Create buttons for your website in no time. CoolText is a web service that allows you to easily create buttons with dfferent effects.

First off, you need to type the text you want the button to have, then you can choose the font (almost 40 different categories) and the color for the text and background of the button. After that you can choose the shape (rounded, rectangle, ellipse, circle), the effect (flat, 3D, bordered, glass, gel) and the shadow (drop, glow or mirror).

When you hit Render Button, you will be given the possibility to download the button, email the button and get the HTML code (if you choose this last option, the image is probably hosted by them, although I’m not really sure as I didn’t sign up for an account). The whole process will take you less than 5 minutes.

If you would like to have a logo for your website like the one above, you can learn how to create it yourself using the Gimp (free open source alternative to Photoshop). The tutorial is located at Gimp Tutorials.net and describes every step of the process with images and a very easy to understand language. Hope you can learn something!

If you are using Blogger and want to give your blog a new style, then you should definately check the websites I have listed below. These websites are dedicated to collect Blogger Templates and have categorized the templates by colors, themes, 1,2 & 3 columns, complexity, etc.

Blogger Template Collections

• BTemplates.com
• Blogger Templates (blogspot)
• FreeBloggerTemplates (blogspot)
• Blogspot Templates
• Free Blogger Templates

Having a contact form on your website allows your visitors to get in touch with you in a simple and professional way. A contact form lets your visitors send you messages from your website, instead of making them go to their email client. It also helps you prevent spam because you don’t need to give your email in text format.

For a non-techie, setting up a contact form by themselves can be a little difficult. The good thing, is that there are many web services that provide embedable contact forms so that you don’t have to deal with the hassle of setting them up and making sure that they work properly.

Email Me Form is a free embedable contact form service that you can customize in a variety of ways. You can add up to ten different email addresses to receive messages and an address to receive messages the service deems as spam. If you have a thank you page, Email Me Form will take your visitors there after they hit the send button. The text and background colors can be changed for the message and the catpcha image verification. You can even download the script to host it in your own server.

Below you can see an example:

Your Name
Your Email Address
Subject
Message

CSS allows you modify the presentation and design of your website. Leaving HTML exclusively for structure purposes. With CSS, you will be able to create a consistent look for all the pages of your website from one locations.

I decided to post some of the best resources I’ve used to learn CSS. If you are interested in HTML go to our HTML Learning Resources page.

CSS Tutorial Websites

• Your HTML Source CSS Tutorial - This website has a step by step CSS tutorial. It has categories for all CSS elements like: links, text, layout, background, and spacing to name a few.
• HTML Dog - CSS tutorials with examples for beginners, intermediate and advance.

CSS Forums and Help Groups

• Digital Point Forums CSS Section - This is one of the most popular forums for webmasters. There’s always a lot of traffic in the CSS section, so you are likely to receive answers to your questions.
• SitePoint - Design Section - You can go there when you need help with your designs.

CSS Video Tutorials

• CSS Video Tutorial - This is video I already posted in my HTML Learning Resources post. It is a very complete tutorial to learn the basics.
• CSS Layout Modification Overview - Overview of how CSS rules change the presentation of a webpage as well as some recommendations to design.

I recommend you to visit websites like CSS Zen Garden, and CSS Beauty to check the demo designs available to really understand the power of CSS.

Learning HTML is very easy and it only takes practice. You just have to make sure that you find a good tutorial website that comes with examples for every step in the process and some forums or help groups to ask questions for specific issues you may come across.

I would like to share with you some of the best websites that I used to learn HTML.

HTML Dedicated Websites

These websites are step by step guides with examples that you can try for yourself:

• HTMLSource: HTML Tutorials - This is my favorite, because I learned HTML with it. This website has HTML and CSS tutorials, as well as a basic reference to Javascript. You will not learn bad coding habits with this website.
• HTML Dog - HTML and CSS tutorials. References, articles and highlighted examples.
• W3Schools - This is one of the largest web tutorial websites. On every step, you can test your code using W3Schools web HTML editor and see changes on the fly.

HTML Forums & Help Groups

Tutorials and videos are of little help when you are having issues with your own code, you need someone with more experience than you to help you:

• HTML Forums - This forum is not exclusively about HTML, there are more categories related to web development, but it is a great place to find help on specific issues you may come across.
• alt.html - Usenet HTML group. There’s always people in there, you just need to be very clear when trying to explain your problem.
• HTML Yahoo! Group - Founded in 1998, this group has more than 2400 users that are willing to help.

HTML Video Tutorials

Videos are a great way to learn, specially when you have not had any previous contact with HTML:

• HTML Video Tutorial - This is a complete 39 minute HTML tutorial that teaches you the basics of HTML and CSS and how to create a basic HTML and CSS layout.

There are also books you can use to learn, but I really cannot give you advise because I’ve never used a HTML book. For me tutorial websites, forums and videos have been enough to learn.

As CSS now is an important part of HTML, you might consider our CSS Learning Resources.

Joomla is a popular open source Content Management System like Drupal and WordPress. With Joomla you can create personal blogs, community portals, web magazines, corporate and e-commerce websites. The vast amount of extensions available allow you to enhance the basic functions that come by default with Joomla.

Some things you can do with extensions are:

• Backup Automatically your entire website
• Manage your affiliate programs and advertising accounts
• Establish communication with your visitors through contact forms, chats, mailing lists, newsletter and more
• Create image slideshows, embed videos and podcasts

Below is a video tutorial on how to install Joomla. Check it out:

Knowing how many visitors you get, how they come to your website, what countries are they from and how many pages they visit, among other things, can be useful for a number of reasons. Depending on the goal of your website, whether it is a personal or a commercial one, having information about your visitors can play a major role in the success of your website.

Google Analytics is a very good option to track up to 5,000,000 visitors for free or any amount of traffic if you are using Google Adwords. The vast amount of features and different types of reports give you accurate data about your visitors and the actions they take when they are on your website. You can use the information on your reports to identify aspects of your website that need improvement.

Check out this video demonstration of Google Analytics features:

Drupal is one of the most powerful and flexible open source Content Management Systems. It’s features and capabilities can well serve both small websites and large corporate and community websites, such as Sun Learning Exchange, Battlefield Heroes and Universal Music, to name a few.

Drupal can be used to create:

• Blogs or personal websites
• Communities
• Forums
• E-commerce websites
• Corporate Websites
• And more

Check out the Drupal overview video below by Drupal Dude: