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Tip #3: Free Tools for Authors

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26 May 2009CPOL2 min read 23.1K   7   5
Must-have tools that don't cost a penny.

Having trouble writing or posting articles? These articles aim to gather together tips and tricks from authors and mentors to help you write great articles.

Introduction

As developers we all know what a pleasure it is to use a tool that works, that does what it's supposed to, and that saves us time. Tools for authors are no different. The good news is, there are free tools available that are every bit as good as expensive ones.

Free Tools

  1. HTML-Kit 292 - This easy-to-use and powerful HTML text editor really does it all. It has handy built-in help for HTML tags, spell check, quick preview that is only a click away, and many useful plugins. Its snippet feature is fantastic - just put all your most-used HTML tag sequences into separate files (that you name), and when you click on that file name, the snippet will be included. How easy is that? Now I don't have to hunt for that last article where I used a table with alternating row colors.

    Plus, even though you don't pay a cent for HTML-Kit, there is an on-line support forum. I've asked several questions, and always gotten an answer within a day. There are also many on-line FAQS to help with the learning curve.

  2. TNT Screen Capture - This screen capture utility is made by the same company that makes the excellent Help & Manual help authoring system. They are now offering this utility completely free. This is an excellent, high-end tool, and has many of the same features as the expensive ones. One feature that I particularly like is the ability to crop screenshots using a "torn edge" effect. This is a quick way to reduce the size of screenshots so they will fit within the CodeProject guideline of 600px max width, and yet still retain the essential details.
  3. MS Paint - This image editor is useful for a lot of basic stuff where you just need to move an image on the canvas, increase or decrease canvas size, or touch up an image to get rid of unwanted background. No fancy features, but I find myself using it for nearly all of the screenshots I do for my articles.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


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Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralScreen Capture Pin
Seth Morris9-Feb-10 10:53
Seth Morris9-Feb-10 10:53 
GeneralDon't use MS Paint, there are... Pin
Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov14-Jan-10 6:04
mvaSergey Alexandrovich Kryukov14-Jan-10 6:04 
GeneralRe: Don't use MS Paint, there are... Pin
Seth Morris9-Feb-10 10:50
Seth Morris9-Feb-10 10:50 
GeneralRe: Don't use MS Paint, there are... Pin
Thesisus30-Jul-10 4:33
Thesisus30-Jul-10 4:33 
Generalok but Pin
Donsw14-Jun-09 7:59
Donsw14-Jun-09 7:59 

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