Best free web and graphic design tools
January 3, 2008 | Graphic Design
I love to design and I love free stuff, so today I’m putting together a list of some of the best free web and graphic design programs available now. Why spend hundreds of dollars of dreamweaver or photoshop if you don’t have to? I use both paid and free programs in my design work. I’ve used a variety of titles since I started building sites and designing graphics over 10 years ago. If you are just starting out, you’ll find many of these programs easy to learn. You’ll be writing html and making logos in no time!
I’m going to start by listing the software I use personally, for all my website and graphic design, then I’ll list other programs that I’ve used in the past and/or have been recommended by others.
What I use:
Crimson Editor – is a free text editor. You have to know code to use this as it does not offer a wysiwyg viewer. I like it because it is a very small program, loads quick (I often multitask), has spell check and helpful color highlighting.
NoteTab Light – The ultimate free Notepad replacement and a handy HTML editor. Handle a heap of files with a simple tabbed interface. Search files, strip HTML tags and format text quickly.
Xara Xtreme Not free, but a fun vector drawing program I keep going back to. Artweaver – is a free graphic design software. I use and also teach with this. Download the extra filters pkg for added fun. This program has good basic photo editing features too.
The Gimp – Another free graphics photo editing software. Search for tutorials online and get started designing. It’s fun. :)
I also use an older version of Paint Shop Pro.
Web WYSIWYG, Text & HTML editors:
WYSIWYG stands for “what you see is what you get” and these editors are HTML editors that display the Web page as it will show on the browser. They are visual editors and allow you to edit the page without knowing html. However, the best web page editors will give you both the wysisyg and html code views IMO and here are some to check out.
1st Page by Evrsoft – I used this for a long time.. three modes to choose from – easy, expert and hardcore, with a “preview” panel to check your work as you go.
Kompozer WYSIWYG editing of pages, making web creation as easy as typing a letter with your word processor.
CoffeeCup Editor I have this and bring it out to play once in a while. It’s pretty and offers a nice WYSIWYG style, for those who aren’t yet comfortable with coding.
HTML-Kit – I used this for a while too and was happy with it. Also known as Build 300, the latest version of HTML-Kit is light enough to take on a portable USB drive and heavy enough to manage multiple projects.
Arachnophilia – new to me, but looks pretty good.
Web Design Toy
Free Graphic Design editors:
PhotoPlus 6 Version 6 for photo editing capabilities is free.
PixelToolbox
InkScape
Do you use a free web/graphics design tool not mentioned here? Leave a comment and share it with us.
Comments (8)
Karlyn,
Thank you for sharing this information. It is very generous of you to share the knowledge you have worked hard to obtain.
Pam Archer
http://www.pamelaseventdesign.com
Hi Karlyn
When I have more time I will check some of these out. I have the note-tab light and find it very handy!
Cheers
Debbie Stevens
http://www.deliberatelydebbie.com
Thanks for list. I love Gimp, my daughter loves inkscape. I will have to check out Xara and artweaver later.
Text editor I use scite. For help with css my favorite in firebug extention for firefox.
Great list. I prefer using programs that yothers know to be good.
Heidi Caswell
http://connectsimply.com/blog
Here’s the URL to a site that will show you HOW SEARCH ENGINES READ YOUR PAGES! Very helpful to see where your keywords and your most important content are in priority to the search spiders! Remember search engines do not “see” photos or videos, only text and code. This page strips out the code so you “see what the spider sees”.
http://www.webmaster-toolkit.com/search-engine-simulator.shtml
PopArtDiva aka The NORMAL CHALLENGED Artist
Thank you for the nice list. I used only NoteTab Light so far but Gimp looks interesting so I think I’ll give it a try.
It’s always tempting to try to get by with the free tools, BUT if you do breakdown and buy Dreamweaver, there are some great FREE extensions for it that save some major development time: http://webrehash.com/free-extensions.html
thank you for sharing this info. I’m going to try out Inkscape…
How Are You?
Thanks for giving some creative info on the topic from your expertise.
I will definitely be sure in saving your website and will definitely check back periodically.