Web Designer’s FREElance Toolbox for Windows--Part 1

Freelancing for an extra thick wad of greenbacks to pad your back pocket is every Web designer’s dream. Wrangling up your own clients, managing the entire creative process and collecting your due reward is a great accomplishment, and the process can be more fulfilling than the daily grind of a full-time job. Yet, it can also be a frustrating experience. Your time and resources can be severely limited by several factors, including managing your addiction to eBay Motors and observing your duties as a regional Star Wars fan club representative. But more than likely, your greatest obstacle is money.

Software is Expensive

So your anal-retentive boss enjoys reprimanding designers who use company-licensed software copies for personal profit. Go figure. After purchasing the necessities—Photoshop, Illustrator (stop scoffing you pesky FreeHanders), Flash and Dreamweaver—you are left with nothing but scruples. You eye little Timmy’s piggy bank every time you need that next cool design, programming or desktop tool, but you stop short, and instead Google-fish for freeware. That’s when the real fun begins. The rest of your night is spent removing adware that pillages your hard drive.

The Good Free Goods

Sit back, relax and put down your double caramel macchiato. I’m about to make your life a lot easier and freelancing oh-so-much more fun. The following is a list of unfettered freeware that I have personally reviewed. Time-tested and designer/developer approved, these programs contain no adware and are built on a solid foundation, including a supportive community of users. There is no fine print to read, and you can rest assured each one will save you money and save poor Timmy’s college fund.

Antivirus Software

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

If you freelance enough, clients will add you to their hit list… I mean address book. It only seems like a hit list when you get bombarded with their virus-laden emails. As a Web designer surfing for inspiration, you’re also more likely to hit a few sites unknowingly housing malicious PHP scripts. I was shocked to find out AVG identifies potential threats better than Norton ever did on my trusty Windows 98 laptop, and it does little to hamper system resources. Updates can be scheduled regularly and your defenses are solid if you combine AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition with a program like Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE Personal.

Audio Editing

Audacity

I’ve used Audacity on several occasions to accomplish simple tasks. If you’re looking for a way to edit loops for Flash, record a voiceover for a QuickTime movie or remove a sound bite altogether, then this is the tool. It’s not overly robust, but there is no reason to spend a fortune on professional audio editing software when the only thing the client wants is a little whiz-bang. You can export to the most popular file formats, including high-quality WAV and MP3. After installing a few compatible freeware decoders (listed on the Audacity Web site), you can import WAV, AIFF, AU, Ogg Vorbis, MP2 and MP3 files.

CD/DVD Burning Software

When you need to deliver a large quantity of digital information to a client, burning a CD or DVD is usually the easiest method. I’m always disappointed by the lack of decent freeware that can get the job done without a major hassle. If you’ve ever tried to use a program like Windows Media Player to accomplish this task, you know what I mean. In my experience these programs are rarely intuitive and they often cause system lockup when copying large files. Even though CDBurnerXP Pro 3 only works with Windows XP, it still deserves a place in our toolbox. I can’t in good conscience recommend anything better.

Content Management System

WordPress

You’re probably curious about why I would list a well-known blogging tool as my choice for a freeware content management system. Necessity is the mother of invention. I’m not going to risk the integrity and security of a client’s Web site in order to save a buck or two. With a little tweaking, WordPress can fulfill most of your client needs, including various permissions for multiple authors, easily update-able dynamic content pages and custom templates. I’ll admit it’s a bit of work upfront, but empowering your client beats getting a phone call at 3 a.m. requesting a tweak to the copy on their privacy policy page.

Database

MySQL

There are several reasons MySQL is the freeware database of choice for designers. Most notably, it’s the only one. Sanity is another good reason. Acquiring a developer’s license for Microsoft’s SQL is expensive, and the learning curve is steep. MySQL is relatively easy to install and configure on your local machine, and almost all basic hosting plans include the latest stable release. I’m about to get geeky for those of you wishing to delve further. My only complaint is that the query browser leaves much to be desired and stored procedures weren’t included until v5.0, which is still in the development phase. However, this list would be incomplete without it.