ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 18, 1996 TAG: 9602160020
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-2 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Computers
SOURCE: DWIGHT SILVERMAN HOUSTON CHRONICLE
There are two ways to create a World Wide Web page on the Internet. Either pay someone big bucks to do it for you, or learn what it takes and do it yourself.
Learning Hypertext Markup Language, or HTML - the simple code used to build Web pages - is a snap. Manipulating the graphics to make a site pleasing to the eye can be daunting, but much can be accomplished by keeping things simple - and having good sources of clip art! Having the right tools can help, too. Here are several software products that can be used to make great-looking Web pages:
Photoshop - $695, Adobe
Photoshop is used by most graphic artists for the slick effects seen on the Web. It's incredibly powerful, enabling you to turn the most mundane photos and drawings into breath-taking images. But it's also expensive, and daunting to learn.
Photoshop lets you alter the texture or color of images; give them a three-dimensional look; mask out backgrounds; distort or enhance graphics; and much more. For example, with a few clicks of a mouse, you can make it appear that a picture is being sucked down a drain. Or, you can insert the photo of a person into a picture of a field of flowers.
However, be prepared for a steep learning curve. If you're a novice to working with graphics, consider buying the CD-ROM version, Photoshop Deluxe, which comes with an on-disk video tutorial. You'll also need a powerful computer with lots of free disk space and memory.
Photoshop is available for both Windows and Macintosh computers. A new upgrade - 3.0.5 - was recently released that makes Photoshop more compatible with Windows 95.
ABC Graphics Suite for Windows 95 - $395, Micrografx
While Photoshop is primarily for manipulating images, ABC Graphics Suite has software for doing almost anything with graphics, from drawing to creating three-dimensional objects. While its Picture Publisher software - one of Photoshop's top competitors - is not as powerful as Photoshop, it is easier to learn and use.
The ABC Graphics Suite is primarily designed for business graphics - creating images for reports, presentations and publications. But it's also a good all-in-one package for working with Web graphics. Besides Picture Publisher, it comes with ABC FlowCharter, for making organization and other flow charts; Micrografx Designer, a drawing package; ABC MediaManager, for organizing clip art; and Instant 3D, for creating three-dimensional objects.
The suite integrates well with the Windows 95 version of Microsoft Office. If you are using the Internet Assistant for Word to create your HTML documents, this is an excellent choice for making sure all components of your Web-design machine mesh.
Paint Shop Pro 3.0 - $69, JASC
Want great graphics without spending big bucks on software? Try Paint Shop Pro, which is available on the World Wide Web as shareware.
It's basically a Photoshop clone, though not quite as muscular and a little easier to use.
Paint Shop Pro, available at http://www.jasc.com/, comes in Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 versions. It's compatible with many of the add-on filters that work with Photoshop, which means that many of the same effects can be achieved. In fact, there's even a version available with Kai's Power Tools 2.0, a set of popular Photoshop filters.
It includes a complete set of drawing tools, making this a great choice for Windows users on a budget.
HotDog Professional - $79, Sausage Software
HotDog remains the best HTML editor around. The latest version, 2.097, is available as shareware at Sausage Software's Web site, http://www.sausage.com.au/
This new version comes with a built-in FTP program for automatically sending finished HTML documents - and any graphics files named in them - to the Web server of your choice. There's also a spellcheck, automated generation of background and font colors, and a ``what you see is what you get'' window for seeing how your HTML will look on a browser. Hot Dog Professional will even check your HTML for errors.
It's available for Windows machines, but Sausage Software is working on versions for Windows 95/NT and Macintosh. Mac users: When your version is ready, get it. It's a must-have! A slightly less powerful version, Hot Dog Standard, costs $39, and probably is all most novice Web designers will need.
CD-dumbskull
Timothy Rowe cradled the 3-inch-long skull of Thrinaxodon liorhinus, an extinct relative of modern mammals, in his palm.
``I don't feel comfortable handing it around to 300 freshmen,'' said Rowe, who said there are only about 20 of the 245million-year-old fossils in the world.
So Rowe, a professor of geology at the University of Texas in Austin who teaches vertebrate paleontology, and three colleagues in Austin and Los Angeles collaborated on the CD-ROM ``Thrinaxodon: Digital Atlas of the Skull.''
Originally published in 1993 by the University of Texas Press for the MS-DOS operating system, ``Thrinaxodon'' was republished late last year in a Windows version, cost $35.
Thrinaxodon liorhinus was a catlike creature, an apparent bridge between reptiles and mammals, whose fossil skulls have been found in South Africa, China and Antarctica. Paleontologists say studying the fossils provides insights into the evolutionary origin of mammals.
Although the skull CD doesn't have the audio found on many CD-ROMs, it's easy to use, Rowe said as he clicked his computer mouse through the CD-ROM's files and paused to point out a feature of the skull.
``There's the structure for the third eye, once common, which shows you how primitive Thrinaxodon is,'' he said. ``It gives us a good idea of how evolution has preceded. The opossum, for instance, is the stupidest animal alive, and its brain-case volume is 10 times larger than Thrinaxodon's.''
Cyber soul
NetNoir, the Afrocentric content production company that bills itself as ``The Soul of Cyberspace'' is knocking itself over with great Black History Month programming on its America Online area (KEYWORD: NETNOIR). The month will feature: heavyweight chat guests including Olympian Carl Lewis and music producer Quincy Jones; historical trivia; a section on the Harlem Renaissance; and special intergenerational projects with East Palo Alto's Plugged In program and SeniorNet. As if that were not enough for one month, NetNoir also launched its long-overdue Web site at http://www.netnoir.com
On the Web side, you'll find some of the same content as on the AOL side, plus an incomparable list of Afrocentric Web links.
Some information in the article was provided by The Associated Press and Knight-Ridder Newspapers.
You can contact The Roanoke Times business staff at rtimes1infi.net.
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