Listed here are some of the Windows programs that I regularly use, and can recommend as being both practical and good value for money (in some cases, free).
With any software, ‘your results may vary’ depending on your equipment configuration, version of Windows, phase of the moon, and any number of other strange factors!
Always back up important files before installing new software, just in case something goes wrong -- I have found these programs to be well-behaved, but that may not be the case on your particular hardware and software combination.
All of the programs listed here are available for trial download from their respective websites. While I cannot accept any responsibility for consequences arising from use of any of these programs, I’d be interested to receive your opinions of them.
Irfanview
A small, fast picture viewer with many added features such as slideshows, scanning, format conversions, resampling, picture rotation, filter effects, color correction and batch conversions. Simple installation and support for a very large number of file formats make this a great program, available as freeware for home use.
Editpad
Versatile text editor designed as a replacement for the Windows Notepad, but also useful for website work. Simple installation, multiple file editing, export to Mac and Unix text formats, case and tab conversion are just some of its features. Supports big files, and search and replace can be done on all open files -- very handy for adding a style, meta-tag or whatever to all your pages at once!
Screen Calipers
An invaluable utility for measuring onscreen objects, window sizes, etc. Provides for both horizontal and vertical measurements, with “nudging” of the caliper to give pixel-level precision to the measurement. Beats holding a ruler against the screen!
Browsersizer
You may be writing your website with a 19-inch monitor running at 1280x1024 pixels, but will everyone who browses your pages be as lucky? Browsersizer will set your browser window to preconfigured sizes, allowing an easy check on your pages’ appearance at various screen resolutions.
AnalogX Simpleserver
Free webservers don’t come any easier than this -- just start the program, browse to (or drag and drop) whatever you want to be the starting file, click the start button, and you have your own local webserver. It’s ideal for testing sites during development, especially if, like me, you work on several projects simultaneously and want to test each from its own home folder. Also works well as a simple intranet server.
Mozilla
A great open-source browser, with integrated mail and chat clients, plus a quite capable HTML editor. If you don’t need all the extra applications, check out Firefox, which is a lighter-weight browser-only application.
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Xat.com software
Here’s a range of utilities that I’ve found very useful, and at reasonable prices.
Xatshow
Simple to use but very effective slideshow and screensaver utility, with a number of added features, including the ability to create web-based slideshows using a Java applet, and slideshows on videoCD or television via your digital camera.
Webspeed Simulator
A webserver that runs on your PC and simulates various download speeds for your webpages. Not necessary? Well, until everyone has a high-speed broadband connection, you can bet that many of your site’s visitors are using a standard modem, often with less-than-ideal phone lines.
Running a page at real-world ‘modem’ speeds of 14.4, 28.8 or 33.6 kbps can be a sobering experience that can make you start looking at ways to reduce image and page sizes -- and Xat have a utility to help with that, too:
Image Optimizer
A compression utility for JPEG, GIF and PNG graphics, allowing you to reduce your files to the smallest possible sizes for faster downloads and less server space. As well as optimising the whole image, you can set different compression for different regions, so high compression ratios can be used while retaining detail in important areas.