Closure Tools is set of opensource (release info) developer tools by Google which are used while building Gmail, Google Maps, Google Docs  & many others.

The tools include a JavaScript compiler, library & templating system.

JavaScript Compiler

It compiles JavaScript into compact, high-performance code. The compiler removes dead code and rewrites and minimizes what's left so that it downloads and runs quickly.

It also checks syntax, variable references, and types, and warns about common JavaScript pitfalls.

The compiler also offers a Firebug extension, named Inspector, for better debugging.

Closure Library

It is a broad, well-tested, modular, & cross-browser JavaScript library.

Only what you need can be pulled from a large set of reusable UI widgets, controls, lower-level utilities for DOM manipulation, server communication, animation, data structures, unit testing, rich-text editing, & more.

Closure Templates

They simplifty the task of dynamically generating HTML.

In contrast to traditional templating systems, in which you use one big template per page, you can think of Closure Templates as small components that you compose to form your user interface.

nopCommerce is an open source shopping cart software that is built with ASP.NET & uses MSSQL for storing the data.

It comes with a powerful backend & highly customizable frontend.

nopCommerce has all the features of a standard e-commerce websites & offers more like:

• support for kit products (e.g. build your own computer)
• real-time currency exchange rates
• multilingual interface
• compare selected products
• highly flexible shipping calculation (integrated providers, width/height/order total based & more)
• tax calculations by country/state/product & more
• built-in forum & polls
• wishlist

One of the most impressive parts of the software is the integrated marketing capabilities it has. You can customize the design of a product or category page, create any type of discounts & even activate an affiliate system.

nopCommerce supports most of the popular payment gateways & with its pluggable modular/layered architecture, new ones can be added with ease (some are already created).

Adobe AIR applications are great considering the ease-of-use & simplicity they offer.

Almost regulary, WRD is sharing the fresh Adobe AIR applications that web designers & developers will find useful, like:

• 15 New Adobe AIR Applications For Designers & Developers
  
• 16 Fresh Adobe AIR Applications For Designers & Developers
  
• 27 Adobe AIR Applications – Handy For Web Designers
  

Since then, new applications are created & ready to use. And, here they are:

Image Editing, Debugging & Invoicing

zFlick

This is an awesome Flickr search tool that makes browsing between images fun.

Once you find what you're looking for, just drag'n drop that image to your desktop to download it.

PixelWindow

It helps measuring the width/height of any item on the desktop. With a semi-transparent background & custom-presets, it is a great helper when prototyping websites.

Read the rest of this entry »

FireQuery is a Firefox add-on that extends Firebug with new jQuery-focused features.

It adds extra functions to the HTML tab like showing embedded data elements & event handlers inserted using jQuery.

All the jQuery expressions are presented in Firebug Console + DOM inspector and elements in jQuery collections are highlighted on hover.

Also, the jQueryify bookmarklet is integrated into FireQuery which makes injecting jQuery into any website possible.

Mu is a JavaScript library for enabling Facebook Connect on any website with ease.

It makes accessing the following possible:

• Identity: the user's name, photo and more
• Social Graph: the user's friends and connections
• Distribution: the Stream, and the ability to communicate
• Integration: publishers, canvas pages, profile boxes & tabs

Mu is lightweight can be used with other libraries with no conflicts.

There is also a console provided for experimenting the Mu APIs.

conjoon is a web-based open source application, built with the Zend Framework, that focuses on message exchanging.

Currently, it is a full-featured webmail & RSS reader client with contacts management. But the upcoming releases show that it will also have an integrated Twitter client with multiple accounts support.

Thanks to Ext JS, the application has a slick desktop-like interface with tabs, drag'n drops & more.

It comes with a web-based installer & requires PHP/MySQL to run.

Script.aculo.us is the most widely used add-on for the Prototype JavaScript Framework with the features like animations, drag'n drop, Ajax control & more.

Its second version, renamed as Scripty2, is out with a complete rewrite. It is lightweight (5kb compressed), flexible & works faster.

The library is currently in alpha status & there are still parts that need to be developed or improved. On the other hand, it is very promising & already being used by several big projects.

And, besides the Scripty2 homepage itself, the demos show how it will be empowering Prototype JS.

Retrospectiva is an open source project management & bug-tracking application that is focused on development teams.

It is built with Ruby on Rails & requires a MySQL database for storing the data.

It has 3 main modules:

• ticketing: to manage issues/requests
• code review / revision management: supports Subversion & Git)
• milestones / goals: to set & manage objectives for the project

And, comes with various add-ons like:

• wiki: manage documentation
• blog: to interact with the community, make announcements.
• agilePM: comprehensive support for your agile development process
• & more, which can be found in the wiki's installation pages.

Retrospectiva has an easy-to-use admin interface, a XML-REST-based API for integration with 3rd party applications & RSS support for following every content much simpler.

After The Deadline is a project of Automattic (the creator of Wordpress) which checks:

• spelling
• grammar
• styles (finds complex phrases, cliches, bias-language & suggests simple ones)
• and detects misused words (has a database of 1500 most misused words & suggestions)

The software used to come as a plugin for several projects (like Wordpress, RoundCube, PHP List) but it is now open source and anybody can embed it to their own code.

Besides the artificial intelligence it already has, it is possible to add new rules & improve the application.

The project also has libraries for jQuery, Ruby & Python to make developing new plugins easier.

Every web application that works member-based needs a functionality where visitors can register & manage their profiles.

UserCake is a free user management system, built with PHP/MySQL, which aims to be a foundation to ease creating the application.

UserCake is object-oriented, cleanly written, well commented, formatted & documented.

It offers the following functions:

• Login
• Register
• Lost password
• Update password
• Update user details
• Email templates (optional)
• Account activation (optional)
• User groups (Basic, id – group_name)

The system comes with frequently used member-page functions like isUserLoggedIn() or isGroupMember($id) which will help developing faster.

And, in means of security, UserCake uses salt along with a SHA1 hash.