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About SharewareMany free or modestly priced programs (shareware) are available on the Internet. Shareware comes in all shapes and sizes. Some of it well tested and works well. Some of it is trying hard to be fill a need, and some of it needs further improvement. If you have trouble with shareware, there could be any number of problems or conflicts. Unless you're feeling adventurous, stick with what has been recommended to you. Also, if you like and use the program, remember to pay the good folk(s) who made it.
Betas and Bugs
Internet Technology is moving so quickly that problems are inevitable. If you venture into these areas, expect problems. If the software says "beta" that means B for bugs. Good luck to the adventurous and brave. To everyone else, wait until the "bugs" are eliminated.
SourcesSites with extensive shareware files are:
Mac and Windows:
c/net's download.com: most any tools you might want to download
ZDNet has an extensive software library. Also software reviews and tips on the site
File Mine: new, extensive shareware download site.
Jumbo has over 45,000 listings.
TuCows archives software for a broad range of platforms.
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Compression Shareware
When you are exchanging files across the Internet, smaller is definitely better. Most of the materials you download from the Internet are compressed to speed up file transfer. Useful shareware for compressing and decompressing cross-platform includes Alladin's Stuffit with drop and drag compression and expansion as well as Unzip capabilities. Or, ZipIt for Mac compresses files in a format that can be opened by WinZip, for PC compression.
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Graphics Shareware Macintosh
JPEGView for viewing JPEG and GIF files, does slide shows.
GrapicConverter for saving to multiple formats and modifying graphics, does slide shows.
GIF Converter for converting images to GIF files.
Windows
LViewPro is the most frequently used JPEG/GIF viewer
JPEG Converter: another common graphics converter.
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MultimediaHyperStudio
HyperStudio is an easy to use, multimedia program which now operates cross-platform (works on both Macs and PCs) and interfaces live with the Internet. A free Player for Mac and for Windows to distribute with your stacks available from HyperStudio. For more about collaborating with HyperStudio, see NickNacks' HyperStudio Projects and the Internet
Microsoft's PowerPoint also provides a free viewer to distribute with your slide shows. PowerPoint is also fairly easy to use and produces polished results. But, the application is relatively expensive.
Video
If you have an AV (audio-visual) computer or a video signal digitizer and a video camera, you can video conference on the Internet. For more information, see White Pine's C-U-See Me pages and GlobalSchool Net's Communication Tools.
Movies
Macromedia's Flash technology allows you to view movies created by their software online. The plugin requires the latest version web browser. Otherwise, it will only bring headaches and system freezes. Most schools cannot afford Macromedia's Director for creating movies. But if you are, you can now distribute them with ease.
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HTML/Web AuthoringThere are many commercial HTML editors, but currently for Mac, none of them is better than the best shareware programs. Microsoft's Front Page is the most WSIWYG and diverse in its editing tools.
The best shareware editors still must be viewed using your WWW browser. Page Spinner 1.1, displays different font styles, colors and sizes for various tags and commands, as well as allowing the Undo command. HTML Editor for the Macintosh is MacWorld Magazine's pick as the best editor currently. It doesn't have Undo, but it does let you hide tags for semi-WSIWYG.
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