Discover These Lesser-Known Web and E-Mail Tools

Tools

Here are programs for doing your Web pages, site development, and video aggregation.

Nvu

Nvu is an application that lets you design Web pages without having to master hypertext markup language (HTML).

Pronounced "N-View," this free, open-source WYSWYG HTML editor is based on the Composer HTML editor in the Netscape suites and SeaMonkey. Like Composer, Nvu makes it easy to create, update, and publish basic Web pages without having to know a lick of the HTML code that underlies a Web page's design. But Nvu also adds features geared to more expert Web designers, including a Cascading Style Sheet editor, support for HTML forms and PHP scripting code, and an HTML markup cleaner. Nvu's Site Manager pane lets me keep all of my pages and related files organized by project, and the tabbed design lets me compare page designs and code quickly. (Note: At the time of writing, this program was still in beta.)

1st Page 2006

1st Page 2006 is the latest version of a popular, professional-level Web development tool.

If your Web design needs and skills exceed what simpler tools like Composer and Nvu can handle, try Evrsoft's perennial favorite, 1st Page 2006 (which replaces the previous version, 1st Page 2000). The program offers four user modes: Easy, Normal, Expert, and--for Web geniuses--Hardcore. But even the Easy mode offers an amazing array of prefab DHTML, Javascript, and PHP scripts that add menus, buttons, animation, calendars, pop-ups, and other effects to your pages.

Novice users may also want to grab this program if only for its Web Photo Gallery Generator, which builds an indexed, thumbnailed Web photo gallery from a folder full of digital images in a click. Though the WYSIWYG design mode is nice, I like writing HTML directly in the program's basic three-pane display, which shows the source code, a preview, and a handy reference list of HTML tags.

Democracy Player

Democracy Player is a video feed aggregator and recorder that also lets you search the major video sites--all from one program.

Video is the most interesting thing on the Web these days, but it's easy to get stuck on YouTube looking for the diamonds among the lip-synching teenagers and inebriated video camera abusers. The Participatory Culture Foundation offers this program--a video feed aggregator cum personal video recorder--as part of its larger goal of jump-starting a grassroots Internet TV model.

Democracy Player lets you browse and subscribe to a variety of video channels, including Seed Magazine's science clips, Comedy Central, Adult Swim, music video channels, and Democracy Now. You can also search the major video Web sites without leaving the player. Just like your TiVo box, Democracy Player expires and deletes older videos automatically to keep your hard disk from filling up. The best thing about this personal video recorder is that it aggregates video content you won't find on your cable box or YouTube, and it does all the downloading for you.