Program a Website: Necessary Software and Tools

Text editors and IDEs

To create a website you do not need more than a plain text editor . Web programming languages, such as HTML, CSS or JavaScript, are flat languages that do not have any type of interface or require interaction. Any editor will help us for this work. Of course, there are editors, or rather IDEs , with all kinds of functions designed to make web programming much easier and more comfortable.

Visual Studio Code

This is a totally free and open source text editor created by Microsoft. Although at first glance it may seem like a simple editor, in reality this is a very powerful IDE for all types of programming. We can adapt this program to the language that we are using through one of its many plugins, rapidly multiplying our productivity.

We can download Visual Studio Code software from here .

Atom

Similar to the previous one, Atom is an open source text editor developed by GitHub. This program is based on Electron, and although its main purpose is to help us create all kinds of cross-platform desktop applications using Chromium and Node.js, we can also use it to create our own web pages, since it is compatible with a large number of languages programming.

We can download the Atom text editor from this link .

Sublime Text

Sublime Text is a professional code editor widely used in Linux operating systems, although it also has its own version for Windows. This software can be downloaded for free, although it has some of its limited functions, forcing users to pay for the software license. This code editor is one of the few proprietary and paid applications that are widely used in Linux operating systems. It is compatible with a large number of programming languages, and by mastering its keyboard shortcuts and commands, we can save a lot of time on programming and debugging tasks.

We can download this program from its page .

memo pad

Why download and install additional software? Notepad is Microsoft’s text editor that comes standard on all Windows computers. This program does not have any of the features that the previous ones offer us (syntax color, auto-complete, debugging, etc.), but if we know HTML and CSS well, we can program perfectly in them without having to do anything else.

Web browser and extensions

Once the web is in shape, web browsers are one of the most useful tools for checking that everything is going well and debugging the code.

Firefox

Firefox has always been the developer’s browser. Mozilla’s browser had a large number of debugging tools for developers that allowed anyone to have full control over all the elements and all the variables of the webs. Unfortunately, these tools have been largely abandoned for a long time, but it is still an excellent browser for programming, especially if we use it together with some useful extensions.

HTML Validator

This extension allows us to add an HTML validator within Firefox itself. When we visit a website, it will show us an icon with all the HTML errors that have been detected, being able to solve them so that our page complies with a series of basic standards.

Web Developer Checklist

A most useful extension thanks to which we will be able to analyze any website to find out if it uses good programming practices or has serious bugs that should not be there. It helps us to debug and find serious bugs on the page before they can negatively influence your ranking.

Wappalyzer

Do you want a website to look like another that you have seen? Thanks to this extension you will be able to find out what technologies the web in question uses so that we can know what technologies we should implement.

Chrome

Google has been the company that has put the most interest in web standards. And, of course, your browser has set an example. In addition to a large number of extensions that we can find for it, Google Chrome offers users the most complete development console to analyze and debug, in real time, the operation of the web.

Development console

The Chrome development console, which we can launch by pressing the F12 key on the keyboard, is the most complete that we are going to find. In it we will be able to see the source code of any web page and modify it to our liking, seeing the changes reflected directly on the web. This console has all kinds of additional tools, such as a console on which to execute JavaScript code in real time or performance control systems, which will allow us to adjust the page to perfection.

Web Developer Checklist

This extension allows us to analyze any web page to see if it uses good programming practices or has serious bugs that should not be present. Very useful to discover problems that, in the long run, could be detrimental to SEO or the correct functioning of the page.

User-Agent Switcher

This extension will allow us to change the web engine to easily test how it loads and renders in other web browsers, such as Firefox, Internet Explorer and even web browsers. An essential extension thanks to which we can ensure that our website works without problems on all computers and devices.

CMS (in case of a dynamic web)

If we are going to create a static website, a simple editor will suffice. But if what we want is to create a dynamic web, then we will need a complete content manager , also known as CMS.

WordPress

WP is the most used content manager on the entire web. This CMS is completely free for all users and has an open source development, which allows each developer to adapt it according to their needs. It offers a large number of configuration options, and an infinity of accessories of all kinds to make our website unique.

Joomla

Another content manager, CMS, totally free and open source with which we will be able to shape our website. Among its main functions we can highlight the generation of well-formed HTML code, ease of managing all types of blogs, an integrated forum system, integrated searches and the possibility of translating it into several languages. It is a widely used CMS, in addition, when setting up online stores.

Edit images

A website without images says nothing. Therefore, if we really want to stand out from the rest, it is necessary to have a good editor that allows us to create our own photos, and the icons we want, for our page.

GIMP

If we are looking for a free image editor, we have found it. GIMP is an open source photo editor that will allow us to make all kinds of edits and modifications to create the perfect images for our website. An excellent alternative for all those users who do not want to spend money.

Photoshop

For those users who fall short of GIMP, they can give Photoshop a try. Adobe software will allow us to edit all kinds of images, and process them, very easily. A tool that, like the previous one, cannot be missing from our PC.

InkScape

If we want to go a step further, instead of adding the usual images to our website we can opt for vector graphics. These types of images are made up of mathematical formulas, which makes them take up much less space and, in addition, they can be resized without losing quality. A plus if we seek professionalism.

FTP or SSH for storage

Generally we will program and test the web on our own computer. But when we want to publish it, it will be necessary to upload it to a web server. And this is where the last step comes. Generally, web page hosts usually make use of the FTP protocol to allow us to upload the page and make it ready to start working over the Internet. In addition, these servers also usually have the SSH service enabled, thanks to which we will be able to connect to the server and control it.

FileZilla , for example, is one of the best FTP clients for Windows that we will find. This program will allow us to connect to the server, upload files, download files and even make “live” modifications. And to connect through SSH, for administrative purposes, then it is necessary to look for another program compatible with this protocol, as is the case with PuTTY .