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Why design the

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Open Source way?

Open Source source is a form of licensing agreement that allows users to freely modify an existing project, generate a new project one, or even derive a larger project from an existing project into a larger entity making the work more advanced. However the definition of open source brings also broader cultural impact of working in the open, hence open source promotes a wide exchange of ideas within the community into making it more creative, friendly and flexible.

Designing the open source way gives us the advantages of having a more secure, qualitative and interoperable project.
Open source software is generally free, and so is a world of support through the communities surrounding each piece of software.
Most every Linux distribution, for instance, has an online community with excellent documentation, forums, mailing lists, forges, wikis, newsgroups and even live support chat paid or unpaid.

Another important reason why you should aim for using open source software, is cost.
Using open source software generates a lower total cost of ownership when compared to closed source and proprietary alternatives. Converting into open source software generally has a lower up-front cost (because the software often comes at no cost or relatively low cost), and shifts the cost center from licensing (an operating expense) to customization and implementation (a capital expense). Additional costs like training, maintenance, and paid support are sunk costs.

Open Formats

What are open formats?

An open format is a file format for storing digital data, defined by a published specification usually maintained by a standards organization, and which can be used and implemented by anyone. For example, an open format can be implemented by both proprietary or free and open source software, using the typical software licenses used by each.

In contrast to open formats, closed formats are considered trade secrets. Open formats are also called free file formats if they are not encumbered by any copyrights, patents, trademarks or other restrictions (for example, if they are in the public domain) so that anyone may use them at no monetary cost for any desired purpose.

Why do open formats matter?

In a world where paper documents increasingly get replaced by electronic records, long term access to the data becomes critical. This is especially the case for legal contracts and government documents which stay valid and relevant over decades, or even centuries.

Like paper and pens have been available from multiple vendors, and not just one single source, document file formats and the applications creating these file formats need to be supported by and available from multiple vendors. This guarantees long-term access to data, even if companies disappear, change their strategies or dramatically raise their prices.

Open standards and formats that are equally accessible and do not favor one particular vendor, help maintain a diverse ecosystem of vendors. This as well causes competitive pricing, thus ensuring the best use of money from investors or tax payers. Open standards also lower the barrier of entry, allowing new companies to join the ecosystem.

Creating data standards is all about interoperability: the ability to exchange standardized data between systems owned by different subjects. For that to happen one more step is required: representation – making the decision which file formats to use, how to format dates, how to store images, etc. In the end, you can land with the same information represented in possibly different file formats. The resulting files carry the same information, and a preference for one or the other is mostly a matter of preference, if you have the resources all of them can be used in parallel.

Often enough the choice is limited and conditioned by the default formats used by the data provider. To maximize reuse of the data, it may be necessary for a publisher to use a number of formats and structures available across different platforms that suit the users needs. Choosing the right format enables simpler management and reuse of the data in the long run. All data formats need software to be read or adjusted. This varies from regular proprietary software, for example Microsoft Excel, to more advanced software to manipulate specific data.

Popular formats and their open alternatives

Popular formats that we know are proprietary formats and software which are any format/software that is copyrighted and bears limits against use, distribution and modification that are imposed by its publisher, vendor or developer. Proprietary remains the property of its owner/creator and is used by end-users/organizations under predefined conditions. This says that we cannot use them for our projects or even change them, making it hard to achieve results for an open project.

The best method to change these problems are to use open alternatives that will make your work easier and more convenient.

As an alternative of the Office Package we can mention LibreOffice (Write, Impress, Draw, etc.) as a free and open source office suite to help you creating different file formats which are adaptable with your project.

Regarding the alternatives that may benefit you more in design, please see point 4 where are listed some of the online (and not only) platforms you can use for your open source project.

Best practices for openIMIS formats

The formats that would most apply to the openIMIS project would be related to imaging purposes, such as the branding assets, marketing material and communication kits. The use of SVG for vector files is recommended instead of the proprietary .ai (Illustrator files). As explained above, svg is an open format which can be read and modified easily without causing vendor lock-in or problems in the future. It being, essentially, a version of XML, means it can be modified without even using a GUI application such as Inkscape.

The openIMIS project logo is under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, which is a Creative Commons license and recommended for use in digital assets such as logos, icons, brochures etc.

Converting proprietary formats to open formats

A file’s format—the way that it’s saved and encoded—determines what you can do with it and which programs will open it. The application you used to create the file in the first place will let you save it as something else. If you’re viewing a document online in Google Docs, for example, you can click File and Download to bring up a list of formats to which you can convert the page. These include Microsoft Word, PDF, and plain text.

For your video conversion needs, you can’t go wrong with the free programs Handbrake and VLC. VLC Media Player can play a whole host of video formats, including MPEG-4, H.264, WMV, and MKV with no extra plug-ins. With the program open on screen, choose Media, then Convert/Save and choose the format you want it into.

