Resources Especially for Webmasters
Browse our collection of useful resources on the Net for Web site developers,
designers and page authors:
To add a resource to this directory, e-mail the URL to help@charityvillage.com.
Domain Name Searches and Registration
- Internet Network Information Center
(InterNIC)
- You can search domain names online to check whether your favorite is
still available, and then file for registration electronically via an interactive
form. Background information about this subject and instructions for completing
and filing the form are also available there. If the name is available (i.e.
no one beats you to the punchbowl), processing takes a few weeks. There
is a $50 annual fee, with the first two years payable up front.)
- Canadian
Internet Registration Authority
- For organizations wishing to register domain names with the ".ca" suffix
(e.g. charityvillage.ca), here's the place to start.
- Whois
- A simple interface for looking up domain name registrations and availability.
Web Site Development Resources
- Back-End.org
- Offers an easy way for people with limited HTML experience to manage the
content of their web sites through a Content Management System (CMS).
- Bookmarklets
- A great little set of tools that extend the surf and search capabilities
of Netscape and Explorer web browsers. Bookmarklets include tools for web
site developers such as colour converters, link counters, and word counters.
They also offer search features and tools to modify the way pages are displayed
for you when surfing.
- Cynthia Says
- The free service allows you to input a web address and have that page's contents analyzed for accessibility.
- Designing
more usable web sites
- A great resource of links to help you make your web site more accessible
to people with disabilities.
-
- Effective
Web Design Considerations for Older Adults
- A white paper from Microsoft that offers comments about how to make your
web site useful for older viewers. Covers a wide range of topics, including:
layout, style, color, contrast, fonts, general usability, accessibility,
educating the user, links and resources.
- HTML Code Tutorial
- A complete guide to creating web pages, with plenty of free tutorials
to help even the novice webmaster learn HTML.
-
- HTML Writer's Guild
- Helps members in developing and enhancing their HTML capabilities; helps
users of services determine what they should expect from HTML writers; contributes
to the development of the Web, its technical standards and guidelines. If
you are serious about Web publishing, join this online organization.
- Hypertext
Markup Language
- A review of the development of HTML, with links to specifications and
discussion documents.
- Icon Browser
- Hundreds of icons. There should be something here to use on your Web Pages.
- Imagemap Guide
and Tutorial Sites
- A directory of Web Sites dealing with authoring and serving of imagemaps
on Web Pages.
- IP Address Guide
- Free web-based IP address and domain name tools for Ping, Traceroute, NSLookup, CIDR, geolocation, and HTML Validator.
- Mambo
- Mambo is a free, full-featured content management system that can be used for everything from simple websites to complex corporate applications.
- Markup Validation Service
- A free resource that allows you to check the validity of your HTML code simply by entering your website URL. The tool provides detailed feedback on errors that you can use to correct your site's HTML code.
- MySLQ
- A popular open source database that offers a free alternative to higher-cost, more complex database technology. The site also includes many related IT resources.
- NetMechanic
- Use this excellent set of tools to check your web site for browser compatibility,
dead links, server reliability, spelling, and load time.
- Netscape
Table Sampler
- A set of examples, arranged as a tutorial.
- NGO-in-a-box
- Created by the Tactical Technology Collective, it offers a set of reviewed and selected free and open source software tailored to the needs of NGOs and provides them not only with software, but also with implementation scenarios and relevant materials to support this.
- Nonprofit
Webmaster
- This site is targeted specifically at the needs of webmasters for nonprofit
organizations, and includes a guide to redesigning your web site without
a budget.
- Pegasus Web Design Resources
- Provides free tutorials in web design, graphic design, and Adobe Photoshop,
as well as free website templates, articles, and discussion forums related
to these topics.
- PetitionOnline.com
- Provides free online hosting of public petitions for responsible public
advocacy.
- Photo.net
- Includes Philip Greenspun's tips for scanning photos and adding them to
Web Pages, and hand coloring of photographs with Adobe Photoshop.
- Privacy
Policy Generator
- A tool created by the Direct Marketing Association, which allows users
to complete a questionnaire and then create a privacy policy statement to
be posted on their own web site.
