JW Player

I've been using this tool for sometime now, but feel it is worth a mention here.  With all of the available platforms, operating systems, and browser versions, it is very hard to choose a player that will render your video across the board.  Until JW player was recently updated to display in html 5 format, that is.

This is one powerful player. It is open source and downloads are free if not used for commercial use.  The great thing about it is that the website offers tons of documentation, and a wizard that will generate the code you need to just plug into your website where you want the player to display.

The best thing about is that it automatically detects whether a flash player or a player in html 5 should be used.  As we all know, iOS devices can't display flash, which is what html 5 is for.  And if neither will work (which might happen in older versions of browsers), it will offer the file for download.

It sure solved many problems for me, and I highly recommend it.

 

It is available for download at http://www.longtailvideo.com.  You can choose the "viral" version of the download if you want embed/share capabilities displayed at the end.

My rating: 4.5 stars out of 5!

Dia Structure Drawing Software

Back at posting on this blog a bit more regularly.  I've been crazy busy with school, many major papers were due but I'm taking the summer off to develop some online courses.

One tool I've made a lot of use of is Dia, a freeware program that draws very cool diagrams.  It can be used for flowcharts, concept diagrams, and I even used it for a "rich picture" for one assignment.

One of the things I love about it is that if you are drawing connective arrows that are anchored to two or more boxes, and move the boxes, the arrows come with them.  You can import images, and draw just about any shape with the inclusion of an add-on, also available for free.  You can make the boxes any colour you want, which makes drawings very visually appealing.

Drawings can be saved in the native format, or exported to either jpg or png format so that they can be used in other programs.

If I were to find fault with it, it would be that entering and editing text in the boxes is a bit awkward, sometimes a bit hit and miss.   It would be nice to be able to specify default font type, alignment, font size without having to change it to what you want for every box.

It's available for download at
http://live.gnome.org/Dia

My rating: 3.5 starts out of 5!