Photoshop 5.5(our full review) - Latest version of the classic graphics program. It's a challenge for beginners, but once you've got your head around it you can do anything you like to an image.
Canoma - Take your regular photos of a building and glue them to a wireframe model. Hey Presto! A 3D graphic. The user interface is a joy.
FreeHand - Illustration program famed and revered for its WYSIWYG output. Now in version 8. The trial is 30 day and fully functional.
Image Optimizer - Excellent file size reduction system allows some parts of a graphic to be heavily compressed while other parts retain their detail.
Illustrator - Major-league illustration software from Adobe. Unfortunately the tryout version doesn’t allow saves, exports or printouts.
Macromedia Fireworks(our full review) - Brand new version 3 of the Macromedia graphics production tool. Now with additional tie-ins to Dreamweaver 3.
Web Hotspots 4.0 - Imagemap editors for static and animated imagemaps.
Texter - Create dazzling text animation Java applets in seconds with Ozzino's award winning Texter. Easy to use interface and no programming required.
Calendars for the Web - "The software creates HTML Table and/or Image
Map calendars. I've downloaded many competing
calendar programs and I think this software is much,
much better."
Ozzino Studio - "Let your web pages come alive with exciting animated interactive java applets. Easy to use interface and no programming required.Tons of functionality:- instant animated 3D objects from static images; rotating applets in same location; add interactivity to animated objects and
animated gifs; spectacular drop-down menu bars; and much more."
Spirit - "Spirit can build almost any kind of GUI and deal with interactions. You can build components, vector graphics, spinners, databases, etc."
Paint Shop Pro - Version 6.01 of this great value for money graphics program.
SPG WEB Tools for Photoshop - "The SPG WEB Tools for Photoshop is a suite of 23 award-winning SPG WEB Tools that instantly transforms Photoshop or any plug-in compatible program into a Web Graphics POWERSUITE! This awesome plug-in suite is loaded with
fantastic web graphics features and capabilities not found in any other program or combination of programs."
VIMAS
Web Imaging - Image processing tool for Web designers. JPEG compression, automatic home page generation, image export and batch processing, compound images, thumbnail generation.
WebRazor Utilities - Plug in utilities for PhotoShop for creating low-bandwidth images, buttons, optimizing, etc. Trial version available.
Applet CoolText Wizard- We haven't checked this one out yet. The company blurb says: Tool to create java scrolling banners for web page without coding.
Gif Wizard - Shrink your GIF file size up to 90%. This isn't exactly a program download, it's more of a long-term service provision. But there is a free site check on the page.
Need to convert your images to transparent and interlaced GIFs for the Web? Click here to learn how to do it, or download the tools below.
Image Alchemy - converts over 75 image formats. Available for DOS, OS/2, SCO UNIX, and Mac.
Need to make some whizzy Java buttons? As I had need of some special buttons, I tried out both of these button creation tools recently. Although both produce buttons that work well on your hard drive, neither will produce anything you can use on the Web without paying a registration fee. I imagine they will both improve dramatically in the near future. You can see the mess I made fiddling with them on our Wacky HTML pages.
1 Cool Button Tool - Makes cool Java buttons, has many more features than Applet Menu Wizard (add sounds, more precise positioning, greater control in general) but sadly produces buttons that are a bit on the crashy side with some severe Nescape quirks.
Applet Menu Wizard - Much simpler than 1 Cool Button Tool with fewer features but works smoothly in both browsers as far as I can tell. This is the one I ended up actually using.
If you're interested in free Web tools, it's likely you'll find the rest of our site interesting too. Here's a small sample of our latest features on Web techniques and Internet business:
A Good Web Development Team
A site can make or break a company's image. This is why a good Web development team is crucial to your business.
New Horizons for Domain Names
In November of 2000 the ICANN Board of Directors approved seven new Top Level Domains for use on the Internet. They are: .biz, .info, .aero, .pro, .name, .coop, and .museum. Soon you'll be able to register them for real.
Embedding Key Data Into Web Pages
In the second of our series on developing in a secure environment, we look at the problem of giving away secrets by embedding information in the hidden tags of forms.
Getting Your Quotes Right In SQL For ASP
It is somewhat ironic that the most confusing part of creating and executing a SQL statement from ASP is determining where to put the quotes. This article should help.
Reason 1.0 Audio Software
Reason is a software package that emulates not only synthesizers, but samplers, effects units and more. The ease of use factor is hard to beat.
Commercial Overkill
Many sites are cramming more adverts on to their pages and heavily pushing their affiliate programs. The problem is that at some point the law of diminishing returns kicks in.
Developer's View: David McKay
David works in New Zealand and has a strong interest in design. Here he talks about the conflict between good design and low file sizes, plus how New Zealand is taking to the Web.
WAP-Enabled Greeting Cards Using ASP
Here we create a WAP-enabled greeting card system called WAPReetings, which allows WAP-enabled device users to send greeting cards to other WAP users.
Developer's View: Luke Rochester
Luke runs Biznet in Sydney. He has a firm idea of a Killer App he expects to see in the future. It will be called something like a Virtual Advisor and will tap into the power of the Internet community.
mmsystem006 problems with Windows drivers? We have the answer!
Not only does this encourage developers to keep creating nice software for you to use, it is usually well worth the price, giving you access to additional features, upgrades and such. The Web Developer's Journal just provides links to these download sites. We're not responsible for the programs in any way. If you know of other Web development tools that we should include,
please let us know.
