Authoring software refers to software that enables the creation of hypertext documents and presentations giving the user a crisp and clear interface for much easier web building and editing. Such tools can be used by those that have no experience in computer languages as much of the basis of authoring software is on simple menu items that can be clicked and have the program insert the appropriate code.

One such example of a piece of authoring software is Macromedia Dreamweaver, which is considered the most advanced of all web page creation software available. Expensive as it may the newest version of Dreamweaver contains the ability of simple creation of all types of web pages from server-side scripting languages, such as PHP, to a basic HTML document. It's ease of use and very user friendly interface makes web building for amateurs simple and easy.

However, Dreamweaver is also a very handy tool for those already adept at web site creation as it uses an interface specific for coders and contains a drop down list of all the elements that can be used at certain times of web page creation. It also closes tags itself making things so much quicker. One other useful resource is the reference section which is basically a language dictionary listing all of the elements in many of the different programming languages. Each element contains a description of what the tag does, where to use (also giving an example), and the attributes that are associated with that specific tag.

Other web authoring software examples include Microsoft Frontpage, which usually comes free with certain Microsoft Windows systems. This has the same functionality as Dreamweaver, to an extent, but to a much lower standard. For the inexperienced web builder this program is more than capable of creating simple web pages that contain text and images, but when users become more experienced and want to create more professionally looking, and coded, sites the better option would be something as simple as Notepad, which gives no aid to the development process, but will not create code other than what the user has typed, whereas Frontpage will add what it believes should be there to make elements do as the user wants.

There are also advanced version of Notepad which make web page creation easier with certain tools, such as colour-coded text that highlights different aspects of a coded web page, including different colours for different languages and error checking the document as it is written.