Web applications have become popular due to the ubiquity of web browsers, and the convenience of using a web browser as a client, sometimes called a thin client.
The ability to update and maintain web applications without distributing and installing software on potentially thousands of client computers is a key reason for their popularity, as is the inherent support for cross-platform compatibility. Common web applications include webmail, online retail sales, online auctions, wikis and many other functions. In practice, web interfaces, compared to thick clients, typically force significant sacrifice to user experience and basic usability.
Web applications absolutely require compatible web browsers. When a browser vendor decides not to implement a certain feature, or abandons a particular platform or operating system version, this may affect a huge number of users; Browser applications are dependent on application files which are accessed on remote servers through the Internet. Therefore, when a connection is interrupted, the application is no longer usable. However, if it uses HTML5 API’s such as Offline Web application caching, it can be downloaded and installed locally, for offline use. Google Gears, although no longer in active development, is a good example of a third party plugin for web browsers which provides additional functionality for creating web applications.
Since many web applications are not open source, there is also a loss of flexibility, making users dependent on third-party servers, not allowing customizations on the software and preventing users from running applications offline (in most cases). However, if licensed, proprietary software can be customized and run on the preferred server of the rights owner. For this article we have collected 10 Web Apps for simplifying a few of your Web related tasks.
1. Screensiz.es : Delivers Screen Size Information for Popular Devices
Screensiz.es is a website which lists important data about varying screen resolutions of widely-used mobiles + tablet screens as well as monitors. With Screenzie.es It becomes possible in determining the operating system used, physical size, resolution, PPI and pixel-density values. Devices can also be sorted by popularity, which is a good way to decide which resolutions are your main target.
2. Picksum Ipsum
Picksum Ipsum is dummy text generator that is pretty original and fun. It has a database of lines from 4 Hollywood legends: Client Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Jim Carrey. We can choose the number of paragraphs and if tags are needed or not. Also, a “rumble” option exists for creating a mixed filler text from 2 of the selected artists.
3. Clipping Magic :For Removing Backgrounds from Images
Clipping Magic is a free and web-based tool that simplifies the removal of any background from photos to create masks, cutouts, or clipping paths. It is built by the Vector Magic team, who are already experienced in the field, and works by simply: uploading an image with drag ‘n’ drop, choosing the foreground and background, and downloading the result with removed background. The tool works very well with elements which have visible borders and a must-bookmark for anyone willing to improve their online-only toolbox.
4. Secret of Browsers Developers Tools
Secrets of the Browser Developer Tools is a website that provides detailed information regarding the usage and capabilities of various Browsers. It provides tips for all major browsers such as : Chrome, Firefox, Safari, IE, Opera. They are already categorized and can be filtered by browser as well. Anyone from novice to pros, can find some new and useful information on this website.
5. Unicode Table : For Unicode Characters
Unicode-Table is a website providing great unicode character tables which list unicode numbers and HTML codes of any character. Characters can be sorted as categories and a search exists for locating them easily. Also, the website has an encode and decoder for converting any text.
6. Icovault : Web Based Icon Font Generator
Iconvault allows the creation of Icon-Fonts for scalable vector graphics which means there is no need for multiple images or sprites for different devices. They will scale gracefully and look great at all resolutions even Retina displays. It takes the filename and adds an “icon-prefix” to it for the CSS file. Also, there is a growing library of custom icons by Iconvault.
7. Infinite WP : Control Multiple WP Installations
InfiniteWP is a free and self-hosted application (PHP-MySQL) that allowsmanaging any number of WordPress installations from a single interface. Under a single login, you can add all your WordPress sites and perform plugin/version updates, backup/restores and manage themes for a single site or for all of them.
8. JS Hint : Detect Errors and Problems in JavaScript
JSHint is a community-driven tool to detect errors and potential problems in JavaScript code and to enforce your team’s coding conventions. It is very flexible so you can easily adjust it to your particular coding guidelines and the environment you expect your code to execute in. The goal is to help JavaScript developers write complex programs without worrying about typos and language gotchas.
9. Web Color Data : Analyzes Color Used on Websites
Web Colour Data is a web service to easily find out “which colors are used on a web page”. It works by simply submitting a URL and the service auto-extracts + analyzes the colors in it. The color palette is presented with a breakdown in percentages and hue distribution.
10. GistBox : To Organize Your Code Snippets
GistBox is the beautiful way to organize code snippets. Your library is saved to the cloud for backup. Never worry about snippets getting lost in the shuffle. GistBox was built on standard HTML5 technologies. On the go or at the office, you’ll always have GistBox.
中文翻译：http://www.csdn.net/article/2013-06-17/2815800-web-apps-for-developers