Nvu-- Free and Easy Web Design Software
This is the most powerful WYSIWYG HTML editor that I've tried, next to Dreamweaver. Plus Nvu's ease of use allows non-programmers to take their first steps in web design. And the fact that it's free doesn't hurt one bit, either!
-Jeff R.
YWAM Woodcrest - Radiate Media Design
[here's the corporate take on Nvu--edited for length]
Nvu - Web Authoring System for Linux, Macintosh & XP:
Nvu lets anyone create web pages and manage a website with no technical expertise or knowledge of HTML. Nvu (pronounced N-view, for a "new view") is an Open Source project started by Linspire, Inc.
Nvu was started from the Mozilla Composer code base. The Mozilla Internet suite is in the process of being broken up into individual pieces (browser, email, etc.). Nvu will pick up where Composer left off, adding additional features, functionality and ease of use.
Linspire is committed exclusively to bringing Desktop Linux to the masses, and realized that an easy-to-use web authoring system was needed for Linux to continue its expansion to the Desktop. Linspire contributes significant capital, expertise, servers, bandwidth, marketing, and other resources to guarantee the continuation and success of the Nvu project.
Linspire is pleased to have been able to contract with Daniel Glazman from Disruptive Innovations to be the lead developer and maintainer for the Nvu project. Daniel has been the chief architect for Mozilla Composer and brings a tremendous amount of experience and expertise to the Nvu project. Other developers are also encouraged to get involved in this project."
A Mobile Novel Idea
CNN.com - A mobile page turner - Mar 21, 2005 Cell phone technology meets literature in Japan
CNN: 3G [phones] may bring Web to African poor
CNN.com - 3G may bring Web to African poor - Mar 8, 2005:
"JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) -- Sowetan security guard Sam Phungo has never surfed the web and like most Africans, wouldn't know where to start.
'I guess if I could get a phone line and a cheap computer then I'd have a go,' he told Reuters with a wry smile, aware that neither are easy to come by in South Africa's biggest township.
But according to Africa's cell phone operators, Phungo's life could change with the launch of third generation technology they say will bring Internet access via mobile phones to millions of the world's poorest people.
The ultra-modern services, marketed at the tech-savvy in the west, could soon be beaming football scores, weather forecasts, video and music to slums and villages in a continent where almost half the population has never made a phone call.
'This is an opportunity to bring Africa into the information age,' said Karel Pienaar, chief technology officer at Africa's biggest cell phone operator MTN, which aims to launch 3G in South Africa in June.
Sceptics say it will take years before villagers in places like dirt-poor Malawi are surfing the web, due to high prices for handsets and poor infrastructure. But even the most cautious concede it will happen eventually..."
ABC News: People of the Year: Bloggers
ABC News: People of the Year: Bloggers: "is an online personal journal that covers topics ranging from daily life to technology to culture to the arts. Blogs have made such an impact this year that Merriam-Webster named it the word of the year.
'There's a blog for every niche. There's a blog for every interest,' said technology writer Xeni Jardin, who co-edits the blog boingboing.net."
"The Digital Dozen" - Powerful, Easy & Mostly Free Programs
Here are 12 powerful programs recommended
to maximize your computer and the internet:
- Thunderbird
(by Mozilla.org) - this is an email program that not only lets you do the
html emails (ones that are like web pages) it also is smart enough to send
html email to those who can receive it and normal text email to those who
can't (compuserve, etc...). Plus it works on all major operating systems:
Mac, PC, Linux... And it is 100% free.
- GIMP - this graphics powerhouse is like a modified Photoshop that's free and
works on most computers: GIMP
for UNIX (including Linux), GIMP
for Windows & GIMP for MacOSX.
