Free Web Design Tools
Inkscape: a free vector graphics program
Inkscape is a very nice free vector graphics program for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.
Vector graphics are images that are defined by mathmatical equations instead of by pixels. This means you can change the size of the graphics without losing image quality.
SVG or scalable vector graphics is an XML markup language for making vector graphics. Inkscape creates all of the XML for you, so you can just draw on a screen (similar to the Adobe Illustrator program).
There are some great tutorials for Inkscape here.
More Free Software for Web Design
The following Windows programs are excellent free replacements for Dreamweaver, FrontPage, Photoshop, and other commonly used programs for Web design and development.
| HTML Kit | HTML Kit is an excellent HTML editor that can be used as a free replacement for Dreamweaver and FrontPage. |
| Komposer (NVU) | Another free replacment for Dreamweaver and FrontPage. |
| Filezilla FTP | Filezilla is an excellent, free FTP program. |
| Putty SSH | Putty is a free SSH client for Windows. It lets you login to a remote server and perform actions like modifying databases at the command line. |
| The GIMP | A free Photoshop replacement. |
| Inkscape | A free replacement for Adobe Illustrator. |
| Drupal | Drupal is a free content management system that makes it easy to build complex database-driven Web sites with no programming knowledge necessary. A showcase of Drupal sites can be found at DrupalSites.net. |
| WordPress | WordPress is (IMO) the best blogging software out there. It can be used to create blogs, or even used as a light-weight content management system. Highly recommended. |
| Apache2Triad | Apache2Triad is an easy way to install a Web server and scripting languages on your Windows computer with just a few clicks. Apache2Triad includes Apache, MySQL, PHP, Python, Perl, and much more. |
| Web Developer Server Suite | Similar to Apache2Triad in that it installs a Web development environment on your Windows computer. |
| XAMPP | Lets you run Apache, MySQL, PHP, PEAR, MiniPerl, phpMyAdmin, SQLite and more — all from a thumb drive. |
| SciTE | SciTE is a great text editor that can be used to replace Notepad on Windows. Features include syntax highlighting and export to HTML or PDF format. This Notepad replacement loads quickly and feels a lot like Notepad, but with many more features. Highly recommended. |
| Instant Rails | Put a Ruby on Rails development environment on your Windows machine with just a few clicks. |
| RadRails IDE | RadRails is an IDE for Ruby on Rails based on the Eclipse editor. |
| Django Project | An Web development framework similar to Ruby on Rails, but in Python. |
| Portable Apps | A comprehensive list of portable software. Portable software is especially useful for students who might need to use their own software even when admin access to a computer is not available. |
| The Gimp | A free Photoshop replacement. |