ferrellweb

mr. ferrell's class web site!

There are two kinds of people, those who finish what they start and so on.

—Robert Byrne

How Do I Do It?

I don't pretend to be an expert in Web design, and I'm eternally indebted to posters on various forums and mailing lists who've helped me with problems and answered questions over the years. But on the off-chance that this might be helpful to someone, here's a list of things I use to create this site.

Quicksilver G4 A Macintosh

I've been pretty passionate about Macs ever since I got used to using one when I worked at a publishing house in Chattanooga. (A little SE-30, back in 1991, for those who must know.) They're not for everybody (gamers? right?), but for me, OS X is easy on the eyes, a pleasure to use, virus-free, and amazing for design and web development.

TextWrangler TextWrangler

I've taken to using nothing more than a text editor to write my Web pages, and BareBones Software's TextWrangler fits the bill. It does syntax highlighting, GREP find-and-replace, FTP connections, and more, and it is free. Wow. (If I'm stuck on Windows, TextPad does an excellent job.)

Hyperedit HyperEdit

As I've started writing more of my own PHP code to handle certain tasks ("[something] of the Day" boxes on the front page, online gradebook, etc.), I've come to rely on HyperEdit for PHP coding. Its live preview function is invaluable for helping me fumble my way through code.

Photoshop Photoshop

I suppose you saw this coming, but I can't do without it. It's a huge investment, but it stays open on my computer almost all the time. Sites like Acedemic Superstore can lessen the bite (a little), and for Web development, there's no real need to stay cutting-edge.

Pixadex Pixadex

This little gem from the folks at The Iconfactory (along with Panic) helps me sift through thousands of icons to find just the right ones to punctuate my posts with. It exports icons to different graphics formats, and even lets me process Windows icons.

WordPress WordPress

I use separate WordPress blogs for the main page and each class log to help me manage and update posts. It's easy to set up and modify, it's free, and there's lots of good support in the WordPress forums.

SMF Simple Machines Forum

The forum section of Ferrellweb is a heavily modified Simple Machines bulletin board. A relative newcomer to the bulletin board scene SMF is free, as well, and, without modifications, you can have one up and running in a matter of minutes. There are also other pre-made styles you can download and install, and a collection of mods that install easily with SMF's built-in package manager.

QuizShock QuizShock

This system handles the Flash quizzes and quiz management. It's not free, but has to be, by far, the best-looking, slickest quiz system out there. Unfortunately, it's not really supported anymore—it's become the red-headed step-child over at Pineapple Technologies. There are plenty of features that would make it awesome, but it works fine the way it is. (See Half Baked's Hot Potatoes for a free, more feature-filled, but far uglier online quiz creation system.)

Crossword Express Crossword Express

I use this program to create the crosswords in the puzzles section. I chose it because its Java applet for solving puzzles online was extra-cool. Making puzzles takes a little getting used to, but once you get going, it's very flexibile. It makes several other types of puzzles, and also has highly configurable printing features. It's not free, but well worth the cost.