How to Read, Write, and Arithmetic – A Follow-up on “Writer’s Toolbox”

Fellow Hubbers, "ericsomething" put together a really fine article that described many, if not all, of the tools he used to create written works. I have referenced his article below, and I recommend it to you for your study. ericsomething makes use of some interesting equipment and software, some of which he personally modified. He states that he has two computers, one of which is a newer notebook computer with which he can access the Internet. His other computer does not connect to the Internet, and it is the one on which he does his actual writing. Very interesting.

I mentioned to ericsomething that I would try to follow his article with one from here. The attempt was to be made to show the tools that I use in my writing and Web site work. There are many, some of which I use a whole lot, and others that are used only on occasion. Some cost me real money, not a lot, but, then, I don’t have much money to toss around. Many of the programs were cost-free, but those, too, are great programs, and I use them heavily.

Because I am no kind of artist or imager, some of the programs are used to generate suitable pictures and illustrations to accompany writings. To make things easy and handy, I purchased some photo and clipart sets on CD and DVD. They contain millions of images and will ordinarily contain suitable stuff. There are also very large libraries of photos and clipart available online over the Internet, and sometimes I find it necessary to augment what I have on file here with their artwork.

When the photos and clipart are not quite what I want, I have several programs on board that allow me to edit and make small or substantial changes to them. One program even allows me to alter a sharp photo so that it appears as an artist-drawn sketch or painting. Pretty nifty! Another program permits me to convert mechanically scanned images into Web-suitable photos in many formats. Things like these make it easy for a dummy like me to produce remarkable images. Not bad for someone who cannot draw a straight line by himself, right?

Other programs are used to obtain information, starting with finding it. What a writer doesn’t know about, he or she cannot write about. You can include the better of the search engine programs on this list. I like one of those programs that actually retains a record of the search within itself such that you can refer to it again and again without having to re-enter the search parameters again and again. Furthermore, that particular program (it was free, by the way) does its searching for you using multiple search engines.

An important piece of software that everyone should have on board is, minimally, the one that allows reading of PDF file documents. There are several of those programs around. I have the freebie, Adobe Reader. Not all that often, but deadly to you if you cannot handle it, some PDF files are closed to the ordinary free Adobe Reader program. So as to be able to read even those, I have another program that opens and displays them for me. It, too, was free.

Some things that I want to see or do from the Internet have file extensions that befuddle my old computer (and, of course, me, too). I picked up a nifty program that can look at those files and come up with whatever it takes to open them and allows me to see or use them in some manner.

Because I have to maintain several Web sites, it is of importance to have software sitting here that can be used to produce Web pages in addition to publication-ready and PDF-style files as well. For such things I have several programs that I paid for up front and have updated over the years. Remarkably enough, folks can actually get free versions for their own use.

Writers typically believe themselves to be super-smart. That is, they tend to consider that they know pretty much everything there is to know. Ahh me! Back in my more youthful days (up to age 70 or so) that’s kinda the way I thought, too. Now that I have matured a bit and will soon surpass those aching 80’s, I know better. See, there is still evidence of that smart-ass attitude, right? I have some great dictionaries and encyclopedias available, but they are so doggoned big that I left them on the Internet and get to them that way when I need to. One is a combination dictionary/thesaurus, and you must have one if you would write for a living. Another is a language translator for about 30 different languages. Yet another is a dictionary/translator that handles German, English, Spanish, and French languages. Finally, because many people write about religion and because I once studied it for one of my graduate study deals, I have copies of the Christian bible, the Koran, and some others sitting on my hard disk for ready reference. I use some huge book libraries that are on the Net for access to all sorts of books – thousands and thousands of them. Sometimes I will download some of those and keep them on my computer disk for reference, study, or just plan pleasure. Some are in the form of "talking books," while others are in PDF format, html format (those two permitting them to be fully illustrated), and just plain ASCII text files.

In order that pages I produce can be uploaded and shown on my own Web sites, I make use of programs that push things around using "FTP" (file transfer protocol) to do the job. The pushing around can go in both directions – from here to the sites and from the sites back to here. Thus, I can use extra space on my Web sites to store files for which I may want to spare local file space but still have ready access for editing or some sort of re-use.

ericsomething had one thing in his own writer’s toolbox that he considered to be essential. It is no different here. It IS essential. Hot coffee.