- Response-O-Matic
- Free form processor that allows you to add forms to your web site without
programming.
- SearchTools.com
- A free guide on how to choose, implement, and maintain your website's
search tools.
- UseIt.com
- A great collection of articles and insights by Jakob Nielsen about how
to make your web site more useable. Find out the top 10 mistakes of web
design and learn how to avoid them.
- Visible
Results
- A free fundraising database software package designed for direct mail,
telemarketing, event, and internet-based fundraising by individuals, nonprofit
organizations, foundations, and businesses.
- WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind)
- Offers all kinds of resources and free tutorials to help web designers make their sites more accessible to people with disabilities.
- Weblogs Compendium
- Offers all kinds of resources, tools, articles, definitions, and discussions
to help you understand the world of blogs or create your own.
- Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines
- Guidelines from the World Wide Web Consortium [W3C] on making your site
accessible to people with disabilities or those using non-traditional browsing
devices such as mobile phones, hand-held devices, or automobile-based PC's.
- WebDeveloper
- A site devoted to teaching you the ins and outs of HTML, java, and all
those other nifty little acronyms that make the web work. Published by the
folks who give you the print publication of the same name.
- Web Developer's
Journal
- Whether you are a beginner or an experienced web developer, this site
includes informative articles, free software downloads, tutorials, and discussion
groups for everyone.
- Web Diner!
- A growing compendium of links to resources for most aspects of website
development, book reviews, tips and answers to your most pressing geek questions.
- Web Publishing Resources
- Created by the University of Oregon, this site offers free online workshops
on web publishing and offers a host of other resources to assist even beginners
through the process.
- Web Wonk
- David Siegel's excellent resource for those who are concerned about
the visual impact and readability of their Web Pages.
- WEBMANAGER
- (a listserv for discussion of issues related to use of web sites for
fundraising, campaigning, publishing, public relations and other applications.)
To subscribe, send e-mail to webmanager-request@dsk.de,
with the subject "subscribe".
- WebReference.com
- One of the oldest Web development sites, WebReference.com is about the
Web and Webmastery, with information on everything from browsing to authoring,
HTML to advanced site design.
- WWW Fill-out
Forms
- A good resource on this subject for novice Web Page authors.
- World Wide Web Consortium
- An excellent resource for the Web Site developer.
Free Dial-up Internet Access
Can't afford the monthly fees to access the Internet? Aside from logging on at
your local library or community centre, there are now a few companies offering
free dial-up access to the Internet. Be aware that, while these services are
free, you may be required to use a browser that shows advertisements continuously
or volunteer to have your web use tracked. You may also have to pay long distance
charges if there isn't a local dial-up number.
Free Web-based E-mail Services
Tired of sharing one e-mail address with the rest of your office? Sign up for
your own private web-based e-mail account. You'll have to put up with advertising,
but they're all free.
Free Web Site Hosting
At last count, there were more than 400 providers of free web sites. Rather
than list them all here, we've linked to FreeWebspace.net,
a searchable guide to all of the free site providers that are out there today.
In almost all cases, the size of your free site is often restricted to 10MB
of space or less and you have to put up with advertising. However, most services
offer development tools to help get your site up and running quickly.
- Breast Cancer Action Nova Scotia
- Offers free web hosting accounts and services for Canadian breast cancer groups and organizations.
Free Groupware and Calendaring
- CommunityZero
- Offers free private and interactive tools for hosting group discussions,
calendaring and more.
- Excite Communities
- Includes threaded discussions, group scheduling, contact management, document
sharing, and chat rooms. Free and private.
- Mailman
- Mailman is free software for managing electronic mail discussion and e-newsletter lists. It is integrated with the web, making it easy for users to manage their accounts and for list owners to administer their lists. Mailman supports built-in archiving, automatic bounce processing, content filtering, digest delivery, spam filters, and more.
- Take it Offline
- A free instant personal discussion space that's a helpful way to continue
discussion among a small group.
- WebEx.com
- A free online meeting place where you can share ideas with colleagues
in a private setting.
