Vendor and Product Recommendations

The following services and tools are used by me on my personal websites. Some of these are affiliates where your use generates a commission. Some are listed "just because they are valuable tools that every webmaster should have".

BlueHost Hosting - Bluehost has one of the most generous combinations of storage and bandwidth, and allows hosting of an unlimited number of domains on one account. The cost is only $6.95 per month when you sign up for a 2 year commitment or $7.95 per month for one year. One important advantage to BlueHost is a control panel which features Fantastico which allows "one click" installation of WordPress and many other publishing tools and scripts.

 

 

1and1 Hosting - 1and1 is a lower cost alternative which allows the hosting of an unlimited number of domains on a lower priced plan. Plans begin at only $2.99 per month with only a 6 month commitment. The disadvantage is that all programs must be installed using FTP upload. There is no Fantastico "one click" installs. Probably best for the more advanced.    

 

 

 

 

 

Semiologic - I have been using the Semiologic theme designed by Denis de Bernardy for quite some time. I have just updated this website to version 4.2.9 and I am really impressed. Denis is a genius. His design combined with the widget plugin by Automattic, makes this theme the only one you need.

The theme has 18 different layouts to choose from, including one to four columns versions, in either narrow, wide or flexible formats and 12 different predesigned skins with the ability to further customize by choosing one of the nearly 30 included headers.  

All of this is free for download. Denis also makes available a pro package which adds the latest WordPress version, customized with the addition of a feature rich package of plugins and scripts to truely make the package a website in a box.

Denis' charge for all of this is only $295.00. You can review that package here, or download the free version. If you value your time, the time saved looking for plugins, testing and installation makes the Pro version well worth the investment

Free Web Tools

WordPress -WordPress is a state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. I use it on almost all of my websites because there are so many themes available, and it is easy to customize. To use the anti-spam feature, you must subscribe to a free website in order to get the required API key. You can sign up for that here.

Nvu HTML Editor - Nvu is a complete Web Authoring System for Linux desktop users as well as Microsoft Windows and Macintosh users which rivals programs like FrontPage and Dreamweaver. Nvu (which stands for "new view") makes managing a web site a snap. Now anyone can create web pages and manage a website with no technical expertise or knowledge of HTML.

ColorPic - ColorPic is a free tool to match colors on your screen. When you find a website you like, you can duplicate the colors without the time consuming process of trial and error. . Easily pick any color from the screen . Totally 100% Free! . No popup adverts or spyware, it really is free . Colors shown in hex and decimal . Adjust Hue, Saturation, Value, Red, Green and Blue values . Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black percentages shown . Easy to use with any other program

Lorem Ipsum - While developing a website, you sometimes want to see how it will look with some articles and posts in the template. The Lorem Ipsum Generator for randomized typographic filler text can be used for this fill material. An explanation of lorem Ipsum and another generator is available here.

 

Geeks.com - The favorite source for projectors and other video and audio equipment for presentations.  Also a great place to buy consumer products such a GPS units and home electronics.  Try them before you make a final purchase decision.