- OpenOffice - Need to use word, power point, excel or other Microsoft
Office documents? If you want to do that with out paying tribute to the
"empire" of Microsoft, download Open Office (once again--free for Mac 10.3+,
XP and all major OS's). The large download does require high-speed internet,
though. http://download.openoffice.org/index.html
- Keyworx
- This program is the "mother load" of online interactivity and live media
performances. Only for the Mac OS, Keyworx lets you connect online and have
complex multi-media events or simple collaboration live using these powerful
features: video streaming, instant messaging/SMS, illustration (wacom tablets),
audio & midi based music or percussion, text display (aka Power Point type
stuff), virtual reality (QTVR) and much more. It works with both high-speed
and slow internet. Incredibly, it is also free and only requires you to
apply as a "tester" of the program. http://www.keyworx.org/cgi-bin/ftptohtml/keystroke_download.cgi
- iTunes
- This is the coolest and easiest way to do MP3, AAC or normal CDs on your
computer, office network or on burned MP3 cds. iTunes was named the best
program of 2003 for the PC. It is free for Mac OS X and Windows XP. (OK...
this has little to do with missions or the web. But it's fun.)
- iPass - This is the best way to connect to the net while traveling in 150+ countries.
There are no monthly fees. Just pay the time you use. It works for Mac &
PC.
- Adium
& Trillian
- What's faster than email? Instant messaging. Annoyed or confused by needing
three programs to chat with everyone? These two will let you IM people on
all the major IM networks (AOL, MSN, IRC, Yahoo, Jabber, etc...). However,
keep up to date on the new releases (the programs notify you). Or else,
they can get buggy. P.S. -- also free. Adium is for Mac; Trillian for PC.
- Firefox
(by Mozilla.org) - a free fast web browser with tabbed browsing for Mac,
PC, Linux... It's one of the best programs for surfing the web and testing
websites.
- Graphic
Converter - This is the Swiss army knife of graphics programs. It'll
convert one graphic or a thousand of them. And it can compress them to be
ready to upload to your site. It's $35 US for the rest of us and $30 US
for the europeans. (!?!) Only for Mac OS X.
- Quicktime
Pro - for $30 US you can convert most video files, audio files and
graphics (for web and many other purposes). For Mac and PC.
- Palm
Desktop - a free planner / calendar / to do list program for Mac
and PC. Of course it is used for synchronizing with Palm PDAs too. A better
option for Macs is iCal--also free.
- Address
Magic - And one for the "Classic" crowd... Want to move to a new
email program like Gmail or Yahoo!
Mail with your old Compuserve email address book? Try Address Magic
for PC. Also, try the other programs at the link below to get your email
folders and other stuff from Compuserve. Compuserve
FAQ
Have another program or site worthy of digital
mission interest? email: 
Internet Mission
Imagine--you could become a cyber-filmmaker, a digital author or an online artist. You can reach people across the planet—sans plane ticket. With the Internet, it is possible for one person to deliver almost any media to the eyes and ears of the world. It's not as hard as it appears. The cost is even relatively small.
OK--you can’t be Bill Gates in half an hour. But with some tinkering on your computer and instruction, you can pull off a decent home page much better than Doodie.com (an entire site dedicated to defecating online cartoons).
The major difference in web media is its accessibility to the common person. The average TV station requires a production crew, producers, directors, reporters, meteorologists, a sales department, management, engineers, etc. A motion picture takes hundreds of workers. Even broadcast radio takes a production crew, management and sales representatives. The average web site only requires one well-trained web designer and a computer.
Sure, it can take much more than that, especially for the big sites. However, consider Monika Keapproth, a student and author from Wisconsin. With no formal training, she created her own site: http://monikak.homestead.com—impressive for a bit of surfing and learning online. She commented, "I think it was pretty easy. Web sites are great relievers of boredom and an easy way to find out information.”
Monika designed her site to share her writing, photos and news with friends and family. She even went on to make sites for several friends. Monika's not the only one. Everyone from scientists to school-kids are doing e-books (downloadable literature), blogs (web logs--like online diaries or news pages), home pages, message boards, chat rooms, instant messages and other online writing.
So writing and photography are not a problem for the web--no surprise. But, beyond normal web content (HTML) there are streaming media technologies like QuickTime, Real Media, MPEG (Shoutcast), Flash and Windows Media. They deliver music, speech, video and animations throughout the Net. These smart new technologies "stream" content on and off the user's computer without requiring full downloads. With Internet connections accelerating, the Net is becoming the ultimate cable-TV experience.