Some preferred file formats:

- Containers: TAR, GZIP, ZIP
- Databases: XML, CSV
- Geospatial: SHP, DBF, GeoTIFF, NetCDF
- Moving images: MOV, MPEG, AVI, MXF
- Sounds: WAVE, AIFF, MP3, MXF
- Statistics: ASCII, DTA, POR, SAS, SAV
- Still images: TIFF, JPEG 2000, PDF, PNG, GIF, BMP
- Tabular data: CSV
- Text: XML, PDF/A, HTML, ACII, UTF-8
- Web archive: WARC

The process of converting proprietary formats to open formats is variable, it always depends on the complexity of the files and varies from format to format. For example, converting from .ai to .svg using Adobe Illustrator may be as easy as exporting as .svg from the software, but sometimes it may not work out. These edge cases are the hardest ones to get around to. Usually, it may be necessary to have to re-write or re-create the assets from scratch and then export them to SVG, to ensure maximum compatibility.

There are many online (and not only) platforms that can help you to convert open formats. In this sector, we will present some ways you can convert open formats in your desktop software, online platforms and even using terminal for people that would love to pick up some new skills while working on the projects.

LibreOffice

While using LibreOffice as a software, you can convert files manually by using the option Save As and choosing the format, or directly from the terminal.

You can run LibreOffice from the command line to quickly convert one or more files. For example, to transform a LibreOffice Impress slide deck to PDF, you'd type the following:

soffice --headless --convert-to pdf mySlides.odp

You would have to replace pdf with the extension of what file format you want to convert to.
If we go into details and you don’t want LibreOffice to open an empty window on your desktop you can enter --headless option.

Turning to the command line is a great way to convert several files at once. If for example you want to convert all of the Microsoft Word documents in a folder to LibreOffice Writer format, you'd type:

soffice --headless --convert-to odt *.docx

The conversion takes far less time than opening all of those files in LibreOffice Writer and doing the conversion manually.

Pandoc

Pandoc is a software tool which allows you to convert various text markup files. It supports (among other) PDF, .docs and .odt. It offers a detailed guide with instructions you can follow to install and use it.

You're not just limited to straight conversions. You can, for example, add a table of contents, typographic quotes, custom headers, and syntax highlighting to the resulting file. Take a look at Pandoc's documentation for details and the open formats it allows you to convert.

Zamzar (Proprietary, Online)

Zamzar is an online file conversion platform that lets you convert documents, images, videos & sound and many more open formats. As you are not required to install it, you can use it from any browser, even mobile.

BatchPhoto Espresso

BatchPhoto Espresso is yet another free online image converter, which means you don't need to download any software to use it.

After uploading an image, other than choosing another format to convert it into, it lets you to resize, crop, and rotate it, as well as add special effects like black and white and swirl, overlay text, and change brightness, contrast, and sharpness, among other settings.

BatchPhoto Espresso also lets you rename the picture and choose a quality/size before saving it in your device. It can be used on any operating system that supports a web browser, including Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Licensing

When you create a piece of software, it's automatically protected by copyright. This means that you retain all rights to your source code and that nobody else may reproduce, distribute, or create derivative works from your work.

It may also lead to no one using your code which obviously defeats the purpose of sharing it.

So, if you really do want to share your work, but also want to protect it in some way, it's important to consider the options available for licensing your work.

Creative Common Licenses

The Creative Commons is a movement that was started by Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig to encourage creative people to offer up their creative works -- protected by copyright law -- for others to legally build upon and share, including text, music, pictures and video.

Creative Commons licenses are easy-to-understand copyright licenses that allow creators of content to communicate which rights they reserve and which rights they waive for the benefit of other users. Creative Commons licenses don't replace copyright, but they do mean that you don't have to negotiate individually over specific rights for pieces of content. Crucially, the license were designed specifically to work with the web, so that content that is offered under their terms is easy to search for, discover and use. Around 500 million works have been licensed under Creative Commons since it launched. Having said that, Creative Commons is not an appropriate license for software code, rather than creative assets (like images or audio) used in software projects.

There are several types of Creative Commons Licenses such as:

Attribution (CC BY)

This lets other people distribute, remix and build upon your work -- even commercially -- as long as they credit you. This is the most flexible of licenses.

Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA)

This lets other people distribute, remix and build upon your work -- even commercially -- as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the same terms. All new works based on yours will therefore have the same license. This is the license used by Wikipedia.

Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND)

This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is not changed and is credited to you.

Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)

This lets other people distribute, remix and build upon your work as long as they credit you and don't use it for commercial projects. Although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don't have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA)

This lets other people distribute, remix and build upon your work as long as they credit you and don't use it for commercial projects. They also have to license their new creations under identical terms.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)

This license is the most restrictive, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can't change them in any way or use them commercially.

If you are still not 100 percent sure which license you want to use, you can use the Creative Commons tool.

Best licensing practices for openIMIS content

For content (including graphics, video, audio and similar creative assets) we use the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. That ensures openIMIS assets are re mixable by others, yet openIMIS is credited and derivation work which is based on our assets need to have the same license

For more details and questions on other licensing (such as software code) you can visit the License page on the openIMIS wiki.

Creating design assets for openIMIS

Depending on the needs, various tools can be used to create visual assets. While the industry standard nowadays is Adobe Creative Cloud, we try to keep proprietary software to a minimum. Where not possible or harder to achieve, the minimum we will aim for is open formats. In the following we will go through recommended tools, the various file formats they support and limitations they pose in different conversion settings. Recommended project formats are file formats we suggest to use as source files for assets, while recommended export formats are those we suggest for file outputs

GIMP

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Software Code

one by enhancing the original work. Works that use these licenses are often made collaboratively. As open source has established itself, a culture of practices and norms have developed around the concept. At its best, open source culture enables the equal exchange of ideas within a community to harness group creativity, ease of use, and flexibility. Open source software is typically free of charge, and often so too is support, provided on a community-driven and best-effort basis. Using (as opposed to making) open source software often incurs a lower total cost of ownership than its closed source and proprietary alternatives.

At openIMIS, our diverse network of partners and collaborators demands that we work with a variety of software tools and platforms. This diversity can result in incompatible standards and licenses being used, causing compatibility issues when working across different groups. This manual provides best practices for reducing friction and avoiding loss of work during collaboration, drawn from our experience at openIMIS. This guide also understands the advantages of using proprietary products such as those provided by Microsoft and Adobe, and describes working compromises that minimize inconvenience and disruption. This guide provides recommendations for both desktop applications for creating documents and assets as well as web-based alternatives in case installing local software is not possible. We prioritise widely supported standardised data formats throughout.

The goal of these guidelines is to provide a pragmatic approach in order to enhance collaboration across the openIMIS ecosystem. Following these guidelines will improve the interoperability across openIMIS contributors and partner projects. We broke this down into three major areas:

1. Open Standards: Introduction and best practises pertaining open standards and file formats for best compatibility across the openIMIS community

2. Software & Tools: Various software options for creating and converting design assets and documents while adhering open standards

3. Licensing: Introducing Creative Commons licenses to cover licensing guidelines for design assets and documents

Additionally, at the end of this manual we will provide a set of resources for design asset templates that respect guidelines and best practises outlined in this manual

Open Standards

As more documents go digital, we have to start thinking about how to maintain long-term access to that data. This is especially critical for documents that have lasting importance and significance, such as legal contracts and government documents. Choosing the file formats that can be read and supported by multiple software providers can help ensure long-term access to documents. Even if one provider disappears, changes strategy, or dramatically change their prices, the data remains accessible through other providers. The digital format in which information is stored can either be “open” or “closed”. An open standard is one that is available for everyone to use, free of charge, and capable of being built upon – for example into new software products, without any limitations. Developers can use these to produce multiple software packages, services, and products by using these formats. 

In short: A file’s format – the way that it’s saved and encoded – determines what data it can store, what you can do with it, and which programs can open it. You can read more about the definition of open standards on OpenSource.com.

A “closed” file format is one that is proprietary. Usually this means that the technical details of the format, including its specification, are secret and known only to its original creators. It may also mean that the format is protected by copyright, trademarks, or patents, and is therefore only usable by those who have obtained (purchased) the necessary rights – even if the specification has been made public. Using proprietary file formats can create dependence on third-party software or file format license owners. The latter type of closed format can cause significant challenges to reusing the information stored in it. Additional software or licensing may be required tomorrow in order to continue to access data which you create today.

The openIMIS project will be primarily focused on image and text documentation processes. This includes branding assets, marketing materials, and communication kits. Vector files should always be stored as .svg instead of the proprietary .ai (limited to being used only by Adobe Illustrator). In this case, .svg is the open standard that can easily be read and modified without vendor lock-in or being inaccessible due to license losses. As it is basically a subset of another open standard called XML, it can be modified in a text editor, without a graphics user interface.

Converting proprietary formats to Open Standards

Often applications used to create data files support multiple data formats, allowing you to choose between them. If, for example, you’re viewing a document online in Google Docs, you can click File and Download to bring up a list of formats to which you can convert the document. These include Microsoft Word, PDF, and plain text.

