Free Controls on the Web
There are hundreds of high-quality third-party controls out there that you can use
to make development easier. Most of the best ones cost a significant amount of money
(and they often are worth it). However, there are some exceptions to the rule —
yes, there are fine controls available that are completely free of charge.
Why are they free? The reasons vary. In many cases, the developers are simply generous
individuals. In other cases, a company may give away some controls for free to get
you interested in other products they sell. No matter what the reasons are, you
benefit. To that end, I’ve compiled a list of free controls for your perusal and
experimentation.
* Charts & Graphs --
New Section!
* Menus & Navigation
* Grid Controls
* Fancy TextBoxes
* Voting Controls
* Beloved MessageBox
* FTP Controls
* Fancy Buttons and Image Generation
* Multimedia Controls
* Other Cool Controls
* Mega Sites
I’d like to formally thank the authors of every control described here. I’d also
like to thank the authors of all other free components for providing so much for
us all. Many of the listed sites provide links for donations, and I encourage you
to give to them in much the same way they’ve given to us.
That said, the control authors listed here are under no obligation to continue giving
away their creations for free, and some may have removed them or started charging
for them before you read this article. So enjoy them while you can, because great
new controls appear and disappear on the Web almost daily.
If you’ve written any controls of your own that you’d like to share with the world,
send them along and I’ll see what I can do to publicize them and ensure they get
put to good use by developers everywhere. It can be a good way to get your name
in front of the public eye and enhance your career opportunities.