--- title: 'Web Design on Linux' url: 'https://worldoweb.co.uk/2011/web-design-on-linux' markdown: 'https://worldoweb.co.uk/2011/web-design-on-linux.md' date: '2011-10-29' description: 'Web design on Linux is possible although Microsoft and Apple computers are no doubt the web designer’s choice when it comes to creating websites. Adobe software has become the niche and the creative professionals favourite for many years. Here are a few of those tools to get your creative juices flowing.' taxonomy: category: - 'Web Development' - Linux tag: - Tools - Graphics --- # Web Design on Linux Published on October 29, 2011 by Tracy Ridge in [Web Development](https://worldoweb.co.uk/category/category:Web%20Development) [Linux](https://worldoweb.co.uk/category/category:Linux) Web design on Linux is possible although Microsoft and Apple computers are no doubt the web designer’s choice when it comes to creating websites. Adobe software has become the niche and the creative professionals favourite for many years. Linux on the other hand has improved considerably over the past few years and now it is possible to create beautiful websites with the plethora of tools available. Here are a few of those tools to get your creative juices flowing. ### Graphics and Web Design I am sure by now you have probably heard of [GIMP](https://www.gimp.org/ "GIMP") and [Inkscape](https://www.inkscape.org/ "Inkscape"). Gimp is similar to Adobe Photoshop is excellent for touching up photos and creating pixel based designs. [MyPaint](https://mypaint.intilinux.com/ "MyPaint") is a paint program which is designed for pressure sensitive graphics tablets. Inkscape on the other hand is similar to Adobe Illustrator and is extremely useful for drawing and creating scalable graphics such as logos and icons. [Xara Xtreme](https://www.xaraxtreme.org/ "Xara Xtreme") is also another popular tool for vector drawings. [Shutter](https://shutter-project.org/ "Shutter") is a screenshot tool that is useful for capturing and editing screenshots for your blog or website. For resizing images with speed you could use [Shrink O’Matic](https://toki-woki.net/p/Shrink-O-Matic/ "Shrink-O-Matic") which is a drag and drop Adobe Air application. [Trimage](https://github.com/Kilian/Trimage "Trimage") is a small utility to compress images and [Gloobus-Preview](https://gloobus.wordpress.com/ "Gloobus-Preview") is an excellent tool for displaying images quickly without the need to open them in GIMP or Inkscape. ### Coding Dreamweaver has dominated the web design market for many years for creating WYSIWYG websites. On the other hand coding your own website is always encouraged to be able to learn web design properly. [Aptana Studio](https://www.aptana.com/products/studio3.html "Aptana Studio") is a very powerful piece of software as is [Eclipse](https://www.eclipse.org/ "Eclipse"), [Komode Edit](https://www.activestate.com/komodo-edit "komodo Edit") and [Netbeans](https://netbeans.org/ "Netbeans"). Hardcore enthusiasts use [Emacs](https://www.gnu.org/s/emacs/ "Emacs") and [Vim](https://www.vim.org/ "Vim"). If you want a lightweight editor then [Gedit](https://projects.gnome.org/gedit/ "Gedit"), [Bluefish](https://bluefish.openoffice.nl/index.html "Bluefish") and [Geany](https://www.geany.org/ "Geany") are extremely popular. ### Fonts If you are designing logos then you may have lots of fonts installed in your system. [Fonty Python](https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/fontypython/ "Fonty Python") is a font manager and organiser where you can browse and install fonts. ![Fonty Python](https://worldoweb.co.uk/images/0/1/b/3/c/01b3c973755d04f8f04702c4b0e8f7ef4c0d7900-fontypython.png "Fonty Python") Fonty python lets you create groups of fonts, known as pogs, which you can install/uninstall with one click. Another great feature also is having the ability to compress your pog or pogs into a zip file for easy transportation if you change to a different Linux distribution and require a quick install. ### Testing Websites The majority of browsers now are extensible and have tools for checking your websites for errors and tweaking code etc. [Firebug](https://getfirebug.com/ "Firebug") and [Web Developer Toolbar](https://chrispederick.com/work/web-developer/ "Web Developer Toolbar") both come at the top of the list. [Xampp](https://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html "Xampp") for Linux is a web server and is excellent for testing your PHP/MYSQL powered websites. ### File Transfer [Filezilla](https://filezilla-project.org/ "Filezilla") is great for accessing your server to upload or download your files. [Cross FTP](https://www.crossftp.com/ "Cross FTP") is also a useful Firefox extension that’s worth checking out. ### Other Useful Tools One of the most used pieces of software on my Linux desktop is actually a very simple piece of software. [Clipit](https://github.com/CristianHenzel/ClipIt "Clipit") is a an excellent clipboard manager. If you copy and paste a lot this is the tool for you. I highly recommend a clipboard manager regardless of whether you do web deign or not. [Meld](https://meld.sourceforge.net/ "Meld") is a extremely useful 2/3 way file and directory comparison tool. ![Meld File Comparison](https://worldoweb.co.uk/images/0/c/7/c/6/0c7c6ca7b5cc15b20f3db98652824ca7d8ac69b7-meld.png "Meld File Comparison") [Getting Things Gnome](https://gtgnome.net/) is a excellent piece of software to organise your tasks which also synchronises with [Remember The Milk](https://www.rememberthemilk.com/ "Remember The Milk") and also makes use of the [Hamster](https://projecthamster.wordpress.com/ "Hamster") Time tracking applet. [VirtualBox](https://www.virtualbox.org/ "VirtualBox") is great for testing your websites in alternative Operating systems without having to restart in your computer. [Web Developer Tools](https://gnome-look.org/content/show.php?content=129726%3Ftarget%3D_blank "Web Developer Tools") (WDT) is like a swiss army knife of web tools including image processors, editors, decoders, compressors and server side tools. ### Conclusion Do you develop or design using Linux? Have I missed anything that you think warrants a mention? I am quite surprised that with all the Linux distributions out there no one has developed a web/graphic design based distribution. Who knows maybe in next few years we might be seeing one! ### Share [X](https://x.com/intent/tweet?text=Web%20Design%20on%20Linux&url=https%3A%2F%2Fworldoweb.co.uk%2F2011%2Fweb-design-on-linux&via=worldoweb "Share on X") [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fworldoweb.co.uk%2F2011%2Fweb-design-on-linux "Share on Facebook") [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fworldoweb.co.uk%2F2011%2Fweb-design-on-linux&title=Web%20Design%20on%20Linux "Share on Reddit") [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fworldoweb.co.uk%2F2011%2Fweb-design-on-linux "Share on LinkedIn") [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/intent/compose?text=Web%20Design%20on%20Linux%20https%3A%2F%2Fworldoweb.co.uk%2F2011%2Fweb-design-on-linux "Share on Bluesky") [Email](mailto:?subject=Web%20Design%20on%20Linux&body=https%3A%2F%2Fworldoweb.co.uk%2F2011%2Fweb-design-on-linux "Share via email") #### Tags [ Tools](https://worldoweb.co.uk/tag/tag:Tools) [ Graphics](https://worldoweb.co.uk/tag/tag:Graphics) ##### Next [ ← Fix 3G Error after Upgrading Android on HTC Desire HD ](https://worldoweb.co.uk/2012/fix-3g-error-after-upgrading-android-on-htc-desire-hd) OR ##### Previous [ Top 10- Websites to get your Inspiration from → ](https://worldoweb.co.uk/2011/top-10-websites-to-get-your-inspiration-from) --- ## Navigation - Next: [Top 10- Websites to get your Inspiration from](https://worldoweb.co.uk/2011/top-10-websites-to-get-your-inspiration-from.md)