DonationCoder.com (Tech Sites We Love)
DonationCoder.com is a long standing community site of software authors and users that is entirely donation based.
This is the third part of a series in which we review tech sites that we have a lot of respect for. The first two parts covered the download portal Majorgeeks.com and Nirsoft.net.
We have a long standing history with the guys that run DonationCoder.com. Our first mention of the site dates back to the year 2006; we reviewed Screenshot Captor, an excellent screen capturing tool for Windows back then.
What followed were plenty of reviews of programs developed by DonationCoder members, as well as coverage of the site's annual NANY challenge.
DonationCoder.com
DonationCoder.com is as clean as a site as it gets. The site does not have any advertisement, most of the software comes without installer, and all programs are free of adware, spyware, third-party offers, and other unwanted additions.
DonationCoder.com Software
The site's two main parts are the user forum, and the software section. There are other parts, a reviews and features section, or a blog for instance.
The main entry point as far as software is concerned is the Software hub. There you find listed links to the site's three most prolific authors Mouser, SKWire and Skrommel, as well as links to the Coding Snacks download page, and other links.
It would go too far to list all of the programs, but here is a short selection of awesome software:
- Clipboard Help and Spell -- A clipboard manager for Windows that features all kinds of nice to have features such as a history, hotkeys, organization features, spellchecking, powerful search, and more. (see Quick Action feature review)
- DimScreen -- A lightweight program to change the screen brightness.
- Find and Run Robot -- A keyboard launcher that you can customize to your liking, that supports plugins, is fully portable, and lightweight at the same time. (our review of Find and Run Robot)
- Screenshot Captor -- A powerful screen capturing program for Windows that supports capturing, editing, annotating, and sharing of screenshots. (our review of Screenshot Captor)
- Toddler Trap -- locks the keyboard and mouse actions. (our review of Toddler Trap)
There is a lot to explore when it comes to software, and one of the issues that you may run into is that there is no central index. While you do get some starting pages, the Coding Snacks page for instance that lists applications, you will spend time on dozens of pages to get an overview of all programs available on the site.
DonationCoder.com Forum
The forum is the heart of the community. It brings developers and interested users together. While that is something that many forums on the Internet do, DonationCoder is special as it offers more than just friendly interaction between developers and non-developers.
One of the coolest features of the site is the Coding Snacks section. Anyone may request the creation of programs in the forum. While it is up to developers to pick up the project and deliver, Coding Snacks was the birthplace of a lot of programs.
There is more to the forum than that place. You find forums dedicated to particular programs for instance where you can get support, reviews by members, or discussion about general software topics.
The community is very friendly, which is not always the case when you interact with others on the Internet.
What is up with the donation part of DonationCoder?
I mentioned earlier that the DonationCoder site is maintained solely by donations. You are free to donate at any time, and there is a donation drive as well sometimes.
Users who donate receive a number of beneits including exclusive software access, guaranteed lifetime access to site content, opportunities to enter monthly shareware giveaways, and more. You can find out more about the benefits here. You may donate to specific authors as well on the site.
Verdict
DonationCoder.com is an excellent software resource, and community. Its approach to things has been unique since the beginning, and it seems to work well for them so far.
Now You: What's your take on the DonationCoder site, community and concept?
I agree with Martin and all the other commenters. I ran across it 11 years ago (!), and use a few of the software offerings daily, and would be lost without my favorite, Find and Run Robot. Thanks for the writeup – they need all the supporters they can get, and it reminded me I need to throw some more money their way.
Thank you so much for your wonderful write up Martin — I can’t express how much it means to me and all of us at DonationCoder to read it. Especially coming from a site we love :)
Hard to believe that ghacks and donationcoder have been going on for so long.. time flies..
-mouser (donationcoder.com)
I can’t praise Donationcoder enough. I use FindAndRunRobot, ClipboardHelpAndSpell, Launchbar Commander (particularly useful for portable computing but I use it for all sorts of situations), ScreenshotCaptor… and there’s a few other things that are also maybe a bit niche but really useful — Birthdays tracks peoples birthdays and anniversaries and does it really well, and a coding snack called MyM3U8 that gives me a drag-and-drop way to create M3U playlists and convert paths from what my Windows PC sees them as to what my MP3 player sees them as… oh, and T-clock, which replaces the clock in the notification area with something that just adds a ton of useful functionality without bloat or complexity. And there’s probably a dozen more I’ve forgotten about, because it’s 8am and I’m not properly awake yet.
A treasurehouse of brilliant software and people.
I agree fully with this. donationcoder.com is a truly excellent site. For me, mouser’s Find and Run Robot, Clipboard Help & Spell and Screenshot Captor, and Skwire’s Anuran and ClipTrap, are in daily frequent use, and I am not sure how I would manage without them.
Martin, let me give a hearty endorsement of Skwire’s terrific television episode tracker, “epCheck”. Invaluable for those who want to keep up on the scheduling of the shows they follow/watch. Worth a donation, for sure. :)
Sounds good, Mike, I will check that out. I’m headed that way anyway to make an additional donation to the general fund, so Skwire may be getting one, too.
THANK YOU ! I have been looking for something exactly like DimScreen for a long time, because my desktop monitor Asus VX279 even with brightness & contrast at 0 is still too bright at night with lights off. Also the monitor’s menu sucks big time so I have been using ScreenBright to directly change monitor’s settings (another great little program).
Dimscreen is OK.
Pangobright is better
ClickMonitorDCC is the best
Jut to note my ASUS Laptop has a built in fn-F5 or F6 key combination to dim or brighten the screen. I think it is something to consider if you use a laptop in varying illumination conditions.