Without further yakkiing and bragging, if that is what it is, here is a list of some software that I use in my own writer’s toolbox. If any reader here wants to learn where they might get their own software copies, free or for dollars, they can always contact me using the Hubpages eMail communication deal.

Writing software:

Microsoft Word – word processor and PowerPoint image presenter

Open Office (free) – word processor, image presenter (like PowerPoint), database handler, spreadsheet processor (like excel), drawing, and mathematics formula creator

Serif Software Series – word processor, PDF creator, Web page creator, whole publications creator, image handler, panoramic image creator, and more (some Serif programs are available free)

Readers and Converters:

Adobe Reader (free) – used to display, print, and save-to-file PDF file documents

CopiStar (free) – used to open some "protected" PDF files

PDF to ePub (free) used to convert PDF files into ePub format files

Can’t Open the File Software:

FileCure – helps to open and utilize files that have unknown file extensions

Drawing and Imaging software:

Paint

Serif 3D Plus (free)

Gimp2 (free)

Serif Photo Plus – used to handle photos and to select and convert photo formats

Logo Creator – used to create reproducible logo art of many kinds

Blender (free) – for creating cartoons and other artwork

PhotoSketcher (free) – converts photos to sketches, painting, etc.

Ulead Photo Express – handles output from digital scanners and allows conversion to digital images, etc.

Inkscape (free) – a drawing and image editing program with great lettering abilities

Photo and Clip Art Libraries:

Click Art

Biz Art

Logo Creator (also listed above) – has some available and usable artwork

Maps:

Google Earth (free) (a resident program that accesses the Internet)

MapQuest – accessible on the Internet

Dictionaries and reference items:

Dictionary.com – on the Internet

Leo.org – German/English/Spanish/French dictionary and thesaurus

Theophilus (free) – King James Christian bible with dictionary and interpretation

Koran – I downloaded a copy from Gutenberg.org and have it on CD

Search Engines:

Copernicus (free) – resident on my PC (uses multiple search engines and stores searches

Google.com – on the Internet

Bing.com – on the Internet

Dogpile.com – on the Internet

Note: When one search engine doesn’t show it, another might do so.

File Compression and Decompression:

WinZip

Jzip

Text to Verbal Sound Creation: (useful for making "talking books")

Word Read modules (available from Serif and other sources in different voices)

Audio File Production and Handling:

Digital Wave Player – audio file storage and replay (useful for interviews)

Audacity (free) – records and stores audio [sound] files of many types

Media Players:

Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer

Presentation (free) with Open Office – can be used to create and view PowerPoint files

Various other media players - (free) such as iTunes. Windows Media Player, QuickTime Player

CD/DVD Production and Duplication:

Roxio CD - creates and duplicates CD and DVD disks

cdr Tools Frontend (free) – very comprehensive as to formatting

File Transfer:

WS_FTP95LE (sometimes free) – transfer files bi-directionally to and from the Web

FileZilla FTP (free) transfer files bidirectionally to and from the Web

Internet Browsers:

Microsoft Internet Explorer – usually preloaded on the computer before purchase

Mozilla Firefox (free) – very competitive with MS-IE

Google Chrome (free)

There may be some more programs and access points that are not listed here, but which I do have available, but those are the main ones. I use the Microsoft Windows XP on one computer and Linux (Suse Version 9) on another computer. All of the items listed above are on the Windows XP machine. I felt that most Hubbers would probably make use of that system.

I have downloaded much of my free software from http://www.sourceforge.net. Reference materials of many kinds are available for downloading from http://www.gutenberg.org.

Useful references to other Hubpages articles on this specific and on the general subject as well:

http://hubpages.com/hub/Whats-in-your-writers-toolbox (by ericsomething)

http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Make-a-Web-Page-Using-Serif-Page-Plus-Software

http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-get-even-more-FREE-writers-software

http://hubpages.com/hub/Quickly-Translate-Web-Pages-and-File-Pages

http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-make-photo-cartoons-for-the-non-artist-writer

http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-have-some-MORE-fun-using-FREE-Panorama-software

http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-have-a-bit-of-fun-chasing-bits-with-Inkscape

http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-become-an-instant-artist

http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-record-voice-beautiful-music-and-just-plain-noise-on-your-computer

http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-get-MORE-free-audiobooks-that-talk-to-you-out-loud

I hope that everyone will enjoy and make use of these computer tools (and the coffee) that both ericsomething and I have described. It would be most interesting to find out what writing tools you are already putting to use.