Dennis is an instructional designer from New England. He maintains the weblog "Sailing by the Sound".

Dennis's Top 10 Tools as at 31 March 2008

1. Firefox  - I've used Internet Explorer and tried Opera, but the sheer versatility of Firefox is beyond compare. The wealth of extensions (including being able to channel IE through one of your tabs) makes it the Swiss Army Knife of browsers.

2. Microsoft Live Writer - This has become my chosen blog posting software. Microsoft has actually developed a tool that does not require the use of Microsoft Internet Explorer browser to fully utilize its functionality. that is not

3. Microsoft FolderShare  - This is a great tool to synchronize documents between computers without having to use an ftp site or jump drives.

4. Tiddlywiki - Tiddlywiki bills itself as a wiki on a stick. It's great for research projects where I use it to keep all of my project notes together.. It's programmed entirely using HTML, CSS, and javascript so that it will function in any modern browser and can be carried around on a simple jump drive.

5. Google Reader- I actually use both Bloglines and Google Reader, but I'm listing only GoogleReader here because I use it solely for blogs about learning. I reserve Bloglines for my non-learning blogs. This way when I am devoting time to see what topics my peers are addressing I'm not lured to a non-learning blog.

6. Notepad++ ( - I use the portable version that I keep on a jump drive that I can use for simple text editing. Like Notetab it has tabs capability to have more than one file open at a time.

7. GIMP - GIMP is my graphics editing tool of choice. It has all of the strengths of Adobe Photoshop and it's free. This is another application that I use as the portable version, so that I have it with me on my jump drive where ever I go.

8. Blogger - I use Blogger to host my personal web log. It has all the features I need without having to learn how to set up server features.

9. Digsby - While I still carry Pidgin portable instant messenger on my jump drive while I travel, I have recently converted to Digsby, which allows me to track my instant messages, email and activity on my Twitter and Facebook social networks

Dennis's Top 10 Tools as at 24 July 2007

1. Firefox - I've used Internet Explorer and tried Opera, but the sheer versatility of Firefox is beyond compare. The wealth of extensions (including being able to channel IE through one of your tabs) makes it the Swiss Army Knife of browsers

2. Zoho Online - This online office package has everything--word processor, spreadsheet, presentation package, wiki, notebook, chat, and more. It's light years ahead of Google's online documents and spreadsheets.

3. Google Reader - Actually there is a tie at this position with Bloglines. I use Google Reader for my learning blogs and Bloglines for my non-learning blog. This way when I am devoting time to see what topics my peers are addressing I'm not lured to a non-learning blog.

4. HTML-Kit - I use HTML-Kit for my web authoring. It has the flexibility to do hand coding, but if I get lazy it has the shortcuts to quickly add the typical code that is used over and over. It also has built in browser capability that allows you to view what your HTML page looks like in both Internet Explorer and Firefox.

5. Notepad++ - I use the portable version that I keep on a jump drive that I can use for simple text editing. Like Notetab it has tabs capability to have more than one file open at a time.

6. GIMP - GIMP is my graphics editing tool of choice. It has all of the strengths of Adobe Photoshop and it's free. This is another application that I use as the portable version, so that I have it with me on my jump drive where ever I go.

7. Blogger - I use Blogger to host my personal web log. It has all the features I need without having to learn how to set up server features.

8. GAIM Instant Messaging (now Pidgin)- I tend to IM across a number of different platforms and GAIM gives me the ability to access all of them, except Google Messenger. It also is portable, so again it rides on my jump drive.

9. Google Mail -  I use Google Mail to control all my email. I funnel all non-corporate email through Google Mail for one-stop mail tracking

10. Miro ((formerly Democracy Player) - I use this to manage my podcast and vidcast subscriptions. It's as powerful as iTunes