There are many programs, both free and paid, that can aid you in your web development practices. Below are some of the most common text-based and WYSIWYG applications that will help you produce web page graphics, code, or animated materials. (Note: WYSIWIG stands for "What You See Is What You Get", in other words a visual tool with support for dragging and dropping, and drawing items directly in without writing code directly. What the program shows you as you develop it is what it should look like in most web browers, in contrast to text based editors where everything is written directly as markup code which is only displayed visually when loaded into a web browser.)

HTML, JavaScript, XML, etc.
  • Microsoft FrontPage - Microsoft's answer to WYSIWYG web development. FrontPage is a very popular application, in part thanks to its integration with Microsoft Office. The latest version can be found for $299 CAD, or you can order a free trial version here (shipping charges apply).
  • Macromedia Dreamwaver - Dreamweaver is another popular and extremely powerful web development tool, produced by Macromedia, the makers of the widely used Flash animation technology. The full version is $399 USD, however a free trial can be found here.
  • Microsoft Word - Although not as powerful or as customizable for web development purposes, if you own a copy of Microsoft Word, either packaged with Microsoft Works Suite or Microsoft Office, you will be able to save your work as a reasonably similarly formatted web page, simply by choosing "Web Page" under the "Save as type" option in the "Save As" dialog box. Note that many users are eligable for discounted copies of Microsoft Office if they already own a previous edition of Office or intend on using Office for academic purposes. Click here to obtain a trial version.
  • Corel WordPerfect office - similar to Microsoft Office, Corel WordPerfect Office allows you to produce documents and then save them as HTML files. Corel WordPerfect office is prices significantly lower than Microsoft Office, at $119 CAD for the Home version, primarily for the reason that due to Microsoft's dominance in the Office market, Corel's office solution is at a disadvantage. While they do claim support for Microsoft Office file formats, support is not perfect, meaning that some more complex documentions will not look quite the same if saved in Microsoft's Office formats. Try a trial version here.
  • OpenOffice - OpenOffice is a completely free Office suite developed by volunteers. It too can save documents as web pages, and has partial support for Microsoft Office document formats, similar to Corel WordPerfect office.
  • jEdit - A multi-platform text editor perfect for writing code in HTML, XML, CSS, PHP, etc. jEdit is a free, open source application.
  • EditPad - Another popular text editor. This program is faster than jEdit, but is only available for Windows. The full version is $39.95 USD however a free version with almost all the full versions features can be had here.
  • Notepad++ - Another popular tabbed text editor with syntax highlighting and numerous other features. This project is also open source and completely free, though you are encouraged to make a donation.
  • Crimson Editor - A very popular and powerful text editor, with many advanced features and an integrated browser. Also supports live editing through FTP, allowing you to edit files directly from our servers, without having to copy them to your computer to work on them.
Image Editing
  • Adobe Photoshop - Perhaps the most well known image editing software in existance, Adobe Photoshop is used primarily by professionals for high end image editing and creation. Photoshop can be had for $599 USD.
  • Macromedia Fireworks - Macromedia's vector and pixel-based image editing application, designed specifically for integration in web documents. Fireworks can be had for $399 USD.
  • Corel Paint Shop Pro - Paint Shop Pro is a very powerful image editing tool for consumers on a budget, priced at $119. You can also download a trial version here.
  • GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program is, like OpenOffice, completely free software produced by a team of volunteers. While it does lack some high end features found in programs like Adobe Photoshop, the GIMP is still an effective tool for the production and modification of graphics for both web and print use.