OpenOffice (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

The word processor of this well-known office suite follows a concept somewhere in between Microsoft Word and FrameMaker. For Mac users, NeoOffice is a special version of OpenOffice which supports the standard look and feel of Mac OS.

http://www.openoffice.org
http://www.neooffice.org

Scribus (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

DTD Program with the same focus as InDesign or QuarkExpress.

http://www.scribus.net

AbiWord (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Small, fast, cross-platform word processor. Can open Microsoft Word documents.

http://www.abisource.com

KWord (Open Source, Linux)

Powerful, frame-based word-processing and desktop publishing application. Part of the free, integrated office suite for KDE, the K Desktop Environment for Linux.

http://www.koffice.org

Gobby (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Collaborative real-time text editor.

http://gobby.0x539.de/trac/

XML Copy Editor (Open Source, Windows, Linux)

Versatile XML editor, primarily focused on text editing. Built-in spell-checker and support for XHTML, XSL, DocBook, XSLT, XPath.

http://xml-copy-editor.sourceforge.net

KompoZer (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Complete WYSIWYG web authoring application with file management, HTML, tag, WYSIWYG and preview modes, and CSS editor.

http://kompozer.net

Amaya (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

W3C's editor and browser. Integrates editing and browsing functions seamlessly into one single tool.

http://www.w3.org/Amaya/Overview.htm

Notepad++ (Open Source, Windows)

Advanced code editor. Many specialized plugins available.

http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net

RSS Builder (Freeware, Windows)

Excellent free tool to create RSS newsfeeds.

http://home.hetnet.nl/~bsoft/rssbuilder/index.htm

Report Generators

Some Open Source tools to create reports (or documentation) in pdf, html or xml format from databases are:

GIMP (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

One of the oldest, most well-known and most powerful open source graphic applications.

www.gimp.org

Gimpshop (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Changed GUI for the original GIMP software with the aim to look as much like Adobe Photoshop as possible.

http://plasticbugs.com

Paint.NET (Open Source, Windows)

Less overwhelming and more intuitive than GIMP or Photoshop, but nevertheless a very professional image and photo editing software with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of tools.

www.getpaint.net

Potrace (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Command line tool which converts bitmap images to vector drawings of excellent quality. On the project home page there are also some links to free third-party GUIs for this tool.

http://potrace.sourceforge.net

OpenOffice Draw / OpenOffice Impress (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Vector based graphics and Powerpoint-like presentation applications of the OpenOffice suite.

http://www.openoffice.org

KPresenter, Kivio, Karbon1, Krita (Open Source, Linux)

Graphics and presentation applications of the K Desktop Environment.

http://www.koffice.org

Dia (Open Source, Windows, Linux)

Inspired by Microsoft Visio, but with a focus on more informal diagrams for personal use.

http://live.gnome.org/Dia/

InkScape (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Open Source Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) editor.

www.inkscape.org

IrfanView (Freeware for non-commercial use, Windows)

Popular image browser and viewer. Also has some basic screen capture features.

http://www.irfanview.com

OpenLaszlo (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Development platform for web applications, mainly Macromedia Flash files (.swf) and AJAX/DHTML. Script based (XML / JavaScript); does not provide a WYSIWYG interface.

www.openlaszlo.org

xvidcap (Open Source, Linux)

Screencast application for Linux.

http://xvidcap.sourceforge.net

Synfig (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

2D vector animation program.

http://synfig.org

KToon (Open Source, Linux)

2D animation toolkit, primarily focused to the cartoon industry.

http://ktoon.toonka.com

Avidemux (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding. Tasks can be automated.

http://avidemux.sourceforge.net

Jahshaka (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Comprehensive movie editing suite.

http://jahshaka.org

AudioCutter (Open Source, Windows, Linux)

Offers a wide range of functions for creating, changing, converting and editing common sounds and surround sounds.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/audiocutter/

Audacity (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Cross-platform sound editor. Supports multi-channel recording, editing and effects.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net

MediaCoder (Open Source, Windows)

Universal batch media transcoder, which integrates most popular audio/video codecs. Aims to be the Swiss army knife for media transcoding.

http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net

FontForge (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Allows you to edit outline and bitmap fonts. Also converts between PostScript, TrueType, OpenType, CID and SVG.

http://fontforge.sourceforge.net

DoubleType (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Type designer (font editor) to create TrueType font files.

http://doubletype.sourceforge.net

Opcion Font Viewer (Open Source, Windows, Linux)

Font viewer. Allows you to view both installed and uninstalled fonts and thus makes selecting fonts easy.

http://opcion.sourceforge.net

PDFCreator (OpenSource, Windows)