There is no standardised process for converting proprietary formats to open standards. It always depends on the complexity of the format and the files, and varies from format to format. For example, converting a file from .ai to .svg using Adobe Illustrator may be as easy as exporting as .svg from the software, but sometimes something can go wrong in the process, which may go undetected until the results are closely inspected. These edge cases are the hardest ones to work around – usually an error in an .ai to .svg conversation may require rewriting or recreating the assets and then export them as .svg to ensure maximum compatibility.

Creating design assets for openIMIS

There are lots of tools available to create visual assets (graphics) for any need. While the current industry standard is Adobe Creative Cloud, openIMIS tries to keep proprietary software and standards to a minimum. When this was not possible or difficult, the minimum we aim for are open atandards. In the following, we will go through recommended tools, the various file formats they support, and limitations they pose in different conversion settings.

Recommended project formats are file formats we suggest to use as source files for assets, while recommended export formats are those we suggest for file outputs. For internal usage, please use recommended project formats to maintain a high level of compatibility across projects.

GIMP

GIMP is a free and open-source graphics editor used for image retouching and editing, free-form drawing, converting between different image formats, and more specialized tasks. GIMP can be used for opening and changing many types of file formats. GIMP is released under GPLv3+ licenses and is available for Linux, macOS, and Microsoft Windows. It also offers a Wiki page with explanations and detailed information as to how to use and understand the product.

GIMP is an alternative to Adobe Photoshop, recommended for creation of raster (non-vector) graphics. It outputs Open Standard files, it's extensible, flexible, and easy to use. The latest version of GIMP provides several new features with an easier-to-use user interface.

Inkscape

Inkscape is a free and open-source vector graphics editor. This multi-platform application can be used to create and edit vector graphics such as illustrations, diagrams, line arts, charts, logos, icons, and complex paintings. Inkscape's primary vector graphics format is the Open Standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG); however, many other formats can be imported and exported. It is licensed under the General Public License (GPL).

Inkscape is an open alternative to Adobe Illustrator and recommend for creation of vector graphics for the openIMIS project. It can output SVG files and PNG raster graphics. The interface is relatively self-explanatory; almost everything is accessible from a single drop-down menu or icon.

This is going to be the software that openIMIS will use the most to create digital assets, as its a well-supported project and the current version is stable. While there is plenty of other proprietary and/or Open Source software that can create SVGs (including Adobe Illustrator), Inkscape is the one that we recommend. Try it and start building up some experience with the software. If it’s not a suitable option for your needs, Adobe Illustrator can still be used, but keep in mind that output should only be in the SVG format.

LibreOffice Draw

LibreOffice Draw is a free and open source vector graphics editor. Draw lets you produce anything from a quick sketch to a complex plan and gives you the means to communicate with graphics or diagrams, flowcharts, and even technical drawings. It supports open standards that allow you to use documents from other programs so you don't have to isolate yourself or your workflow into a LibreOffice world. LibreOffice Draw uses Open Document Format for Office Applications (ODF) (.odg graphics extension) as its default output format as an international standard file format.

LibreOffice Draw can be useful to edit PDFs as an alternative to Adobe Acrobat. While text and font might not translate well, it often does the job when a small edit in a PDF is needed.

Diagrams.net

Diagrams.net (formerly draw.io) is an open source online platform created to help you design flowcharts, process diagrammes, organigrammes, UML, ER diagrammes, network diagrammes, and much more. You can create your own custom shape libraries or use their large collection of shape libraries. These offer hundreds of visual elements, making it simple and easy working with metadata to pack more useful information into your diagrammes. With numerous shape libraries offering hundreds of visual elements, Diagrams.net covers every use case you can think of for creating diagrammes by embedding them within Atlassian Confluence and Jira software.

Draw.io lets you import and export files into open standards such as .svg, .png, .jpeg, .pdf, and .xml.

We recommend using diagrams.net together with its native Confluence integration. Especially in situations where you might be unable to install software on your device. It can be used from the web browser and store files on the cloud or your device. While designed as a flowchart and diagrams application, it can also replace the need for a vector editor as Inkscape, especially for basic communication design tasks.

Publishing Documents

Open standards are not exclusive to design. Text documents are a crucial part of openIMIS work processes and there are times when they have to be compatible with design tools. These formats often overlap, and we will go through the most important types of document formats, which can impact the design. In this guide, we will cover the primary types of documents that have an impact on design processes.

LibreOffice Writer

LibreOffice Writer is part of the open source LibreOffice suite and can export files to HTML, XHTML, XML, Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), and several versions of Microsoft Word files.

The key difference between LibreOffice and Microsoft is that LibreOffice is an open source and free suite of office products, while Microsoft Office is a proprietary office suite that requires users to purchase a license. Both will run on multiple platforms, and both offer similar functionality – with the exception that Microsoft Office will not run natively on Linux.

