I often refer to W3C or the World Wide Web Consortium This is the non-profit-making body, founded by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, to agree on universal standards.

W3C remains true to the original vision behind the Web. The W3C website has an enormous collection of resources and reference material. Responsible authoritative and thorough - but not necessarily the starting-point for the beginner. For that, see "Tutorials".

Tutorials

If you use Microsoft Frontpage, you will be surprised at how simple it all is underneath (- and how complicated Microsoft can make it!)

• W3Schools Online Web Tutorials Straightforward, progressive tutorials from absolute beginnings to advanced topics. An excellent reference site too.
• Getting Started with HTML Dave Raggett's introduction to HTML.
• Learning CSS Copious list of resources with something for everyone.

Style, design, menus and lists

Cascading Style Sheets provide the web designer with the means to produce an attractive and well-designed site.

• CSS 1 W3C reference
  You'll need this once you start. Part of the W3C tutorials site.
• Listamatic (maxdesign)
  Deceptively simple tutorials for producing striking menus without any javascript.
• css Zen Garden The Beauty in CSS Design
  If you weren't convinced of the power of CSS, this is a must-see. Amazing!
• CSS Vault showcasing designs from professional graphic designers.
• A List Apart
  Various articles from a magazine on web design techniques.
• RichInStyle.com
  Again, various useful bits and pieces.
• BrainJar.com Experiments in Web Programming
  Somewhat weird graphic but worth a browse.

Colours and fonts

Some useful resources to check and compare colours and their codes - and some links related to fonts and their use.

• HTML Colors Explanation and chart from W3C.
• 216 color chart [html source] Same thing but the comments have more attitude.
• Non-Dithering Colors by Hue Visual chart on a single page.
• VisiBone Webmaster's Color Lab Excellent tool arranged as a colour wheel. Try it.
• So you want a basic color code - huh! I use this more now, having decided that most visual browsers support more than 256 colours.
• Code Style Font sampler Shows you the most common fonts available on users' computers.
• Web Monkey's Web Typography Tutorial Excellent introduction to the "design" end of font use.

Validation and Tools

Validate, improve and speed up your web pages.

• The W3C MarkUp Validation Service The official validator.
• Tools to Improve Your Web Site Very helpful collection.
• Xenu's Link Sleuth Checks all the links on your website. Small, fast, free, totally brilliant program.
• Opera browser Superior to Internet Explorer - and only a few Mb. Check that your webpages work properly and not just in MSIE.

Accessibility

See our Accessibility page for some useful links. These sites all deal very well with the technical issues involved.

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