Dear Dr. Website®: How do you make a button named "Top of page" take you to the top of the page?
Just click on it! Haw haw haw!
Seriously, though, at the top of the page, put an internal anchor, like this:
<BODY>
<a name="top"></a>
<h1>Here's the top heading</h1>
<P>
First paragraph of your content, etc.
</P>
Then for each of the "top" buttons, the code goes something like this:
<a href="#top"><IMG SRC="images/top.gif></a>
Dear Dr. Website®: When you use an HTML editor and free JavaScripts, is that good enough to call yourself a Web designer? In other words, do companies hire Web designers who don't write their own scripts and use HTML editors?
Well, it depends.
To me, a Web designer is someone with a certain amount of talent for good graphic design; someone who knows what a nice page looks like, how to balance colors and fonts, etc., as well as someone who can write HTML, JavaScript, Perl, or whatever. A Web developer might be someone who was more concerned with the programming end than the design end, though some firms use those titles more or less interchangeably.
I personally believe that those who can't even use an HTML editor shouldn't go running around calling themselves professional Web designers or developers, because eventually they'll have a professionally embarrassing experience that might cost their future reputation. On the other hand, knowing how to use a number of tools, as well as the advantages and shortcomings of each, is a definite plus.
For example, just today, I used three separate programs -- FrontPage 2000, Dreamweaver 2, and NoteTab (an ASCII text editor) -- on a particularly tricky page redesign, and never even touched HomeSite 4, which I normally use as my primary HTML editor. Why not? Because I knew that the others would be more useful for this particular project, based on small differences in the way they worked.
As far as JavaScript, it obviously depends on how much the clients expect. There are probably enough free programs at places like javascriptsource.com and scriptsearch.com to let you go on for years without writing a line of code, but it's not that hard to learn, either. Start at http://www.webdeveloper.com/javascript and http://wdvl.com/Authoring/JavaScript and you'll soon be amazing your friends and incrementing your income!
Always remember that there is a difference between stealing someone else's scripts and using a pre-made script (and giving the proper credits in a comment tag in the script). As long as you don't try to present someone else's JavaScript code as your own, you're still a professional.
If you're nervous, try working with a company located far from you on a project basis by e-mail, so they won't be looking over your shoulder. If you're good, nobody should really care what tools you use. The facts of the business are that developers need to finish a job in as little time as possible, and there's no sense reinventing the wheel. HTML editors and pre-made scripts make that task more simple, and nobody will hold it against you in most cases.
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