- Yahoo! Clubs
- Offers chat, message boards, calendar, and more. You can create a listed
or and unlisted club, depending on the level of privacy you require.
Free Database Software/Tools
- Access Web
- A collection of hundreds of tips and useful pieces of information to help
programmers and database developers who work with the popular database program
Microsoft Access.
- eCriteria
- Without any database or programming experience, this free site allows
you to create and manage web forms and searchable databases.
- Organizer's Tool Crib
- An online tool created to help nonprofits figure out what is available in the form of online tools and resources that can help them in their work. The site allows users to rate the tools on the list so that the best tools rise to the top of the list.
- TechSoup Stock
- TechSoup Stock distributes donated and deeply discounted technology products to eligible nonprofits, charities, and public libraries across Canada, including brand-new software from Adobe, Intuit, Microsoft, Symantec, and more.
Free Survey Tools
- CoolSurveys
- Survey creation wizard automatically sets up your own survey question with answers - you just cut and paste the html code and place it in your web site.
- CreateSurvey
- An online tool to create surveys to question people.
- FreeSurveysOnline.com
- Allows you to create web based online surveys or questionnaires that can be displayed to your target audience.
- Insiteful Surveys
- Easily create Web site surveys, customer and employee satisfaction surveys, consumer surveys, market research surveys, email surveys, internet surveys, concept surveys, simple forms, and other surveys that you can customize exactly to your needs right from your Web browser.
- Opinion Power
- Makes it easy to collect the opinions of your friends, employees, or the whole world. All you need is a web browser and an email address.
- Survey Monkey
- Enables anyone to create professional online surveys quickly and easily without having to download special software.
- Zoomerang
- Zoomerang allows businesses and individuals to easily conduct professional-grade surveys and gather and analyze the critical feedback necessary to make important decisions.
Web Site Marketing Resources
- Advertising Media Internet Center
- A good source of information about advertising and the Internet.
- Computer-Mediated Marketing
Environments Home Page
- This excellent resource is brought to you by Donna Hoffman and
Tom Novak, two of the Internet's best-known and most highly respected
researchers. This is the place to check the latest thinking, research, and
marketing approaches related to the Net. Often has some good information
about Internet demographics, traffic measurement, etc.
- Copywriting 101
- A free online tutorial on copywriting for effective online marketing.
- Guerrilla Marketing Online
- Tactics, marketing success stories and much more.
- Search Engine
Watch
- News and information about search engines. Find tips on how best to conduct
searches and how to achieve the best search returns from your own web pages.
- Submit Express
- Free search engine optimization tools. Has a meta tag analyzer and generator, keyword suggestion tool, broken link check, and more.
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- Submit it!
- Submit your URL to the major search engines individually, or all at once.
- VALS Home Page
- Good information about the demographics of the Web audience from SRI International.
- Web Marketing Today
- A free, bi-weekly e-mail newsletter from Wilson Internet Services.
Often a source of good ideas about web site marketing and advertising.
- WebProEndeavors.com
- An Internet marketing resource guide featuring helpful links and information
for marketing a web site using free tools and services.
- Website Awards
Worksheet
- A huge list of links to web site awards. Bulk up your trophy case by hunting
down some of these prizes.
Legal and Security Issues
- The Copyright Website
- A good source for copyright information. If you have questions about using
digital, audio or visual materials, you'll find useful and clearly explained
information here.
- Copyright Clearance Center
- A good overview of this important subject. If you are confused about the
citing or use of material on other people's Web Sites, you'll find all of
the answers here.
Virus and Virus Hoax Resources
- Computer Virus Myths
- Frequently updated information about the latest hoaxes and viruses.
- Hoax Busters
- In addition to describing hoaxes and chain letters found on the Internet,
this site discusses how to recognize hoaxes, what to do about them, and
some of the history of hoaxes on the Internet.
- Symantec's Anti-Virus Resource
Centre
- An excellent starting place to search for viruses and virus hoaxes by
name. Updated regularly.
- Widespread Virus Myths
- Learn more about viruses from this site and how they can (and can't) destroy
information on your computer.
