5 Free Web Design Apps No Web Designer Should Do Without.
It seems as though everyone is buzzing with the concept of 'open source'
in the past few years, but few realize that the original open source platform has been with us for almost two decades now. HTML is the most widely spread and open software language on the planet, no website you see could exist without it, and it is absolutely, positively free and open. Of course not everyone wants to spend the time and effort to learn the intricacies of HTML. Fortunately developers have built an increasingly easy-to-use and constantly expanding library of softwares to handle most of the web design tasks for you. While these tools used to be expensive and not always reliable years of continuous development have brought both the complexity up and the price down. Down so low in fact that a number of eminently capable web design tools are available to anyone with an internet connection and at an astounding price, namely: free!The web design software below is all you need to get almost any website concept you can imagine off the drawing board and onto the web, and you won't have to invest a single penny to use them.
1. GIMP
Possibly the leader in the new era of open source software and definitely one of the finest examples of the possible excellence of free software, GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) has been consistently sited as a worthy replacement for expensive and processor intensive image manipulation programs such as Photoshop.
Every website needs stunning graphics to stand out, and having high quality graphics and photos is a must for any online business. Therefore some image manipulation software is a requirement for everyone. While Adobe has held a well-respected monopoly on this corner of the software market many critics have now sited GIMP as a worthy competitor. While GIMP may now have the vast array of features and plug-ins for which Photoshop is known it does do all the basic functions needed by most web developers and it does them much cheaper - free in fact.
2. Amaya Web Browser and WYSIWYG HTML Editor
When you want the best go to the source. The Amaya Web Browser and WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML editor is published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), who are the folks who set the standards for the web. In other words these are the folks who establish the standards by which all websites must comply (technically) and they have developed a web browser and WYSIWYG editor for you to use, for free. How could it get any better?
3. FileZilla Open Source FTP / SFTP Client
Once you've got your website all set to roll you still need to get it uploaded to your server, and since you haven't paid for anything yet, why should you start now? FileZilla lets you upload and download files, resume uploads or downloads and work with firewalls - all of the usual stuff. What sets FileZilla apart from other free FTP Clients is that it also supports SFTP (Secure FTP) and SSL secured connections.
4. Joomla Web Content Management System (WCMS)
Now for this entry, we'll have to take two steps back. If you are developing a big website with lots of frequent changes you might want to think about using a Web Content Management System, such as Joomla. What Joomla basically does is give you absolute control over your entire website through an online control panel. From your control panel you can update all pages, release a new one or even make site-wide changes with a click of a button. Web Designers favor WCMS sites as it is extremely easy to make stylistic changes that appear on every page with very little effort. While you might have to invest a little more time and effort to get yourself well-versed in the complexities of such a robust and powerful WCMS you won't have to invest any money, as the basic Joomla installation is free.
5. Firefox Web Developer Toolbar
Just because your website is up and running doesn't mean that your job is finished. In order to make sure every visitor to your site gets the experience you intend them to have you'll need to check each and every page for errors and functionality. This can be a time consuming and tedious task, but luckily for you the Firefox Web Developer Toolbar can help you every step of the way by giving you easy access to all the tools necessary to put your website through it's paces. Available as a free Firefox Web Browser Add-On, the Web Developer Toolbar will let you quickly and conveniently test the various aspects of your webpages by providing instant access to CSS editing, resolution variations, element outlines, form testing and cache disablement - just to name a few.
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