The main aim of any software designer is to create a user friendly application that is sophisticated as well as easy to use. The market is flooded with such products and it has now become difficult to choose from the wide choice that is available now. There is no monopoly in any domain and there are several manufacturers competing with each other to gain greater market share.
The need for personalization option in standard products is not new. Users have always looked for the facility to customize software that suit their specific needs. This is the reason why open source software have become a big hit in the market. Open source softwares give the user complete control over the software and anyone who has mediocre knowledge in programming can write and implement his own code.
There are several websites which have users sharing their codes. The number of such posts on the internet is proof enough that open source software are highly popular among the masses. Enlisted below are some of the popular open source tools that are widely used by programmers.
Aptana
Aptana is a Java based, cross platform development tool that is used to design Ajax applications. It can be used to debug codes in JavaScript, HTML and CSS languages.
Eclipse:
Eclipse is yet another Java based software that comes with Java Development Tools and a compiler. Its efficiency can be increased by incorporating plug-ins and is widely used with development toolkits for other programming languages.
JEdit:
JEdit is a mature programmer’s text editor with several plug-ins that come handy for various applications. It is compatible with major operating systems such as Windows, Mac OS X, OS/2, Unix and VMS.
Quanta Plus:
Quanta Plus provides the user with a very rich web development environment to design the best architectural foundations. It is mainly used to create designs that are efficient and provide the user with maximum extensibility.
Amaya:
Amaya is a web editor software that allows you to directly update documents online. They are equipped with remote access and editing features and was initially used as a HTML+CSS style sheet editor. Newer versions are adapted to support XTML applications such as XHTML family, MathML and SVG.
MagicDraw:
A visual modeling and case tools, MagicDraw is developed for business analysts, software analysts, programmers, documentation writers and QA engineers. It provides teamwork support and is best suited for analysis and design of Object Oriented systems. It is also the best code engineering scheme available and is also used for database modeling.
WinSCP:
It is an open source file transfer application that is used to transfer files in a secure fashion between a local and a remote computer. It serves as an open source SFTP and FTP client for Windows and offers basic file handling facility.
CyberDuck:
CyberDuck is an open source File Tranfer Protocol and SSH Secure File Tranfer Protocol browser which comes with an open source license and is easy to use. It is integrated with several external editors and provides support for MAC OS X technologies such as Spotlight, Bonjour, the Keychain and AppleScript.
GIMP:
GIMP is an image manipulation program that serves as a replacement for Photoshop. Though the functionality of GIMP is lesser than Photoshop it is the best free software available. It generally comes installed in many Linux distros and is also available in Windows.
ImageMagick:
It is less widely known image manipulation software that is all you need for image processing. It provides the user with the facility to create, edit and compose bitmap images. It can also decipher different formats and can be used for converting into different formats. It also has features such as image flip, rotate, scale, shear, adjust image colors etc.
Artweaver:
Artweaver is an open source application that is used for creative painting. It offers the user with all the artistic effects which you will need. It can be used to create sketches from photos and allows the user to experiment.
DBDesigner 4:
It is a visual database design system that integrates functions such as design, modeling, creation and maintenance into a single platform. It is simple to use and comes with several professional features to help you design the database efficiently.
Clay:
Clay is generally used as a plug-in in the eclipse environment and has an intuitive user interface which helps create database models graphically. It also provides the user with the facility to create a database model by reverse engineering an existing database.
Paint.net:
It is simpler and can give Photoshop a run for its money. It comes with many layers, special effects and all the standard features that any image manipulation application should have. The file is small and hence is very efficient.
Dia:
Dia is a tool that helps you create illustrations for formal and informal purposes. You can create flow charts, network diagrams, relationship diagrams etc and is inspired by the Windows commercial program Visio.
Scrumy:
Scrumy is one of the most intuitive and effective ways to handle a Scrum management project. It offers the users several features such as multiple sprints, burndown charts and daily snapshots.
ColorJack:
ColorJack can be likened to a color palette that is used to create newer colors. Its an online color generation scheme that is widely used by graphic designers, architects and interior designers.
Fontstruct:
Fontstruct is a tool that creates font out of geometrical shapes. The font appears is made up of a pile of geometrical shapes and is compatible with Windows or Mac.
Whats its color:
This is an image analysis tools that provides you with the primary and secondary dominant colors that are present in the image. It also provides you with a list of the top ten colors that are present in the image.Open source codes are widely available online and their ease of acquiring is what has made them so popular among users. If you have reasonably good programming skills, you too can be a part of the open source community and contribute to other users.
Resources: TheTechLand
