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Home > Web Tools > Software Picks > March & February 2002 Software Picks

3/25/02

Thumber - An easy to use and fast utility for creating thumbnails and HTML pages to display them. Most of the commercial HTML Editors (Dreamweaver (requires Fireworks to be installed), FrontPage, etc.) have thumbnail creation tools, but this is a nice freeware utility if you cannot afford to purchase the expensive programs.

BrowserSizer - Allows you to adjust the size of your browser windows (Internet Explorer and Netscape) so that you can see what your web page will look like in various resolutions. There is a freeware version, BrowserSizer, and a shareware version, BrowserMaster - $20, of the program.

NoPops - A small freeware program that disables popup windows. Be sure to read the help files before you run the program for the first time as you must configure it to have it disable new popup windows. The link for this program will automatically download the file. The software developer's web site is currently down for maintenance, but the program is still available. I currently use NoAds to handle my popup ads and it's a great little program (has support for IE, Netscape, AOL, & Opera)

2/19/02

Xoology Coda - A feature rich text editor. Highlights syntax errors (mistakes in HTML and JavaScript code), making it much easier to find errors in files. Freeware. The only downfall that I've found with this program is that I cannot seem to find a WordWrap feature.

First Stop Web Search - Another software program that allows you to search multiple search engines. The free version will search six search engines (AltaVista, Yahoo, Lycos, Excite, Google, Teoma). I still prefer Copernic (another similar program), but some of you may like this program for its speed and ease of use.

2/6/02

Google© Search Tool - What a handy little search utility!

Google Search Tool

All you do is type your search terms and select the area of Google that you want to search (www, images, newsgroups, links, related) and then click the green checkmark. Your default browser will display the search results. There are nice filter options (right click the word Filter to access the options) that allow you to set the search language, language output, date ranges, startup options, etc. The program can be set to start automatically when Windows starts; a small icon resides in the system tray for quick access.

Star Download - If you use a dial-up connection and you download files/software this program will allow you to resume your download if your connection is lost. It also claims to speed up your downloads by 400%, I have not been able to test this yet since I typically surf on a T1 line. Another nice thing about this program is that it does not include any "spyware", a small piece of software hidden in the program that tracks the sites that you visit on the internet.

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If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and you're interested in learning more about web design and development, graphics, or computers in general, consider taking classes at the Contra Costa ROP Technology Center. We offer affordable computer training in a variety of subjects. Visit our web site for more information.

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