Best new developer, learning and open-source resources: 24 October

Thirty free tools and websites joined the directory on 24 October, plus ten open-source projects from GitHub. I've sorted them into focus, planning and meetings, design resources, developer utilities, email and website checks, learning to code, research and reading, and open-source apps. Features and pricing change, so check each tool's own page before you rely on it.

Focus, planning and better meetings

LifeAt turns your browser into a calm workspace, with looping scenes, an ambient soundboard, a Pomodoro timer, a to-do list and notes. The free plan gives you the timer, tasks and a limited set of spaces, and the daily planner needs Pro. Tweek lays your week out in simple columns, a lot like a paper planner. Reminders, repeating tasks and calendar sync are part of Premium.

Are.na lets you save links, images, text and files as blocks and sort them into shared channels. There are no ads, and the free plan holds up to 200 blocks. Slido adds live polls, quizzes and an upvoted Q&A to meetings, and it works with PowerPoint, Google Slides, Zoom and Webex. The free Basic plan caps you at 100 participants and three polls per slido. Slides.com builds web-based decks in the browser, though free decks are public and show ads.

Smash sends large files by email or link, no account needed. Free transfers over 2 GB wait in a queue, and links expire after seven days. Wheel of Names picks a random name or option from a list you paste in. Omni Calculator has thousands of free calculators, each with a plain explanation of the formula. Both show ads. Omni's results are estimates, not professional advice, and Wheel of Names isn't meant for official prize draws.

Free design resources

Open Doodles is a set of free sketchy illustrations by Pablo Stanley, free for personal and commercial use with no credit needed. Resource Boy curates free fonts, mockups, textures and other assets. Its own items are royalty-free, but third-party items carry their own licences, so read those before you use them. Design Resources is a hand-picked directory of more than 300 design tools, with some affiliate links, and Sidebar shares five design links every weekday, sponsored slots included.

Everyday developer utilities

Compiler Explorer compiles code in dozens of languages and shows you the generated assembly side by side. Devhints and QuickRef.ME are free cheatsheet collections for languages, tools and editors. They're great for quick lookups, but they won't replace the full documentation. JSFiddle is a playground for HTML, CSS and JavaScript snippets, free with ads. transform.tools converts formats like JSON to TypeScript or CSS to Tailwind, though you may need to tidy the output.

DrawSQL draws database diagrams for MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server and MariaDB. Free diagrams are public only, and exports need a paid plan. Bundlephobia shows how much an npm package adds to your JavaScript bundle and suggests lighter alternatives, though sizes in your own build can differ. DEV Community is a free platform where developers publish articles and tutorials, and quality varies from post to post.

Checking your emails and websites

Can I Email shows which HTML and CSS features work across email clients like Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail. Clients change without notice, though, so real test sends still matter. mail-tester.com scores an email out of ten and explains any problems with SPF, DKIM, DMARC and content, and you get three free tests every 24 hours. SSL Labs Server Test by Qualys grades a public website's HTTPS setup from A to F. The results are technical, so beginners may want to do some reading alongside them.

Learning to code, one exercise at a time

Eloquent JavaScript is a free online book with interactive examples and exercises in every chapter. Frontend Mentor gives you realistic front-end challenges, many of them free, while design files and premium projects need Pro. CSSBattle, Flexbox Froggy and SQLBolt teach by doing: you recreate target images in as little CSS as possible, guide frogs across 24 flexbox levels, and write real SQL queries in the browser. Flexbox Froggy and SQLBolt only cover the basics.

Research and good reading

Wikipedia is the free, ad-free encyclopedia run by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Article quality varies, so don't make it your only source for serious work. The Public Domain Review is a non-profit online journal of curious public domain art, books and film. Rights can vary by country and item.

Open-source apps worth a look

A few of the ten GitHub projects are all about files. BentoPDF and OmniTools process PDFs, images and more right in your browser instead of uploading them. ConvertX converts between more than a thousand formats on your own server, and it needs Docker. linkding is a minimal bookmark manager you host yourself, with tags, Markdown notes and browser extensions.

For notes and tasks, QOwnNotes keeps notes as plain Markdown files on Windows, macOS and Linux. Kanri is an offline Kanban app that keeps everything in one local file. There's no sync or team sharing, and no 1.0 release yet. Beaver Habit Tracker puts consistency ahead of goals, and you can self-host it or use a hosted version with paid plans.

Three projects involve AI. Chatbox Community Edition is a client for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek or local models through Ollama. It uses your own keys, so you pay the providers for your usage. anarlog is a private meeting notetaker that records on your own device, and some local features are Mac-only. Hyperresearch is a deep research skill for Claude Code and OpenAI Codex that checks citations before it writes a report. You'll need one of those tools plus API usage.

All of these, along with every other tool and guide, are in the full Best Productivity Resources directory, where you can filter by category, pricing and platform.