It is beginning already with streaming and peer-to-peer (P2P) programs like Kazaa, Gnutella and others. These P2P programs allow people to share compressed music, software, TV programs and movies. Although P2P is largely used for pirating, it could be used instead for distributing your video, music and other digital information online. It's like having a free radio or TV broadcast tower.
Film critic, Roger Ebert, stated in Yahoo Internet Life magazine that, "Hollywood and the Internet are on a collision course. The Internet will survive, and so will those in Hollywood who understand it." The technology is already here. According to this premier Hollywood figure, it's only a matter of time before it goes mainstream.
Music is already pumping online. Rolling Stone magazine reported that back in 2002 "burnable" CDs began outselling official releases from labels. Major artists like Eminem have been forced to rush their CD releases to get them out before the MP3 audio files are downloaded from the Net and burned to these homemade CDs. Now with iTunes.com and its imitators, the digital music revolution is complete.
Soon the words we read, the music we hear and the images we see will all be delivered online. So, why not construct your site or broadcast online? Why leave the Net to digital pirates and spam mongers? It is a new frontier that isn't owned by corporate executives. Connect online with a global audience. Share with them your chapters. Show them your masterpiece. Sing to them your melody. Illumine cyberspace with a message from your heart.
© Radiate Media Design
All Rights Reserved. Contact: info "at" Radiate.us
Website 101
Step 1: Choose your weapon. There are a variety of programs and learning tools available for HTML editing (HTML is the coding of a web page). As a beginner, your first pick should be a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML editor. Dreamweaver (macromedia.com) and GoLive (adobe.com) are the luxury class. They come with luxury price tags as well, though. Other options range in price, power and ease of use. There are many shareware (cheap or optional donations) and freeware programs for Macs and PCs. You can find these at Tucows.com or other software download sites. With these you can “drag and drop” graphics, links, tables, text and other web content and see the results as you go. Other options include handy new "content management systems" that let you create a web page right in your web browser by cutting, pasting and uploading graphics from your computer. Blogger.com is one of the easiest, as is WordPress.org. For a full explanation of HTML and other web “how to’s” go to: www.davesite.com/webstation/html. Or, you could also see: YwamWoodcrest.com/webclass for further information.
Step 2: Get graphical. Almost any graphics program that creates “.JPG” or “.GIF” files will work in a pinch. In general, the JPG format is for photos or complex graphics. The GIF format is usually for buttons or graphics with solid colors. The high roller programs in this category are PhotoShop (adobe.com) and Fireworks (macromedia.com). Photoshop Elements is a solid and less expensive alternative. Again, like the HTML editors, there are many cheap or free ones out there for downloading. Have fun and try emulating the design styles you see on professional sites.
Step 3: Upload. This gets trickier unless you’re using the simpler content management systems. Otherwise, you need to find a server--a computer with space for your website that "serves" your page to people on the internet. Pro ones are: Earthlink.net and Aplus.net. Free ones like angelfire.com and geocities.com are not recommended because they include obnoxious ads and pop-ups and make any site look like trash. Each of these sites that offer web space have “FTP” information—detailed instructions on how to upload your files to their servers. When your files are uploaded to the server, go online to your site and check it out. Test it in both Internet Explorer and Netscape/Mozilla browsers. It may not be pretty, but it’s a start.
With time, you can study and adapt to a professional level of web design. You could also just do it as a hobby that will span the globe. If you have a half-decent computer and a message, there is nothing to keep you from starting right now.
© Radiate Media Design
All rights reserved. For publication contact: info "at" radiate.us
A Digital Vision
The A.D.D. pace of change in the internet, digital film, audio, design and other technology is dizzying. The vision of this site is to provide links, tutorials and relevant tech news [dropping the geek jargon] to relieve confusion and enable you to have the strength of digital communication in your life's mission.
All original articles here are released in a limited copyright with no reprinting/reposting rights allowed without permission (just ask). Thanks for reading and welcome to the digital mission!
-Jeff
