What I Use for Direct Vein Access
This is an attempt to look into the workflow of how something is created at DVA, and contains many external links to other information and sites. Please try to read as many as you can and *Morpheus voice* "expand your mind". I am completely self-taught, so my path may not have followed the same one as yours.
To write the content for DVA, I have used literally hundreds of tools. Nowadays, I have narrowed it down to just a few.
To write HTML:
Emacs or vim and my hands. I do not use a foofy, GUI WYSIWYG program (think Dreamweaver, as no one but a master designer should be using this abomination) to write HTML for me, so my pages stay clean and fast and I don't get lazy.
Once in awhile, I will use specialized tools like Arachnophilia or Quanta to give me something I can't necessarily get with emacs and a ton of work.
I use the PHP programming language for many of the items that repeat (header and footer, "Page Last Updated" and navigation menus) and it saves me endless work by having the common elements in just 3 files. Sometimes I slice whole files up into large pieces and then just include them together to make a page again.
Often, I will just copy one file to a new name and start from there. It gives you a good base for consistency, and if they all include the same base files, they look the same anyway. A typical session lasts about an hour and will go something like this:
cp bmboston.htm bmnewpage.htm
emacs bmnewpage.htm
ncftpput http://www.endosquid.com bmnewpage
konqueror http://validator.w3.org
To test HTML:
Konqueror is my primary tool for viewing pages when I am editing/building them. It's clean, and well-integrated into the desktop I use, KDE, running on Linux. This means I do not use either Windows or Mac. I use something different.
Sometimes, to get an idea of how it will look on older or slower desktops, or to people with disabilities, or even just to use a different browser, I will try the pages with Mozilla, IE, Netscape, Opera and even text-only Links.
I run my own test machine, that just happens to be my desktop (see specs) as well. So is the power of Linux. Typically, I preview changes there before moving them to Endosquid and this has chopped out 99% of problems, since both my desktop and endosquid run Linux and Apache to serve pages. This is a powerful combination that most sites use.
(I know this is a tad exhaustive, but it's accurate)
To do a final check if a page will display properly (and to teach myself good habits), I run new pages through validators. These are pages out on the web that analyze your page and tell you if the HTML is valid. Typically, I use w3c HTML for HTML and w3c CSS for CSS (surprise). If they check out ok (sometimes an exhaustive process, especially when converting an older page to this century), then they get to wear the little dorky badge: 
and 
. None of them do yet, because I can't figure out a way to get them onto the page without messing up the design.
To get the files onto "The Web":
There are two programs that I use to ftp the files onto my Outward-looking public server, and it all comes down to my mood, and where I am. If I am at work, working on my test server at home, I come to rely on the text-based ncftp (you can just say 'put *.htm *.css *.php' and it will only upload the new, changed files) and sometimes, when I am home and nestled in my bed, I use kBear. kBear lets you look at files and is better for uploading only select files. Both of these are not your average Windows programs, so take care when downloading.
To write stories/poetry:
I use Openoffice.org exclusively, extensively and exhaustively. It's completely free, runs on Linux, Windows and Mac, has awesome editing features without the clutter of Microsoft Word, has an open file format (means that you never have to upgrade the program to read "newer" versions of documents), and produces files that are typically 1/6th the size of the same Microsoft Word files (as of Word 2002). I went from using 100 MB for my stories and poetry to just 18 MB.
Openoffice.org replaces not just Microsoft Word, but Excel, Powerpoint, Access and more. Did I mention that it's free? Office will cost you at least $399 for a legitimate, standalone copy, and it will be outdated as soon as you open the package. But don't worry, they'll let you pay $399 again in a year or two. I don't know about you, but I can think of a few other things I would rather do with $400 every two years.
For people not using Openoffice.org, it can save files in Microsoft Word format. Handy, to say the least.
To do photography:
I use a combination of a Canon Powershot A70 digital camera and a fully-manual Pentax K1000, from the late 1970's. The combination works well, but each has its own challenges.
With the Canon, every picture comes out ok, but not the best. They are "good enough", and I can fit 500 or more between the two 256 mb CompactFlash cards I own. This thing travels with me everywhere, and is light enough to do so. I carry a tiny compactflash card reader in my camera bag, so that I can view the pictures anywhere in the world on a computer with a lowly USB port. So, really, on any computer made within the last 6 years. This is an extremely versatile and deadly combination, because I can take literally thousands of pictures in a day.
The camera has shutter priority, so I can override the "Auto" or pre-set settings, but it's not as easy as it could be. For god's sake, I have to push a bunch of buttons to scroll through menus just to do any sort of manual adjustment. Give me a little wheel on the body anyday.
Using the Pentax is like going back to the days when men were men, and cameras were made of metal. This thing is like a brick, and I'm sure the 100 million they sold have contributed to the arm-strength of the 50 million students who used these. This is the camera I learned on, and this is the camera I sought to bring out of retirement for my stint as a photographer. I wouldn't have it any other way. Taking pictures with it is clean and crisp, and it really makes you think about your subject (of course, 5 bucks for 36 pictures has something to do with it too).
Because things rarely come together in one go, I try to keep clutter out of my organization, and my folders reflect this. I separate stories and poetry in different folders and there is one, unified "Unfinished" folder that I try to browse once a week to spot something that I can finish.