Acts as a printer driver and allows you to create PDF files from any Windows application.

http://www.pdfforge.org

Ghostscript (OpenSource, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Can convert PostScript files into PDF, using the ps2pdf tool. The add-on GSView allows you to view both PostScript and PDF files on screen. It also lets you print directly from the viewer or export to bitmap formats.

http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/

Xpdf (OpenSource, Linux)

PDF file viewer. A PDF-to-Postscript converter is also included.

http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/

Foxit Reader (Freeware, Windows)

Alternative PDF reader. Small size, fast launch speed.

http://www.foxitsoftware.com

If you want to see how a specific page looks in different browsers you can use a service like http://browsershots.org. If you prefer to download individual browsers for more detailed testing, here are some links to the most widespread ones:

Internet Explorer

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/default.mspx

Firefox

http://www.mozilla.org

Opera

http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/

Safari

http://www.apple.com/safari/

Navigator

http://browser.netscape.com

Epiphany

http://www.gnome.org/projects/epiphany/

Konqueror

http://konqueror.kde.org

The following tools can be used to check hyperlinks:

DRKSpider (Open Source, Windows)

Checks all internal (and external) links, style sheets, images and other files of a web site or browser based help system. Reports all broken links.

http://www.drk.com.ar

Xenu's Link Sleuth (Freeware, Windows)

Checks web sites for broken hyperlinks. Link verification is performed on links which appear in <a> tags, as well as images, frames, plug-ins, backgrounds, local image maps, style sheets, scripts and Java applets.

http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html

OmegaT (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Translation memory system for XHTML, HTML, Microsoft Office 2007 XML, OpenOffice, XLIFF and text files.

http://www.omegat.org

WordWeb (Freeware, Windows)

Excellent monolingual English Dictionary and Thesaurus. Great for technical documentation purposes: The most frequently used terms are printed in bold, so you can prefer these of you want to create documentation in "basic English" for non-native speakers.

http://wordweb.info/free/

StarDict (OpenSource, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Outstanding cross-platform dictionary software. Many great dictionaries (including engineering and economics) are available for download.

http://stardict.sourceforge.net

LingoPad (Freeware, Windows)

Free off-line multilingual dictionary with several dictionaries. The most comprehensive ones are English <> German, Japanese <> German and English <> Arabic.

http://www.ego4u.com/en/lingopad (English)
http://www.ego4u.de/de/lingopad (German)

project-open (Open Source, Windows, Linux)

Web-based ERP / project management software for organizations with 2-200 users. Integrates CRM, sales, project planning, project tracking, collaboration, timesheets, invoicing, payments.

www.project-open.org

OpenProj (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Project management software very similar to MS Project. OpenProj has equivalent functionality, a similar user interface and can open existing MS Project files.

http://openproj.org/openproj/

Open Workbench (OpenSource, Windows)

Powerful desktop application for project scheduling and management.

www.openworkbench.org

Ganttproject (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Project management for smaller projects run by only one or a few persons.

http://ganttproject.sourceforge.net

KPlato (Open Source, Linux)

Project management application of the K Desktop Environment.

http://www.koffice.org

Timesheets Express Free (Freeware, Windows)

Efficient time tracking software. Free version for individual users only.

http://www.timesheetxpress.com

Mozilla Sunbird (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Cross-platform calendar application.

www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/

Freemind (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Popular mind mapping tool.

http://freemind.sourceforge.net

vym - View Your Mind (Open Source, Linux, Mac)

Alternative mind mapping tool.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/vym/

AXON Idea Processor (Limited Freeware, Windows)

Suite of diverse creativity tools.

http://web.singnet.com.sg/~axon2000/index.htm

7Zip (Open Source, Windows)

Excellent file compression and archiving tool.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/sevenzip/

HTTrack (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Allows you to download a complete website for off-line browsing or archiving purposes. Rearranges the original site's relative link-structure so that all links within the downloaded site work locally.

http://www.httrack.com

FileZilla (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Powerful FTP and SFTP client and server.

http://filezilla-project.org

BK ReplaceEm (Freeware, Windows)

Searches and replaces text in multiple text files. More powerful and flexible than most other utilities of this kind.

www.orbit.org

True Crypt (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

On-the-fly disk encryption software. Creates a virtual encrypted disk.

http://www.truecrypt.org

NSIS (Open Source, Windows)

Tool for the development of Windows installers. With the supported scripting language you can implement any custom logic you want.

http://nsis.sourceforge.net

Inno Setup (Freeware, Windows)

Feature-rich installer for Windows applications.

http://www.jrsoftware.org

InstallJammer (Open Source, Windows, Linux)

