Freeware Alternative

[coathanger007]

Before plunging into your wallet consider this. You probably will not need to make a monetary sacrifice to obtain that software suite. I would suggest thousands of dollars worth of expenditure accumulated over the years in expectation of the well-marketed though somewhat illusive return on investment supposedly directly attributed to the row of boxed, overpriced, legally licensed 'bulk-ware' lining your shelf. But there is hope if you are a home user or non profit organisation...FREEWARE.

Freeware is the alternative sought especially in the face of ever increasing retail software prices, yearly update payment options and the introduction of software licensing schemes. Unbeknown to many is the availability of free legal alternatives for marketed retail software. For example, you can replace Microsoft Office with SOT Office (an enhanced version of OpenOffice), 602PCSuite or EasyOffice. Instead of purchasing McAfee or Norton packages you could download Avast! Antivirus, Diskeeper lite, JV16 Powertools or PC Inspector File Recovery for free. My website is created entirely with freeware !

There are hidden costs such as time taken scouring the net for viable alternatives (though I have searched out the best freeware for you on this site), lack of convenient technical support and no guarantees of the software remaining free in perpetuity. I still believe monetary expenditure saved is well worth the trouble. NOTE: RESORTING TO CRACKED ILLEGAL SOFTWARE IS DOWNRIGHT WRONG. AS A CHRISTIAN AND LAW ABIDING CITIZEN I STRONGLY DISAGREE WITH ANYONE WHO BREAKS THE LAW IN THIS WAY !

For a sample, visit my website
http://decentdownloads.freeservers.com/
I have only included what I perceive to be the best freeware for each category.

 

[Perris Calderon]

your page looks nice.

your post starts out looking like an advertisment, but the programs you list are nice

check out out great free programs thread.

all of these are mentioned, plus some I'm sure you'll add to your page.

welcome to our board...stick around and help out

 

[SPeedY_B]

I get my software from http://sourceforge.net/

 

[Nick M]

He has some nice screensavers there.

 

[coathanger007]

Done a major update of the entire site implementing suggestions from this and other forums and emails etc. Both content and layout have been updated.

 

[Perris Calderon]

thanx coathanger007

you'be become quite an asset to the members here

 

[delta4s]

great collection

 

[coathanger007]

Thanks guys. I've had great responses from other forums.

I'm just wondering why my frontpage hangs for ages before loading on a 56k. Does anyone know a fix?

 

[Tuffgong4]

awesome work...yeah even on my cable internet it hangs a little but those precious seconds are worth the wait for the website

 

[Cormack]

yeah great site.
It's amazing that you can allways find a good free alternative to every program out there

 

[Meehowski]

Super...............good one.........

 

[Alan]

Originally posted by coathanger007
Thanks guys. I've had great responses from other forums.

I'm just wondering why my frontpage hangs for ages before loading on a 56k. Does anyone know a fix?

It might be something to do with your host..[freeservers]

I'm on broadband and the page takes forever to load....god only knows what its like on 56k

You have obviously put a lot of hard work into your site, its just looking a bit mish mashed ...not looking tight and together......

You could lose some of the Graphics...the page image rollover buttons are pretty large...maybe reduce the size of them...or use a small neat button...or even text....I downloaded the page and just by removing the page link image/buttons the loading time was reduced by some 10secs....you need a banner/logo but this can also be reduced in size at the moment this takes 5secs alone on 56k to load

If you want to make a new logo/banner try this site Cooltext.com

For some cool buttons Free buttons.com

You will lose more visitors with the long wait....you need your page up and ready within 20secs if not faster these days....

If you need anymore help with design and set up post in the coding section....the guys there are brilliant and always willing to help

HTH
Alan

 

[coathanger007]

Thanks for the advice. I'm not too sure what you mean by not tight and together. I like the free scrolling style. Personal preference. The free buttons site is nice but I don't see the point of the text site. I've removed the banner ads (didn't get many clicks anyway). The button images are small - only 5-6k each. Even a 56k shoudn't struggle with this. I am considering reducing the images on the other pages though.

 

[Alan]

The other pages load ok......so this must lead to the assumption the image/buttons on the home page are causing the lag....


Have you tried removing them as a test and seeing any significant loading times?


When I say "not tight and together" I mean the layout of the page..the font...the background....all the text is centered but the page is linng up to the left, its not one or the other .....these are just a few simple things that can make the difference in apperance.....it all looks mish matched [mish mashed]....i.e. not tight and together

We don't want to start highjacking this thread....start a new one over at coding and design.....there are people over there with more knowledge than me who would be more than willing to help

HTH
Alan

 

[coathanger007]

No one has ever complained about the alignment before. It's just the style of the site. Buttons are aligned to the left as it gives the impression of leaves sprouting from a branch (brown left margin of page). I have tried left aligning text before and the result is shocking. So I'm leaving that as is.

I've removed the images and still had the same loading problem. So I've replaced the images. I suspect that freeservers loads its banner adverts before loading anything else causing the delay. All my other pages are hosted on my ISP server and don't have this problem. Unfortunately I would lose too much traffic if I changed out from freeservers and freeservers has webdesign features that no other free server provides.

lol - noticed you said 'we' - must be a couple of people interested in helping. I'll post in coding.