Recently, I was asked to recommend a good image editor that wasn't Photoshop. Now, I have used a number of image editors over the years, and I prefer Photoshop to just about anything. Yet I can understand people looking for an alternative, as Photoshop has a long learning curve and a high price.

There are two graphic editors that I highly recommend for Web work. The first is called GIMP, which stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. Funny name aside, it's an impressive tool. I've used GIMP in the past and have always found it easy to work with. The second graphic editor is Paint.NET, a relatively new product that aims to replace Paint, which is found on most Windows computers. Yet calling it a replacement denies it the credit it deserves. I was impressed with both its functionally and small size.

Both tools easily handle image resizing, cropping, color adjustments, making new images, and converting images to different formats. Additionally, both tools have easy-to-use image optimization features with previews, so you can compress images for use in your sites. Finally, the best thing about these tools is their price: free. Yes, these great tools are available at no cost. Both are open source projects and provide great alternatives to other commercial products that I would never recommend. So load up your development environment with one or both of these graphic editors. Adding some color and graphics to your project doesn't have to be expensive.

One of the greatest things about Web development is that you can customize the look and feel of Web sites and applications. But many developers shy away from this, sticking with the default design of whatever tool they're using. The more adventurous types might add a bit of color to their pages, but it's usually nothing more than the client's logo. And who's to blame them? Design can be difficult, not to mention subjective.

Yet developing an application that not only works well but looks great is important. Humans are visual by nature; we can't help but base a lot of our first impressions on looks. With that in mind, consider developing your next application for the i.LON SmartServer so it's both functional and attractive.

There are plenty of design options out there, though most are commercial products that are expensive or difficult to customize. However, this morning I stumbled upon a great resource for design and inspiration: the Open Source Web Design project. This site contains over 2,000 free open source designs, ranging from those that simply use color well to full-blown designs with images and navigation. And like I said, they're all free, so there's no excuse for those default designs anymore.

The Echelon team is presenting the new features of the i.LON SmartServer at Echelon's International Sales Meeting.  The new product is impressive and has become extensible the platform with a new Freely Programmable Module.  The interface to the product has been updated and provides much greater detail about the devices and applications. 

On the visual side, the new i.LON Vision application is vastly improved and easier to use. The new web interface uses a lot of Ajax technology for some impressive interfaces for a vast array of applications.

more later.. 

Ajax is a very hot topic on the web.  It seems almost every Internet product has Ajax enabled or Ajax powered.  A friend of mine asked me about adding some Ajax to a project.  However, after working on this a bit I realized we were actually talking about two different things.  Yes, you can add Ajax to your i.LON SmartServer applications; most applications already use a Ajax method to update and display data.  But my friend really wanted some exciting visual effects and in the next several weeks, we will be covering this topic.  I hope to cover how to add those cool sliding panels, picture zooms, dynamic Flash graphics, and more.  But before we go down this road, I want to cover what is this Ajax thing and what is not.

Ajax is a buzzword that started to be used several years ago. Things have gotten a little more confusing as the term started to spread in general use.  In the general public, now seems as if just about anything moves or changes on a web page, it is the work of Ajax.  However, this is not really the case.  Most the time if you see a cool moving graphic or something similar, it is a JavaScript framework that did that.  Nor is there really an Ajax product from some company that you have to have to make it work. What term Ajax attempts to describe is a method of using JavaScript and XML to create interaction within web pages (see the defination at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_(programming)).  Sort of like when SOAP came to the web.  It made for a lot of confusion.

So to repeat, Ajax really refers to the exchange of data from the client (in our case, the browser) and the server.  It is the little updates of information.  For example, say I have a page that displays the temperature outside my office.  As the day progresses, the temperature will rise and fall.  Now, if a loaded that page in the morning it might say it was 32 degrees (F).  And if I checked the same page without refreshing it (basically not reloading it), I would see the temperature was the same.  Now an Ajax enabled page would actually update the information as changes were available for the value of the outside temperature without forcing a reload of the page.  Behind the scenes, the client (the browser) is being updated from the server using Ajax.

So, there you have it.  The i.LON SmartServer already does Ajax and its older cousins have been doing it for years. Isn't that great?  Now, the next question you might be asking is, "Ok, I know what Ajax is. But still, how do I add some cool effects to my pages?"

I have some good and bad news about that.  The good news is, that yes you can add some really cool effects to your pages.  The bad news is, it will have to wait till next time.