Helpful Program List

[sheanhoxie]

Ive written about this on my site but would like to get everyones opinion on some useful programs out there and a description of what they do.

Here is a list of programs I think would help almost any web designer/developer:

Notepad++ - Awesome opensource text editor with syntax highlighting and tabs

WinMerge - Opensource text file comparing. Save yourself hours by comparing files side by side. Open twto docs and then click search, it will highlight the differences between the two.

Filezilla - Opensource FTP program, everyone uses it, so should you. Very easy and logical layout with ability to store multiple sites and keep them in categories. Multiple uploads simultaneously and large uploads

Audacity - Opensource audio recording and editing. You will need to plugin with the MP3 dll to enable export of MP3 but once you do very easy to edit sounds and music

7zip - Opensource archive utility supports a bunch of archives like:
* Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
* Unpacking only: RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, MSI, WIM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS


Xenu Link Sleuth - Link checker. Simple and easy to check all your links across your site. Spiders your site and checks for errors

 

[wetgravy]

inkscape - great opensource vector program with one of the best trace programs i have EVER seen.

 

[sheanhoxie]

a.viary.com - I forgot to add this, its a free online paint program much like photoshop or GIMP. SICK! Looks like theyre gonna come out with a vector based editor as well. FREE

IcoFX - For Making icons, easy to use and FREE

 

[suz]

Thanks Shaun, I hope to make a post soon on my blog about free online tools and software that is useful for web design so if you have any more suggestions keep them coming.

 

[voodish]

PNG2ICO -
1. Use your usual graphics program to make your icon (16x16),
2. Save it as a PNG then use
3. PNG2ICO to convert to ICO and
4. Place it into your root folder; you may have to link to the ICO in the header of your webpage, depending on your server setup.

 

[suz]

Thanks, that's a good one too

 

[sheanhoxie]

Here are the extensions I use for Firefox that are also very helpful:

Firebug - Allows you to easily view the source of the website your viewing, make changes on the fly which makes checking your css a lot easier, allows you to edit the html on the page your viewing which also makes editing your html a lot easier, inspect the DOM and much more.

MeasureIt- Simply click on the icon and you have a handy measuring tool. This helps with adjusting widths, padding margins and more

PixelPerfect- Still in experimental stage but this has been helpful for me on more than a few occassions, you click on the icon located on the bottom of the browser, add an overlay image to the Layer Comps and then you can post a see through image on the site and move around at will. This is helpful for positioning an image or helping with deciding if you want to place an image in a certain place

YSlow - YSlow analyzes web pages and tells you why they're slow based on Yahoo's rules for high performance web sites.

There are a ton more that might be helpful to you as well, check them out on Mozillas Add-On page for web development

 

[fergster]

That winmerge app is awesome Been looking for something like that for a good while