Free Website Software and Tools

For those who like to build their own - or just like to keep track of their site statistics a little more closely - or even learn a bit about websites and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) - here is a collection of recommended software and tools

Firefox

The Ultimate Browser - If you're still using sad old IE, you need to try this - it's faster, more secure, and more up to date with the latest browser specs - get more form the web, faster, safer and clearer...

Firefox Addons 

Once you have firefox installed there's all sorts of awesome addons you can use - both for coders and surfers alike!  Here's some we recommend...

Download Statusbar
View and manage downloads from a tidy statusbar - without the download window getting in the way of your web browsing.

Tab Mix Plus
Tab Mix Plus enhances Firefox's tab browsing capabilities. It includes such features as duplicating tabs, controlling tab focus, tab clicking options, undo closed tabs and windows, plus much more. It also includes a full-featured session manager.

English (Australian) Dictionary
Well its not a kiwi one but its closer than american ;)

FoxClocks
FoxClocks lets you keep an eye on the time around the world - or just your local time - by putting small clocks in your statusbar.

Web Developer
The Web Developer extension adds a menu and a toolbar with various web developer tools.

Html Validator
adds HTML validation inside Firefox and Mozilla. The number of errors of a HTML page is seen on the form of an icon in the status bar when browsing.

ColorZilla
Advanced Eyedropper, ColorPicker, Page Zoomer and other colourful goodies.

Google

Of course everyone wants to do well in the search results, and you don't have to pay Google to do it!  Google have some great free tools and advice to help you out.  They also have some pretty neat code generators and APIs that are worth a check if you're a developer....

Google 101  Site and search tips and information

Google Webmaster Tools Check out how google sees your site

Google Keyword Tools Get suggestions based on your site content and keyword stats

Google Maps APIs Customised maps

Google Chart API  Include graphs, charts and counters in your webpages

Google Code Playground  Lots more code tools

Also check our SEO Page for more search engine optimisation advice and links

HTMLKIT

HTML-Kit 292 is a highly customisable editor software that you can use to create, edit, preview, validate and publish web pages and other types of text files. The full original version is available for Windows 95 - Windows 7, free of charge. No nags, no ads, no catch.

Our favourite HTML editor - FREE! - and it even has a Plugin Generator 

FileZilla

Then once you've got your website code all ready - you can use the well known FileZilla FTP Program to safely send it to the server 

More Stuff

FreeMind - free mind mapping software