Continued from Top 10 FREE Web Design Tools – Part 1
Every web designer has a ton of tools they use to build web sites. Some free, some not so free. This is my Top 10 list of the best FREE tools every web designer (and aspiring web designer) should have installed. This is part 2, the final 5.
Part 2:
6) OpenOffice.org®
Seriously good office program.
http://www.openoffice.org
No matter what industry your in, someone will always send you files in word or Excell or some other Microsoft program format. Nothing wrong with that, but why spend a lot of money on something when you can get the same thing for free. Open office does everything Microsoft Office does, and it is free. Not only that, but it works on MANY operating system. I use it on my PC and NeoOffice on my Mac.
7) Paint.net
Second best free graphics program.
http://www.getpaint.net
GIMP is the best free graphics program, but Paint.net is a very close second. AND it is much easier to use. A lot more user friendly.
- Tabs
- Layers
- Special Effects
- History
- Full set of tools
8) Stock.XCHNG
Not the wall street type of exchange.
http://www.sxc.hu
SXC is free if you are a member (free to sign up) and you can download as many photos as you need, PROVIDED you follow the usage restrictions. Give credit when requested, use only where allowed and how allowed. Sign up a s a member, search for the pic you want, and if logged in, just click download for the unmarked image.
I am always going here to find the right picture for the right site, or the right print job. They don;t have everything, but they sure do have enough to fit the bill.
9) Yahoo CSS Grid
Yahoo it’s a grid!
http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/grids/
If you build websites by hand coding them, you know it can take forever to get everything right. Positioning of elements in the right spot, 1 column, 2 columns, 3 columns oh my!
Used to be a chore, but no any more. thanks to Yahoo’s GUI Grid system. You choose the options for what you need, it writes the CSS for you. Build the entire skeleton framework for your entire site in the GUI and get a head start on getting your site live.
10) Aptana Studio
DreamWeaver for Free???
http://www.aptana.com/studio
Well, okay, not really DreamWeaver for free, but very close. Aptana Studio is a full featured web editor, very similar to DreamWeaver. Has all the same functionality. And it is FREE!
- Unprecedented ease-of-use for Ajax libraries, JavaScript, DOM and CSS
- Open source, including its PHP, Ruby On Rails, and Aptana Jaxer app engines
- Connect to and work with local and remote SQL databases
- Code assist, debugging, source control, FTP, Aptana Cloud and more!
That’s it. That is my list of the Top 10 FREE Web Design Tools. I use each of these tools on a regular basis and they are awesome.
If you have a great free tool, post it here and I will check it out.