[ Tools ]

You may have noticed that my website looks like a quaint relic from the mid-1990s. That's because it is!

My site focuses on content. I'm not a graphic artist. It's all I can do to keep the information updated. I have no time to worry about whether the colors and graphics are in fashion. Nevertheless, you may be interested in the hardware, software, and books that were most useful in building this site. Links will lead you to the vendors and publishers.

Computers: Various Windows PCs and Macintoshes. The original site was created with a custom-built Intel Pentium 200MHz system running Windows 95, and an Apple Macintosh Performa 636CD with a Motorola 68LC040 66MHz processor running Mac OS 7.6.1 and Mac OS 8. It's proof that you don't need the latest whiz-bang computer to build a website. Especially if it's an ugly website.

BareBones Software's TextWrangler freeware text editor for Macintosh. Info: www.barebones.com

Helios Software's TextPad shareware text editor for Windows. Info: www.textpad.com

Adobe PageMill 2.0 HTML editor, Macintosh version. Not a current product. Much better web-design programs are available today, but I still write my HTML manually with a text editor.

Symantec/WebGain Visual Cafe Java development tool, Windows version. Not a current product. Lately I've been using Borland's JBuilder, Personal Edition (www.codegear.com/Default.aspx?tabid=143). For simple Java applets, I just type my code into a text editor and compile it with javac.exe, Sun's free command-line Java compiler. (See link to JDK, below.)

Metrowerks CodeWarrior Java development tool, Macintosh version. Not a current product. CodeWarrior is still available for Windows and Linux. Info: www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/homepage.jsp?nodeId=012726

Sun's Java Development Kit, Macintosh and Windows versions. Info: java.sun.com

Netscape Navigator web browser, Macintosh and Windows versions. Not a current product. These days I use Mozilla's SeaMonkey and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Info: www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey

Adobe Photoshop image editor, Windows and Macintosh versions. Info: www.adobe.com

Apple ClarisWorks 3.0/4.0 integrated software package, Macintosh and Windows versions. Not a current product. Now I use Microsoft Office.

Hooked on Java by Arthur Van Hoff, Sami Shaio, & Orca Starbuck (Addison-Wesley, 1996, out of print).

The Java Tutorial by Mary Campione & Kathy Walrath (Addison-Wesley, 1996, out of print).

Talk Java to Me by Harry McIntosh (Waite Group Press, 1996, out of print). What a great little reference book. Too bad it wasn't updated for later versions of Java.

Java Programming Explorer by Neil Bartlett, Alex Leslie, & Steve Simkin (Coriolis Group Books, 1996, out of print). This was my first Java book.

Web Publisher's Construction Kit by David Fox & Troy Downing (Waite Group Press, 1996, out of print).

HTML Web Magic by Ardith Ibanez & Natalie Zee (Hayden Books, 1997, out of print).

JavaScript Primer Plus by Gabriel Torok, Jeffrey Payne, and Matt Weisfeld (Waite Group, 1996, out of print).

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