LibreOffice Impress

GIMP is a free and open-source raster graphics editor used for image retouching and editing, free-form drawing, converting between different image formats, and more specialized tasks. GIMP can be used for opening and changing many types of file formats. GIMP is released under GPLv3+ licenses and is available for Linux, macOS, and Microsoft Windows. GIMP offers a Wiki page where it gives explanations and every detailed information one needs to understand.

GIMP is the first alternative software to Adobe Photoshop, recommended for creation of raster graphics for the openIMIS project. It outputs open format files, it's extensible, flexible and easy to use. With the latest updates, GIMP now also provides many new features with an improved UI, which makes it easier to use.

GIMP can also open and work with PSD (Adobe Photoshop files), albeit with a reduced feature set and less-than-ideal end results. GIMP may not preserve all text information or layer styles but if you have no access to Photoshop it might be a good enough solution.

We recommend outputting to XCF (GIMP files) so they can be shared and reused easily in the future.

Inkscape

LibreOffice Impress is a tool for creating multimedia presentations and slide shows.

Impress provides common multimedia presentation features, including special effects, animations, and drawing tools.

It is integrated with the advanced graphics capabilities of LibreOffice Draw and Math components. Slideshows can be further enhanced using Fontwork special effects texts, as well as sound and video clips. Impress is compatible with the Microsoft PowerPoint file format and can also save your work in numerous graphics formats, including Macromedia Flash (SWF).

Confluence

Inkscape is a free and open-source vector graphics editor. This multi-platform can be used to create or edit vector graphics such as illustrations, diagrams, line arts, charts, logos, icons and complex paintings. Inkscape's primary vector graphics format is Scalable Vector Graphics; however, many other formats can be imported and exported. It is licensed under the General Public License (GPL).

Inkscape is an alternative to Adobe Illustrator, recommend for creation of vector graphics for the openIMIS project. It can output SVG files and PNG raster graphics, if necessary. The interface is friendly and not bloated, which almost everything accessible from a single drop down menu or icon.

This is going to be the software that openIMIS will use the most to create their digital assets, as its a well supported project and is now on a stable version. Be advised there may be plenty of other software that can output SVG (Illustrator can output SVG), proprietary or free software, but we recommend Inkscape the most. If is advised that your team slowly starts by trying Inkscape and building up some knowledge around the software. If that is not an option, Illustrator can still be used but by carefully outputting to SVG only.

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Confluence is an online proprietary publishing platform, designed for collaborative projects work. It is also compatible with multiple software or open platforms, from writing a document in markdown language to organizing team meetings in the same cloud. Confluence can be also used to convert office documents including but not limited to .docx and .odt file formats. This is ideal if you need to edit Microsoft Office or LibreOffice documents without any installed software while still avoiding Google services.

Cryptpad

Cryptpad is an online open source platform that helps you set up documents and that allow for collaboration. It offers a sheet pad and a presentation pad equivalent to LibreOffice Impress where you can export the file in an .md format.

If your project is more advanced, you can also use their pad for creating code files, a smart board where you can design your ideas, polls, or even a task manager that helps you keep track of your to-do list. Everything is compatible with Open Standards, so you can export and include them into different projects, share with your team, or even using an embedded code by attaching it in your file.

Cryptpad offers a drive where every record is stored, encrypted, and you can see all the projects you have been working on as well as other projects your teammates have shared with you.

Scribus

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Scribus is free and open source vector graphics editor. Draw lets you produce anything from a quick sketch to a complex plan and gives you the means to communicate with graphics or diagrams, flowcharts and even technical drawings.

It supports open formats that allow you to use documents from other programs so you don't have to isolate yourself or your workflow into a LibreOffice world.

LibreOffice Draw uses by default Open Document Format for Office Applications (ODF) (.odg graphics extension) as an international standard file format.

Diagrams.net

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Software Code

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Open Source

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Platform

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Web Browser, Linux, Windows, macOS

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Recommended Project Formats

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.drawio

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Recommended Export Formats

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.SVG, PNG

Diagrams.net (formerly draw.io) is an open source online platform created to help you design flowcharts, process diagrams, org charts, UML, ER diagrams, network diagrams and much more. You can create your own custom shape libraries or use their large collection of shape libraries which offer hundreds of visual elements, making it plain and easy working with metadata to pack more useful information into your diagrams.

With numerous shape libraries offering hundreds of visual elements, Diagrams.net covers every usecase you can think of for creating diagrams by embedding them within Confluence and Jira.

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Publishing Documents

While not specifically exclusive to design, text documents are a crucial part of openIMIS work processes and often require tight compatibility with design tools. Whilst these formats are often overlapping, we will go through the primary types of documents which often have an impact on how design processes are too.

