SubscribeSome Open Source Programs for Web Design
For the last couple days I’ve been having discussions with various people about different open source programs that are available to use for web design. My feeling on open source programs is that some of them are really good, but there are other ones that the proprietary version of the program is so much better. But when you’re just bootstrapping your online business, investing $300 in a good photo editor may not be an option. In situations like this you may just have to go with an open source program.
For those of you that don’t know what open source is, it is basically where any programmer can have access to the program and as a community the program is developed and improved. These programs are also FREE which ads to their appeal. Again, in some situations I think you’re much better going with the proprietary program.
So here is a short list of some open source programs you can get for free that can help you improve your online business endeavor and my opinion on each.
FireFox is a web browser, like Internet Explorer, but in my opinion it is way better. FireFox is rapidly gaining more and more users, so if you haven’t used it you should. It’s also a good idea to make sure you website looks essentially the same in both FireFox and Internet Explorer. You can also customize a lot of things on it which makes it extra fun!
I stand by my belief that the best HTML editor out there is DreamWeaver. But if you need a program that can at least do the job, check out Nvu. You could very easily build a whole site using Nvu, and if you’re using some builder programs you can use it to spice up your site a little bit by learning HTML code.
Admittedly I’m not a big fan of GIMP, I find it a little clumsy to use. But if you don’t have a photo editor, you need to get something. So spend some time learning to use GIMP and you can get the hang of it. But once you have the funds I’d recommend you upgrade to Adobe FireWorks or Photoshop. I feel they give a much better atmosphere and usability.
I love FileZilla! This one is only for those of you that can upload and download from your site using FTP. FileZilla is a great free FTP client.
OpenOffice.org – Office Suite
If you don’t have an office suite, you need to get one. Some of the proprietary programs include Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, etc.) and WordPerfect. OpenOffice.org is a good alternative, and it’s free too!
You can also get open source programs that would be your whole shopping cart program, blogging software, etc. But those are out of the scope of this article.
Check these tools out and make use of them as you need to. Who knows, maybe you’ll like them just fine and never have to get the proprietary programs! Some people like these programs better than others, it’s really a matter of personal preference.
by Dan Patterson
on February 22nd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
If you can’t afford Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro is well worth looking at. You can do a lot of photo manipulation for just $79.00 (from Corel). I have been using it on and off for a number of years and am still not ready to spend the nearly $1000 for Photoshop!
on March 6th, 2008 at 8:23 am
I think Firefox is great I use it most of the time because you can add useful toolbars to help with website information etc. The only problem with it is sometimes when you open another page with Firefox some pages will not allow you to enlarge them to read the information on it. On those few occasions I use IE to view them. Other than that I would not do without it.
Thanks also for the other tips,
editor
http://www.theworkathomeplace.com