You know, sometimes software that costs about as much as 5 netbooks is way more horse than the average cowgirl or cowboy needs. Case in point: Photoshop. I’ve been using Photoshop for longer than some of my students have been alive, and I’m here to tell you that there’s lots to love about Adobe’s products.
However, as Merlin Mann recently observed, it’s annoying when a company lets their pricey software become overly complicated and full of feature-bloat that most of us don’t use or need. (Microsoft Word, I’m looking in your direction, too…)
Fortunately for average users like you and me, there are plenty of simpler and more affordable options to choose from. You might already know about such free and powerful word processing tools like AbiWord and OpenOffice (for desktop work) or GoogleDocs and Zoho (for cloud-based work). And for image work, you might have used (or heard of) Gimp and Seashore, free desktop-based software.
But were you aware of how many free and powerful online tools are available for working with images? Check ‘em out!
Online image-editing tools
Because the following tools have only recently come to my attention, I’ve yet to give them a test drive. That’s why each one is followed by a quoted blurb lifted straight from their home page, obviously not an unbiased source for information.
- Phoenix: “From basic image retouching to complex effects, Phoenix delivers the key features of a desktop image editor with the simplicity and accessibility of a web-based application.”
- Pixer: “Need a quick fix for that photo? With pixer.us you can edit your photos online using only your browser.”
- Pixlr: “We bring you advanced online image and photo editing tools, just choose your flavor, jump in and start creating.”
- Splashup: “Splashup runs in all browsers, integrates seamlessly with top photo-sharing sites, and even has its own file format so you can save your work in progress.”
Web design color-picking tools
I’ve used Color Scheme Designer quite a bit recently, and I really dig it.
So what do you use when it comes time to do some image-based work?
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12 Responses to Free online tools for images and graphic design
Julie Meloni - October 5, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Make it three — I use Picnik as an example in one of the graphics-related chapters of ye olde forthcoming HTML & CSS book (I also talk about Kuler, I believe).
killlashandra - October 5, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Cool stuff. Thanks for the info. Someone just sent your link out via the listserv in my grad program. I’ve always been a PS user but think it would fun to try out some of these others. :)
Ethan Watrall - October 5, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Check out Adobe’s Kuler (http://kuler.adobe.com/) for color picking.
Matt Thomas - October 5, 2009 at 2:44 pm
For basic image editing, I use, and love, Picnik, an online app.
Brian Croxall - October 5, 2009 at 2:46 pm
For photo editing, there’s also Picnik which I’ve used a bit and is very fast and easy to use. Flickr uses Picnik as a photo editor, which speaks to the quality of the tool.
EDIT: Matt beat me to the punch. But take this as two votes up for Picnik.
Cory Bohon - October 5, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Adobe also has Photoshop.com which gives you some pretty good Apple iPhoto-like features and some online storage. Getting an account there is absolutely free.
Cory Bohon - October 5, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Another great place for color picking is ColourLovers.com. It’s like social networking meets colors.
Priyanka D - October 6, 2009 at 5:57 am
I have been using Gimp, its pretty good!
tomorrow - October 6, 2009 at 1:54 pm
George? Is this you? This project is WAY cooler than the bloggers’ table at the British Library. :)
George H. Williams - October 7, 2009 at 7:36 am
I don’t know about that… it was pretty cool to knock back espresso and talk about our research there in the stacks.
Nels P. Highberg - November 1, 2009 at 4:26 pm
One of my favorite blogs, Presentation Zen, just posted an entry on how to use Kuler effectively.
http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2009/11/using-kuler-to-create-color-themes.html
Jason Mellen - January 11, 2010 at 11:04 am
Another program I have recently discovered is Inkscape. It is a vector illustrator program much like Adobe Illistrator but free. It has all the basic functions for creating logos, fliers, or any other original artwork you need. I’ve found it useful to copy and paste clip-art from Publisher so that you can edit the images.