Other Software for Web Design

While none of this software is essential for a web page designer, it can be quite useful in your day to day work.

Adobe Acrobat

Being able to create PDF documents is often important when working on web sites.  Many documents on web sites are now distributed in the PDF format. 

Files created in PDF format allow you to view the document in its original format without having the program that created it.

At some time or another, a client will ask you to convert a document they provide you with into PDF format. If you can afford it, Adobe Acrobat is certainly the best program to use, however there are many other less expensive programs that can be used to create PDF documents. Also, more and more programs are coming with the built-in ability to create PDF documents. For example, the new version of Microsoft Office, Office 2007, will have the ability to directly create PDF files. If you own a Mac running OS X, you’re lucky, since the creation of PDF is built into the operating system (when you go to print a document, PDF creation is one of the options in the print dialog box). Additionally, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign and GoLive can all directly creae PDF files.

Microsoft Powerpoint

Many times a client has sent me content for their website in Microsoft Powerpoint format. They use Powerpoint as a page design program, and it allows them to illustrate how they would like the web page to look. They can include images, and even music and video. Having Powerpoint allows me to open and use the resources in these files.

If you're doing presentations for clients in order to snag a job, Powerpoint can also be quite useful.

Corel Painter

Painter is a painting and illustration program that has some rather unique tools. It is the closest you can get on a computer to actually painting with a real brush. If you want to get a unique look for some of your web graphics, take a look at this program

Page Layout Software

This software is usually used to create designs used for print - however, you may find them very useful in your day to day work as a web designer. Many times a client will give you content for their website created in one of these progarams (especially Microsoft Word). Other times, a client will give you a copy of a brochure created in of these programs, and ask you to translate that into a compatible design for their website.

On the other hand, there have been many occassions where, after desigining a web site for a client, they've asked me to create printed material based on the graphic elements of the web site.

So, for several clients, I've created brochures, business cards, stationary, product packaging, CD cases, etc. I've done this using Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator.

Here are some excellent representative examples of page layout software. The two most widely used by professional designers are QuarkXPress and InDesign.

3D Software

If you need 3D graphics or animation, this software is indispensible. You'll rarely if ever be required to use this software, but I've used it, on occassion, to create unique and stunning results for clients. However, the software is very complex and takes a lot of time to master (I have never come close to mastering this software).

Optical Character Recognition

I always ask my clients to provide me with the copy for their website in digital format. However, sometimes this is not always possible. So sometimes I need a way to convert printed copy into digital form. Decent OCR software can save you a lot of time here. Microsoft Word comes with an OCR feature. Dedicated OCR software, like the class leading OmniPage, will give you better control and more accurate results.

Note: I receive some compensation if you purchase some of the products mentioned on this page.