Creates cross-platform installation packages.

http://www.installjammer.com

KDiff3 (Open Source, Windows, Linux, Mac)

Compares or merges two or three text files or directories.

http://kdiff3.sourceforge.net

WinMerge (Open Source, Windows)

Visual text file comparison and merging tool.

http://winmerge.org

WinDirStat (Open Source, Windows)

Disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup tool.

http://windirstat.info

Ditto (Open Source, Windows)

Extension to the standard windows clipboard. Lets you use several clipboards on your system at a time.

http://ditto-cp.sourceforge.net

DM2 (Open Source, Windows)

Provides a number of Windows enhancements such as making it possible to let a window stay on top of all applications, and providing an extra button in all default Windows Open/Save dialogs. When clicked, this button shows a pop up menu with user-defined favorite folders and files.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/dm2/

AutoHotkey (OpenSource, Windows)

Lets you automate almost every task such as opening files, entering and formatting text, auto replacing text, creating macros and much more. Certainly one of the most valuable tools for a technical writer.

www.autohotkey.com

The following Skripts are all based on AutoHotkey:

Autotext

Lets you enter a list of abbreviations which will be replaced by longer text blocks when typing. For example, you could define "adr" to be replaced by your personal address, including name, street, city, and so on.

http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic17165.html

German Umlauts

Lets you enter German Umlauts on an English keyboard.

http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic540.html

Accents

Helps you to enter letters with accents on any keyboard.

http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic570.html
http://www.donationcoders.com/skrommel/ (look for "Accents")

Dictionary Search

Some examples of how to use AutoHotkey to look up selected words in an online dictionary or encyclopedia.

http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic630.html
http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic44.html
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autohotkey

File Opening

Lets you set favorites for File Open dialogs.

http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic619.html
http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic1553.html

Clipboard

Enables you to use up to 10 clipboards at the same time.

http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic4514.html

Used Fonts

Shows all fonts used by a Microsoft Word document.

http://www.donationcoders.com/skrommel/ (look for "UsedFonts")

Paste as Text

Lets you paste the clipboard in two modes: Press Ctrl-V once to paste regularly, or press Ctrl-V twice to paste as text.

http://www.donationcoders.com/skrommel/ (look for "PlainPaste")

Time Logging

Logs the time spent on different tasks.

http://www.donationcoders.com/skrommel/ (look for "TaskLog")

Repeat an Action

Records and plays back keyboard and mouse actions.

http://www.donationcoders.com/skrommel/ (look for "DoOver")

Window Control

Lets you control how a particular window is displayed. For example, you can set any application to stay on top.

http://www.donationcoders.com/skrommel/ (look for "WinWarden")

CapsLock

Two scripts to avoid unintended activation of the CapsLock key:
"ShiftOff" turns off CapsLock when Shift is pressed together with A-Z or other user defined keys.
"CAPshift" slows down the activation of the key and displays a menu where you can change the selected text to lowercase, UPPERCASE, TitleCase, iNVERTEDcASE, RaNDoMCaSE or replace user defined characters.

http://www.donationcoders.com/skrommel/ (look for "ShiftOff" and "CAPshift")

Touchpad

Prevents stray clicks on the touchpad when editing documents. Especially helpful for notebook users.

http://www.donationcoders.com/skrommel/ (look for "NoStrayClicks")

Utility Collection

Comprehensive utility collection, published by one of the leading German computer magazines. More than 50 scripts are included.

http://www.heise.de/software/download/special/activaid_forte/10_1/

Mouse Emulation

Emulates the mouse with the numerical keys on the keyboard. One application of this could be to control online-help on systems where there is no mouse, like on windows-based control panels of a machine, for example.

http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/scripts/NumpadMouse.htm

The following scripts were originally designed to display help texts when editing AutoHotkey scripts, but you can modify them to display help for other applications, too.

Context Sensitive Help

Shows the help file page for the selected command or keyword. If nothing is selected, the command name will be extracted from the beginning of the current line.

http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/scripts/ContextSensitiveHelp.htm

Automatic Help

Watches while you edit code or text. When it sees you typeing a command followed by a comma or space, it displays that command's parameter list. In addition, you can press a hotkey to display the corresponding page of a help file.

http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/scripts/IntelliSense.htm

Tooltips

Lets you add tooltips to the GUI of any application.

http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic22421.html

Toolbar

Adds a toolbar to any program. The buttons on this toolbar can then open different help files, for example. You could use this, for example, to add help or special functions to third-party software.

http://www.donationcoders.com/skrommel/ (look for "Barnacle")