Further reading
If you've looked around the Onlineability site then you'll hopefully have got a feel for our writing and design ethos, and some of the things we think work particularly well in the online medium.
These links are an opportunity to explore some of those issues further. We'd like to know what you think of them, or if there are any other sites you think we'd enjoy. So if you have something to say then drop us a line.
Writing well
- The Plain English Campaign
- What we can all aspire to: http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/
- Collins Language site
- Check your spelling and more: http://www.collinslanguage.com/
- BBC News Magazine: Are you going forward? Then stop now
- A humorous look at common jargon words to avoid: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7453584.stm
- UrbanDictionary.com
- Edited by users: decipher the latest slang expressions: http://www.urbandictionary.com
Promoting your site
- Feedburner.com: Feeds 101
- Understand how feeds and syndication work: http://www.feedburner.com
Web standards and CSS
- How stuff works: CSS
- An easy(ish)-to-follow video: http://videos.howstuffworks.com/
- CSS Zen Garden
- Demonstrating CSS design principles, beautifully: http://www.csszengarden.com
- Stylegala.com
- Web design and standards: http://stylegala.com
- CSSBeauty.com
- A database of well-designed CSS sites: http://www.cssbeauty.com
- A List Apart
- Web content, web standards, best practice: http://www.alistapart.com
- The Web Standards Project
- Simple, affordable access to web technologies for all: http://www.webstandards.org/
- World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
- Leading the web to its full potential: http://www.w3.org/
Software for download
- Mozilla.com
- Download free, effective web software: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/
- Google Documents
- Collaborate online and discuss your work with other Google users: http://docs.google.com
- Open Office
- Can't or won't use MS Office? Try this: http://www.openoffice.org/index.html
- Scribd.com
- Publish yourself and share your documents online for free: http://www.scribd.com
- Wordpress
- Host your own blog or website with Wordpress: http://www.wordpress.org
- Using themes with Wordpress
- Some advice on getting the look you want: http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Themes
- Open Source Initiative
- Education and advocacy on the benefits of open source: http://www.opensource.org/
For creative people
- Creative Commons
- Safely share and distribute your creative work: http://creativecommons.org/
- Open Rights Group
- Fighting for the UK's digital civil rights: http://www.openrightsgroup.org/
- UK photographers' rights
- Increasingly under threat, check your rights here: http://www.sirimo.co.uk/ukpr.php
- Page Four creative writing software
- Designed specifically for writers - trial version available free: http://www.softwareforwriting.com/pagefour.html
- National Novel Writing Month
- Force out your masterwork in one frantic, fun-filled month: http://www.nanowrimo.org