LibreOffice Writer

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Software Code

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Open Source

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Platform

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Linux, Windows, macOS

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Recommended Project Formats

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.odt

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Recommended Export Formats

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.odt, docx*, .pdf, .epub,

LibreOffice Writer is part of the open source LibreOffice suite and can export files to HTML, XHTML, XML, Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), and several versions of Microsoft Word files.

The key difference between LibreOffice and Microsoft is that LibreOffice is an open-source, free suite of office products while Microsoft Office is a commercial office suite product package that requires users to purchase a license. Both will run on multiple platforms and both offer similar functionality.

However, running Microsoft Office on Linux is not possible.

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docx - odt compatibility

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• Generally, it’s suggested to use the native file format of the application you are using. If you are using LibreOffice Writer, save file formats as .odt, if you use Microsoft Word, save files as .docx. In case you have both LibreOffice and Microsoft Office installed, please prioritize saving .odt files with LibreOffice Writer

• In Microsoft Word please always save files as .docx if your file does not contain macros and the .docm format only if your file does contain macros.

• Some Microsoft Office features might not be available in LibreOffice Writer out of the box, but might be available via extensions. Check them out in case you are missing any feature.

• There is really no 101 on what to do and what not on compatibility. A good rule of thumb is trying to avoid using non-traditional document elements like Smart Graphics or picture watermarks if you want to be on the safe side.

LibreOffice Impress

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Software Code

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Open Source

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Platform

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Linux, Windows, macOS

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Recommended Project Formats

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.odp

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Recommended Export Formats

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.odp, .pdf, .gif,

LibreOffice Impress is a tool for creating effective multimedia presentations in slide shows.

Impress provides all the common multimedia presentation tools, such as special effects, animation, and drawing tools.

It is integrated with the advanced graphics capabilities of LibreOffice Draw and Math components. Slideshows can be further enhanced using Fontwork special effects text, as well as sound and video clips. Impress is compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint file format and can also save your work in numerous graphics formats, including Macromedia Flash (SWF).

Confluence

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Software Code

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Open Source

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Platform

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Linux, Windows, macOS

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Recommended Project Formats

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.md

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Recommended Export Formats

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.md, .odt, .docx,

Confluence is a online proprietary publishing platform, purpose-built for growing teams that need a secure and reliable base from which to collaborate on projects. It is also compatible with multiple software or open platforms, from writing a document in markdown language to organizing team meetings in the same cloud. Confluence can be also used to convert office documents including but not limited to .docx and .odt file formats. This is ideal if you need to edit Microsoft Office or LibreOffice documents without any installed software while still avoiding Google services.

Cryptpad

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Software Code

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Open Source

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Platform

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Linux, Windows, macOS

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Recommended Project Formats

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.md

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Recommended Export Formats

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.md

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If your project is more advanced you can also use their pad for creating code files, a smart board where you can design your ideas, polls or even a task manager so you can keep track of your To Do list. Everything is compatible with open formats if you want to export them and attach into different projects to share them with your team, or even using an embedded code by attaching it in your file.

Cryptpad offers a drive where every record is stored, encrypted and you can see all the projects you have been working on and other projects your teammates have shared with you.

Scribus

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Software Code

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Open Source

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Platform

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Linux, Windows, macOS

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Recommended Project Formats

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.md

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Recommended Export Formats

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.pdf,

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Scribus is an alternative software to Adobe InDesign, used for preparing brochures, lay-outing, print files etc. It can work with CMYK (used for print) and RGB (digital).

Design Resources

Open Source Fonts

The Open Font Library contains over 6,000 individual fonts from over 250 contributors giving desktop publishing software available for most desktop operating systems. It is designed for layout, typesetting, and preparation of files for professional-quality image-setting equipment. Scribus can also create animated and interactive PDF presentations and forms. Example uses include writing newspapers, brochures, newsletters, posters, and books. It is released under the GNU General Public License.

Scribus is an alternative software to Adobe InDesign, used for preparing brochures, lay-outing, print files etc. It can work with CMYK (used for print) and RGB (digital).

File Conversion Tools

There are many downloadable tools and online platforms that can help you to convert open standards. In this section, we will present some ways to do that in desktop software, online platforms, as well as in a command line.

LibreOffice

While using LibreOffice, you can convert files manually by using the Save As option and choosing the format.

You can use the command line to quickly convert one or more files. For example, to transform a LibreOffice Impress slide deck to PDF, you'd type the following:

soffice --headless --convert-to pdf mySlides.odp

You can pdfwith the file extension of the format that you want if you need a different file format. The --headless option means LibreOffice will run only on the command line and exit after completing the requested task.

