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Posted on June 6th, 2008 by Lonnie Bauerly

40 Excellent Web Based Tools to Help You Design from Anywhere

Posted by Justin

In today’s busy world it can be hard to be tied down to one computer. With web based applications becoming so advanced it is now possible to still get work done anywhere there is a computer without installing any software. From image editing to Word documents, you can do it all online.

Here are 40 excellent web based tools to help you design from anywhere:

Online Image Editing Tools

	Project Draw Project Draw is an online sketch tool from the makers of AutoCAD and Revit.
	Resizr Resizr allows users to upload a picutre (currently .jpg format only) and have it resized for them. The site also has a Firefox plugin.
	Splashup Splashup is a Photoshop-esque Flash based online image editing tool. Very easy to use and pretty powerful too.
	Navigation Tab Menu Generator Love tabbed navigation? Use this to create rounded buttons in a snap!
	Web 2.0 Free Logo Generator This online Web 2.0 logo generator is great for quickly creating trendy titles.
	Web 2.0 Logo Creatr Another web 2.0 style creator. The image is stored on the site’s server so no need to ftp anything.
	Spiffy Text Choose a font style, choose a background and then admire your online-created logo!
	Gliffy Gliffy is an online competitor to Microsoft Visio.
	Picnik Picnik is a powerful online image editing tool. You can do things like crop, sharpen, resize and even more.
	FotoFlexer FotoFlexer clains to be “the world’s most advanced online image editor”. It allows you to open images from MySpace, Facebook and more and directly edit them online.

Online Code Generators

	Xinha Xinha is a WYSIWYG editor for use online. It can be integrated into any kind of project.
	CSS Generator @ Advanced HTML For Beginners This online CSS generator allows you to create a CSS file for your body tag, links and even header area.
	Layout Generator @ CSS Creator Use this CSS creator when first creating a new site.
	CSS Generator @ CSS Creator After getting the site going, use this tool to add style to your text.
	CSS Source Generator @ Position is Everything The people from Position is Everything give us another CSS generator. This one gives you a large amount of control and even generates code for faux columns if you like.
	[listulike] CSS Generator Use this CSS generator to create cross-browser list-based navigation bars.
	Font Tester Use this service to see what your font choice will look like in paragraph form. You can specify line-height, font-weight, font-variant and even more.
	WYSIWYG HTML Image Map Creator Upload an image and use this AJAX powered WYSIWYG tool to create image maps.
	ColorSchemer ColorSchemer is very handy for web designers. Select a starting color and ColorSchemer will choose colors that go well together.
	QrONE CSS Designer Another online CSS generator that shows the results as you select your options.

Online Collaboration

	Google Docs Use Google to create spreadsheets, documents and even presentations completely online.
	ajaxWrite AjaxWrite is an online word processor.
	ThinkFree ThinkFree calls itself the “free online alternative to Microsoft Office”.
	ZOHO Zoho has a wide collection of software online, including a word processor, notebook, wiki and a presentation system.
	Backpack The team at 37signals brings us Backpack. This software allows you to organize photos, make lists, attach files and basically anything else you can think of online.
	Basecamp Basecamp is project management software from 37signals. This online tool allows you and a team to collaborate on projects and assign duties to individuals.

Online FTP Tools

	net2ftp net2ftp is a web based FTP client. If you’ve ever used an online FTP tool before this should be very comfortable.
	File Manager in cPanel Mosts webhosts these days are running cPanel. cPanel comes with something called “File Manager” which is a web-based FTP program.
	FTPLive FTPLive allows you to FTP items to your server entirely free of charge.

Online File Storage

	Flickr Flickr is an online photo storage server. The free version allows up to 100MB a month of uploads, while the payed service gives you unlimited space and uploads. Flickr also allows you to edit your photos online.
	BubbleShare BubbleShare is another online photo storage service, similar to Flickr.
	23 Photo Sharing Another competitor to Flickr is 23.
	Drive Headquarters DriveHQ has a large number of free features including online file storage, online backup, ftp hosting and email hosting.
	GMail Drive shell extension GMail Drive shell extension allows you to map GMail as a hard drive on your computer. Use your 6gigs for anything you want.
	MediaMax MediaMax is an online file storage service that gives you 25 GB for free.

