Since my original reason for building this site (before tech rights issues took it over!) was to practice and improve my Web developing skills, I intentionally took a minimalist approach when selecting software tools to build it. I particularly concentrated on shareware, since I've always been a fan of the genre, and it always seems to spawn the most innovative software. You'll note this also often has a side benefit of being the cheapest way out as well!

The following are software packages I have used to build this site, and include links to the respective publishers' Web sites, in case you want to check them out yourselves! I'm posting these credits here partly to give credit where credit is due, but also to make others, who may be interested in learning Web development on the cheap, aware of these excellent, inexpensive tools.

DreamWeaver MX	I used the freeware version 1.2 of HomeSite as my primary HTML code editor for many years. But when I needed to develop a feature-rich Web site for my Senior Project, I moved over to Macromedia DreamWeaver MX 2004. This package has its roots in HomeSite, so it has that program's clean interface and color-coded tags. It also allows you to switch from code view to a "Design View" that displays a very close approximation of what the page will look like in the browser! You can even edit text in that view! DreamWeaver has emerged as the most popular Web site development tools for those developing sites using open-source technologies like Apache Web server and the PHP programming language. And use by professionals is the best praise I know of for any tool! However: note that Dreamweaver's publisher Macromedia was recently bought out by Adobe. They claim they will be continuing to support and update Dreamweaver, but given their record of putting out large, impressive-yet-expensive applications, only time will tel whether Dreamweaver will remain a worthy tool.
Paint Shop Pro	This $99 graphics package is almost as good as the industry-standard Adobe Photoshop, but without the $600 price tag! Although you can find it on computer store shelves these days, it started out as shareware! If you can only afford one graphics package, this is the one to buy! It manipulates virtually every graphics file type out there, includes a program for creating and editing animated graphics files, and even directly imports Photoshop PSD files! Note, however, that since Corel bought out JASC, they have been repositioning Paint Shop as a high-end photo editing solution, so I don't know how long the Web-friendly resources will remain.
GIF Construction Set	This is an inexpensive shareware program, and the best little GIF tool on the market! There are better animators out there (and more expensive ones too!), but this one will get you in and out faster! It's particularly adept at color pallette reduction, and for turning transparency and interleaving on. Every GIF on this site has been through this tool!
Map This!	A nice, simple, freeware graphical-interface tool for turning GIF files into image maps. Unless you want to create complex map shapes (why?!), this will be all the tool you ever need to create image maps.
SetWebColor	A simple freeware tool I wrote for computing color hex numbers. Unlike other "color pickers" out there this one has the capability to copy the hex code for the selected color into the clipboard, so you can simply paste it into your code.
HTML Reference Library 4.0	An excellent freeware HTML 4.0 command reference library. Unfortunately, this sooftware-based reference is no longer available. However, numerous replacements have sprung up on the Web. My favorite right now is the Web Design Group’s HTML 4 Reference
CSE HTML Validator Lite	This sweet little freeware program checks your HTML code to make sure it's written to spec. Now that the new XHTML standard requires end tags that used to be optional (</P>, </LI>, etc.), adding them back in has become every HTML author's favorite pastime (not!). This tool will check to make sure you didn't miss one (or any other syntax rule for that matter)!
PC Magazine's Faves2Go	A nice freeware tool for converting Internet Explorer Favorites to an HTML list!
WinZip	This shareware program is the "Cadillac" of file compression utilities! All the Zip files on my site were built with it! If you're not using WinZip to manipulate compressed files, you're working way too hard! But remember: WinZip is Shareware, so if you like it, buy it!

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Listed below are the primary on-line news sources I visit regularly, listed
in alphabetical order. Most of the news links I post point to one of these sites.

Alternet
Bill of Rights Defense Committee
BizReport
Business 2.0
BYTE.com
C|Net News
Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT)
Center for Public Integrity
Computerworld
DemocracyNow! Network
ECT News Network
Infoworld Gripeline (formerly Ed Foster's Gripelog before his death. R.I.P Ed!)
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
eWeek.com
ExtremeTech.com
Future of Music Coalition
The Huffington Post
Home Recording Rights Coalition
InformationWeek
InfoWorld
LewRockwell.com
Mike's List
MIT Technology Review
The Nation
Network World
New Scientist
NewsFactor Network
PC Magazine
PC World
People For The American Way
The Register
SiliconValley.com
Space.com
TomDispatch.com
TomPaine.com
Truthdig.com
The Washington Post
Wi-Fi Planet
Windows Secrets (which now includes The Langa List)
Wired News
ZDNet News