work developed. 

    Pros : You keep close to the code, easy to integrate server 
    or client side scripts. It's all your own work. Some would say
    in the long run these are as quick as anything.

    Cons : You need to know good HTML. Arguably slower than other
    methods to churn out page after page.

    Examples : Vi, Emacs (all platforms, free.) Notepad, Textpad,
    EditPad (Win32, free/shareware)

      Tag Editors - These are similar to the text editors, but also
    have knowledge of HTML, They differ from the visual editors in 
    that you still edit the actual HTML rather than a visual 
    representation.

    Pros/Cons : as Text Editors.

    Examples : Emacs (all, free) HotDog Professional 6 (Win32,
    100USD), bluefish, screem, webmaker (No idea..)

    Visual Editors - These editors allow you to make a graphical
    representation of the page you want, take that desired end result
    and turn it into code. The quality of the code is highly dependant
    on the tool you choose. Results vary from arguably very good to
    definitely very bad. Many of them include very advanced site
    management tools to make developing an overall style easier.

    Pros: No knowledge of HTML required, content can be edited by
    anyone, easy to develop consistent style/design, cheap to employ
    staff.

    Cons: Variable results, often a need to "clean up" the code,
    without knowing HTML or the capabilities of browsers, difficult to
    create good compatible pages.

    Examples : Dreamweaver, Frontpage, Pagemill, Netobjects Fusion. 
               (Win32, expensive - prices anyone)

  Image Editing: 

    Photoshop : Professional graphics program, considered industry
    standard for graphics design, few web specific features. (Win
    32/Mac, 500GBP ver 6 90GBP ver 5) 

    Paint Shop Pro : Powerful general purpose image editor, very
    popular, includes tools for gif animation. (Win32, 90GBP)

 3.2 What issues are there in using... ?

  HTML - HTML was designed as a text mark-up language.  Later
  extensions permit a degree of layout control, but later still these
  have been deprecated in favour of using CSS to control layout and
  appearance.  For absolute appearance control, other techniques may
  be better, e.g. PDF.                                           (JS)

  Javascript - Javascript support cannot be relied on, many user
  agents (browsers) do not support javascript and some people disable
  it in their browser, therefore you should never rely on javascript
  to provide navigation or other essential effects, client side
  javascript though can be useful to enhance the experience of the
  user.

 4 Resources
  4.1 Authoring Technologies

    HTML - Web Design Group's Web Authoring FAQ
    <URL: http://www.htmlhelp.com/faq/wdgfaq.htm >

    Javascript - comp.lang.javascript FAQ
    <URL: http://jibbering.com/faq/ >

    W3 - World Wide Web Consortium - A "standards" organisation
    <URL: http://www.w3.org/ >

  4.3 Analysis tools
 
    Evaluation, Repair, and Transformation Tools for Web Content
    Accessibility
    <URL: http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/existingtools.html > 

  4.4 Accessibility
  4.5 Hosting
  4.6 Search Engines
  4.7 Related Newsgroups

    comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html        - HTML Authoring
    comp.infosystems.www.authoring.stylesheets - Stylesheets (CSS)
    comp.infosystems.www.authoring.site-design - Site Design
    comp.lang.javascript                       - javascript

  4.8 Small business
 
 5 This is a preliminary draft of a future uk.net.web.authoring FAQ,
 it is currently being composed by the group, and is being edited by
 Jim Ley (jim@jibbering.com) any comments/suggestions please post to
 the group, or via e-mail to the editor, Initials in brackets next to
 a section currently indicate the author (JS = Dr John Stockton, RW =
 Richard Watson.) without initials content was distilled from general
 newsposts or by the editor.