Other Useful Tools

	XML-Sitemaps.com Use this awesome website to create sitemaps for Google, Yahoo and more.
	ROR Sitemap Generator Another sitemap generator that generates ROR sitemaps. Can be submitted to sites like Yahoo.
	S5: Simple Standards-Based Slide Show System Eric Meyer has created the ability to make a PowerPoint style presentation using only XHTML, CSS and JavaScript.
	Remember The Milk Remember The Milk is a very useful website for keeping track of items still needing to be done.
	CSSFly CSSFly allows you to edit sites online and view the results as you go.

Links for Making Your First Web Site Without Paying a Dime

Published by Jake on January 4, 2008 12:00 am under Web Design / Programming

Are you eager to get into web development, but aren't necessarily ready to invest anything in it? This guide has links to guide you through the entire process… from learning the code to finding a web host.

Making the Site
First off, you want to create the site. These links are primarily for creating it from scratch rather than using a CMS.

Learn the Code
Many purists will argue that the best way to make a site is to actually learn the code by hand. These resources are great for learning the core HTML and CSS technologies.

• The basics of Cascasding Style Sheets - A great guide to lead you through learning CSS.
• Tizag - A site that has easy to follow tutorials on many parts of web design. You an get a quick start by using the beginner tutorial.
• W3Schools - is a site similar to Tizag, though it may not be as easy for some. W3Schools' strength is that it makes it easy to try out techniques as you learn them.

Make the Graphics
If you want to make great sites, then sometimes it helps to be able to make great graphics. Here are some image editors that may be useful.

• Inkscape - Inkscape is a powerful vector graphics editor and the only one I recommend. For Linux, OS X, and Windows.
• Krita - A "painting and image editing program" similar to Paint.NET. For Linux.
• Paint.NET - A newer raster graphics editor. This editor should not be compared with Paint, as it is much more powerful, though not as much as other packages available. For Windows and possibly other OS's using Mono.
• The GIMP - The most popular free raster image editor is also a very powerful one, though it takes time to learn. This is my editor of choice. For Linux, with OS X and Windows ports available.

Templates
If you have trouble designing sites from scratch, you may wish to use freely available templates online, though they may not be unique at first. However, with enough customizing you can generally fine tune the templates to the point where they bear no resemblance to the original, making this an often preferred route.

• Free Website Templates from Andreas Viklund - Some free templates from an excellent designer
• Open Design Community - A site of many great looking designs, though I have never personally used them.
• Open Source Web Design - Although it is no longer accepting new designs, OSWD is an excellent place to find templates.
• Open Web Design - A new community of designs that rose up in the place of OSWD.

Text editors
More advanced text editors can really help your productivity if you are designing by hand.

• Geany - An advanced text editor with a basic IDE than is great for web development. Recommended by "toiletdude" in the comments below. For Linux with limited Windows support.
• Kate - A great text editor with many advanced features. My personal favorite is the ability to upload directly with FTP. My personal favorite. For Linux.
• Notepad++ - An editor that goes the extra mile to be useful. For Windows, though it works well under Linux with WINE.
• PSPad - A text editor that supports many of the same things as Kate, though more powerful in some regards. For Windows.

WYSIWYG creators
If HTMl and CSS just aren't for you, then you may want to use a WYSIWYG, or "What you see is what you get" editor. Making sites in these is as easy as making a document with a word processor (which one of the below is!).