Turning to the command line is a great way to convert several files at once. If, for example, you want to convert all of the Microsoft Word documents in a folder to the Open Document Text format (used by LibreOffice Writer and many others) then you'd type:

soffice --headless --convert-to odt *.docx

The conversion takes far less time than opening all files in LibreOffice Writer and doing a manula file format conversion.

Pandoc

Pandoc is a software tool that allows you to convert various text markup files. It supports (among other) .pdf, .docs, and .odt. It offers a detailed guide with instructions for you to follow for installation and use.

You're not just limited to straight conversions. You can also add a table of contents, typographic quotes, custom headers, and/or syntax highlighting to the resulting file. Take a look at Pandoc's documentation for details and the Open Standards it allows you to convert.

Zamzar

Zamzar is an online file conversion platform that lets you convert documents, images, videos, sound, and many more to Open Standards. As you are not required to install it, you can use it from any browser, even mobile.

BatchPhoto Espresso

BatchPhoto Espresso is another free online image converter, which means you don't need to download any software to use it.

After uploading an image, BatchPhoto lets you choose another format to convert it into, resize, crop, and rotate it, as well as add special effects like grey scale conversion and swirl, overlay text, and adjust brightness, contrast, and sharpness, among other basic edits.

BatchPhoto Espresso also lets you rename the picture and choose a quality and size before saving it to your device. It can be used on any operating system that supports a web browser, including Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Licensing

When you create a piece of software, in most countries, it's automatically protected by copyright. This means that all rights to your work are protected by copyright and nobody else may reproduce, distribute, or create derivative works from your intellectual property without permission from the copyright holder (you).

This stops other people from using your work, and may lead to nobody using your work, which may defeat the purpose of sharing it. If you want to share your work, but also want to retain some degree of control, then it's important to choose the right license that controls how it may be used or shared.

Creative Commons Licenses

The Creative Commons is a family of licenses first created by Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig to encourage creative people to offer up their creative works for others to legally build upon and share, including text, music, pictures, and video.

Creative Commons licenses are standardised, easy-to-understand, copyright licenses that allow creators of content to communicate which rights they reserve and which rights they give away for the benefit of others. Creative Commons licenses build upon, rather than replace, copyright. They mean you don't have to negotiate individually over specific rights for works you produce, and have been held up in courts of law. Crucially, the licenses were designed specifically for the digital space, so that content that is offered under the terms of the Creative Commons is easy to search for, discover, and use. Around 500 million works have been licensed under Creative Commons since it launched.

Creative Commons is not an appropriate license for software code. It is a better fit for creative assets (like images and audio) used in software projects. The Creative Commons tool provides convenient advice on which Creative Commons license to choose.

There are several types of Creative Commons Licenses such as:

Attribution (CC BY)

This lets other people distribute, remix, and build upon your work – even commercially – as long as they credit you. This is the most flexible of licenses.

Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA)

This lets other people distribute, remix, edit, and build upon your work – even commercially – as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the same terms. All new works based on yours will therefore have the same license. This is the license used by Wikipedia.

Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND)

This license allows for redistribution, commercial, and non-commercial, as long as it is not changed and is credited to you.

Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)

This lets other people distribute, remix, and build upon your work as long as they credit you and don't use it for commercial projects – this means it cannot be sold or used for profit. The creator has to credit you with the original work, but they don't have to license the works that they created based on yours with the same terms.

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA)

This lets other people distribute, remix, and build upon your work as long as they credit you and don't use it for commercial projects. They also have to license their new creations under identical terms.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)

This license is the most restrictive, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can't change them in any way or use them commercially.

Best licensing practises for openIMIS content

For content (including graphics, video, audio, and similar creative assets) we use the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. That ensures openIMIS assets can be remixed by other users and creators, yet openIMIS is credited and work that is based on our assets need to have the same license (so that others may benefit from the same freedoms in future).

Design Resources

Fonts

The Open Font Library contains more than 6,000 individual fonts from more than 250 contributors. It also gives you a guidebook to understand how to actually design a font, what formats and licenses are supported, how to submit a font, and also update them.

The League of Moveable Type is a community of font designers and creators who license their collection of fonts under the OFL (http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&id=OFL) font designers and creators who license their collection of fonts under the SIL Open Font License and host their source files on GitHub.

FontSpace is a font download site website where you can filter fonts to your use but only those download fonts. A filter helps you find the right one for your needs and can help you find the ones that are available under an open license.

Font Squirrel is another general hosting site for fonts, all of which are free for commercial use, but the . The site enables you to specifically filter for open source Open Source licensed fonts if you choose. It also comes with a Font Identifier where you can upload your image and the generator matches the font for you.

