Web Page Design Software - Overview

First - the categories of software a pro web page designer might use. Second - What I use.


What Software is Essential for a Serious Web Designer?

There are many types of software that are useful for a professional web designer. However, at the minimum, you'll need you'll need to learn two types of software - a graphic design program and a web page creation program. If you build sites requiring motion graphics, add web animation software to the list of essentials.

If you develop expertise in the software mentioned above, you can get most of your work done as a web designer. So don't be too scared when you look at the list of useful software below (with representative examples):

 

Graphic Design Software for Website Design

This software allows you to design site prototypes and graphic elements for websites. Learn more about this category...

Web Page Creation Software

This software allows you to create the actual HTML web pages that can be viewed in a web browser. Learn more about this category...

Animation Software

This software allows you to create animation in the very popular Flash format (it also allows you to work with video, and audio). Learn more about this category...

Video Editing and Compositing Software

If you need to create video for the web, you'll need some type of video editing software that can create output in web friendly formats. There are many programs available to accomplish this, but below are some representative examples. Learn more about this category...

Audio Creation and Editing Software

If you need to bring audio to your websites, you will find this software very useful. Acid and Garage Band allow you to actually create original, royalty free music for your site using "loops". Learn more about this category...

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. Learn more about this category...

3D Software

If you need 3D graphics or animation, this software is indispensible. You can get some unique and stunning results for your clients, but the software is very complex and takes a lot of time to master.

Other Software

Adobe Acrobat is quite useful for a web designer, since so much content prepared for the web is in PDF format. There are many other programs that allow you to create and manipulate files in the PDF format - this capability is built into the Mac OS X operating system, and will be available as an integral part of the next version of Microsoft Office.

Design Suites

Design suites are collections of several software programs sold as a bundle. They usually cost less packaged this way than if you bought each individual program separately.

 

What I Use

First of all, I do most of my work on a PC running Microsoft Windows XP Pro. I have a dual monitor setup that gives me a lot more screen real estate, which is most valuable because I usually have many programs running at the same time.

About a year and a half ago, I acquired a Mac Powerbook so I could test my websites on Mac web browsers. I must say the Mac is also a great platform.

Now, on to the software. The two programs I use constantly are Photoshop and Dreamweaver. Next in line are Fireworks and Illustrator. For animation I use Swish Max first, and then Flash when necessary. Clients regularly deliver content in Microsoft Word, Powerpoint and Publisher, so having these programs can be helpful (Word is pretty much a necessity).

PDF files are ubiquitous on websites, and I use Adobe Acrobat Professional to create PDF files. I can also output PDF files from Adobe InDesign.

Occassionally a client will provide a file that contains a copy of a brochure or flyer that they would like to use as the basis for their website. For this purpose, I have Adobe InDesign (which can also open older Quark files) and Microsoft Publisher. Other software that I'll use to open customer files is Corel Draw or Corel Wordperfect (both of these programs are excellent and capable, but I don't often use them to create content, since I'm more conversant in Adobe Illustrator and Microsoft Word).

Sometimes a client wants to put video on a site, so for editing and compositing I use Sony Vegas. Vegas can also double as a multitrack sound editor, and I also use a light version of Sound Forge for audio editing as well.

Very occassionally I'll dabble with 3D software to create an image that I require - for this I use Caligari Truespace or an old piece of software called Simply 3D which is relatively easy to use but is no longer sold.

 

Seem Overwhelming?

If the list of software that I use sounds overwhelming and expensive, there is one important thing to remember. I spend 90% of my time using just two program - a graphic design program like Photoshop or Fireworks and a web page design program like Dreamweaver or GoLive.

The other thing to keep in mind is that it took me many years to accumulate all the software listed above.

As a footnote - Many of the programs I use come bundled together as part of application suites* - Macromedia Studio (now owned by Adobe), and Adobe Creative Suite Professional. With these packages, you can do almost anything. Adobe, now that they've purchased Macromedia, has some new bundles that include almost everything from both packages, including Premiere video editing software and After Effects. These don't come cheaply but they are incredibly powerful.

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