• KompoZer - One of the easiest and most complete free WYSIWYG's available. This project came from the no longer updated Nvu. For Linux, OS X, and Windows.
• OpenOffice.org - Although it is an entire office suite, the Writer part (word processor) doubles as an HTML editor. For Linux, OS X, and Windows.
• Quanta Plus - An advanced editor that also has some WYSIWYG features that is better for advanced users. My choice for when I do WYSIWYG work. For Linux.
• Seamonkey - A full Internet suite that also includes the Composer HTML editor. For Linux, OS X, and Windows.

Testing
Now you should probably make sure the site in different browsers to make sure it works okay.

• Browsershots - A site that gathers screenshots of your websites across different browsers and OS's.
• IE Tab - A Firefox extension that embeds Internet Explorer into Firefox for quick testing.
• IEs4Linux - A script for Linux that installs several versions of Internet Explorer using WINE.
• W3C Markup Validation Service - A utility to make sure that your mark-up is valid. Most browsers should be able to render valid mark-up the same, but this isn't always true in practice.

Hosting
After you create a site, you need to host it so that the world can see it. Sadly, hosting is sometihng that you may want to pay for, but we'll explore the best ways to get free hosting and the things related.

Free Web Hosts
First off, we want to actually get the free web host. Here are a few free ones that don't have ads, but there are likely many more available.

• OXYHOST Your free account comes with PHP, 5 MySQL databases, 5GB of disk space & 100GB of bandwidth
• 110MB - A free web host with more features than I have seen at some paid sites.
• 50 Webs - A simple and reliable host, though a tad bit short on features.
• FreeShells.ch - A Unix shell that offers free web hosting as well. Only for advanced users!
• Freewebs - A host more aimed at beginning users. If you are lazy, you want to head here first.

Free domains
To help improve your image, you may wish to have an actual domain or short subdomain instead of what free web hosts give you by default. However, options here are often not as grand as paying for a domain. Domains can be tricky if you don't buy a domain initially because it's a pain to move later. Some things, such as pagerank, may take months to reclaim if you aren't careful, so this may be the one place where you pay.

• co.nr - A site that gives you a .co.nr name.
• Domain Lagoon - A site that eventually lets you get a free .com, though it's not too easy. Jarek has been able to do this before.
• .tk - The only site I know of that you can easily get an actual domain name with. However, it places advertisements on the site. Uses the .tk extension.
• uni.cc - uni.cc, unlike co.nr and .tk, actually works like a regular domain in that you can link to pages within it. However, not all web hosts support this. From the list above, 100MB and 50 Webs do.

FTP Clients
For some web hosts you will need to use FTP to upload your files.

• Cyberduck - A new type FTP client that integrates well with Mac OS X.
• Filezilla - A great FTP program that also has a server version. For Linux, OS X, and Windows.
• FireFTP - A Firefox extension for uploading to FTP, instead of only downloading which is included by default. For all OS's where Firefox runs.
• gFTP - An easy to use FTP client. Nothing special, but it does the job. For Linux.

Free WEB Server and NAME Servers DNS

To host you own site from home I recomend the free software and services below. 

• Ubuntu Server EditionThe Free Server Edition - built on the solid foundation of Debian which is nown for its robust server installations — has a strong heritage for reliable performance and predictable evolution. DOWNLOAD
• DNSEXIT.COM  They provides reliable DNS Services free to top level domains for both business and internet users. Our DNS supports Dynamic IP that means you will be able to run your own website, ftp, or mail servers via DSL, Cable Modem lines with dynamic IP. To try out dynamic DNS on a real domain, please try Dynamic DNS Demo.
  If you are new to DNS and don't how to create it, no problem, our DNS Tools will guide you through the whole setup process. You will be amazed by how easy it is to setup DNS with our tools.
• EVERYDNS.NET Free DNS, Static DNS, Dynamic DNS, URL Redirection, and more from EveryDNS! They provides static DNS services as well as many advanced services such as Dynamic DNS resolution, Secondary service, AXFR service, and domain2web redirection. Of course, our primary service is free DNS

In Conclusion

Hopefully you can get up and going on your first website without investing a dime, though you may want to later for a decent host and domain. I am open to more suggestions if you have them!

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