Google Fonts has and an extensive catalog catalogue designed for use with their API service, where you can integrate open fonts into your own projects and it . Each font comes in 135 different languages. Please note that embedding Google Fonts in your website might have has privacy implications. You should consider not using the Google Fonts CDN but Content Delivery Network, and instead host the fonts you want yourselfuse on your own system.

Broble is also another open source font collection, where you can find open fonts to use for your projects, but also where you can . You can also submit your fonts and become part of the community.

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Illustrations

unDraw is created to help you with a set of illustrations for your project where you can customize them completely freea sizeable collection of free vector illustrations. You can color colour manage directly from the website or you can download them in copyright-free SVG files for your customed customised design.

IRA Design is a hosting site where you can create illustrations by using hand-drawn sketch components. IRA Design helps you scale your final illustrations by using .ai, .svg, svgor . or png. formats to bring your illustrations to life.

Many Pixels is an illustrations provider where you can download in a .png or . or svg format file and use them for free in a commercial or non-commercial way work for your landing pages, blog posts, newsletters, and many other projects. If you want customized customised illustrations, Many Pixels offers a team of designers to assist you in any private projects you want to developproject.

Vivid.js is focused in developers, mainly for JavaScript Devson software developers. Vivid.js is a dynamic SVG icons library that is designed to give life to website designs by using html5 data attributes. Vivid.js SVG Icons ca icons can be download and customized customised as per needs needed in different designing software like Photoshop and even Sketch as well. They have a well explained provide clear documentation on their GitHub page so and you can follow the guide their step-by step.404 Illustrations is a website with different and funny illustrations and ideas for your 404 page. Every case is saved in a Google Drive folder giving you the possibility to download between illustrations presented there.-step guide.

Delesign is a provider with illustrations, logos, icons and many more designs where you can search and customize them after your project's , icons, and many more design elements. The search is useful and you can customise images to suit your brand.

Logobridge is a collection of unused logos all under Public Domain, so you are free to use them for your projects, commercially and non-commercially too. Logobridge also offers a costumized logo only for your project and you can find the assets on GitHub toocustomized logo design service.

Paper Illustrations is a an illustration hosting site under Creative Commons license and it is also compatible in Sketch, Adobe, Office, and G Suite tools using the Icondrop plugin giving to give you access to a range of illustrations to choose from.

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404 Illustrations is a website with different and funny illustrations and ideas for your 404 page. Every case is saved in a Google Drive folder, so you can download illustrations.

Vector Graphics

Vector Creator is made for everyone who is new to the design world and wants to learn how to create customed illustrations. Vector Creator has it's own forum where you can be a part off and share your thoughts on different topicscustom illustrations, with a helpful and supportive community.

Publicdomainvectors.org offers copyright-free vector images accessible in .eps, .svg, .ai, and .cdr formats. Between There are around 65,000 Public Domain vector images in public domain you can choose and available to choose from and they are free to edit, distribute and use the images , as well as use for unlimited commercial purposes. You can also generate your own customized customised vectors in their own svg SVG generator.

Synfig is a free and open source Open Source vector designing creation software. Synfig lets you transform any vector shape into another by giving you tools to have a full control on over your artwork and not only. It also lets you generate 2D animation without having the need to animate frame by frame. Synfig is a cross-platform that and works on Windows, OS X, Mac, and Linux. It is licensed under GNU GPL v3.

Vectr lets you to quickly and intuitively create vector graphics. It is used to create 2D graphics and graphics for business cards, greeting cards, websites, illustrations, resumes, brochures, posters, presentations, and icons. It imports and edit edits SVGs and bitmaps that can be used as a background. It imports in AI .ai, EPS .eps, PNG .png, and JPEG .jpeg file formats.

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Photography

Unsplash is one of the best hosting sites to get open source images. Every single image uploaded to Unsplash is an image that you can use in any activity and vise versa.
Open Source images. All images are free for any type of use. It provides an API for developers that allows them to access the uploaded images programmatically through an API, which is well documented and maintained.

Pexels allows you to download images in many predefined sizes, or the original image size, or even a custom size you choose by yourselfof your choice.

Flickr community is one of the biggest hosting sites for open images. While searching for your unit , you can also choose between licenses you need and in different sizes of the imagefilter by license type or rights.

Smithsonian Open Access is the best hosting site if your project needs some 2D and 3D digital modelingmodelling. You can download, share, and reuse this collection of images and data from 19 Smithsonian's Museums, research centers centres, and many archives they have.

Open Source Design Community

Open Source Design is a community of designers and developers pushing more who improve open design processes and improving as well as improve the user experience and interface design of open source software. This community writes articles, lists jobs, runs a job board, puts on events, provides resources, and presents talks targeted at developers and designers interested in working on and designing in Open Source.They have a forum where everyone is welcomed to ask question, have discussions or even contribute in open projects. If you would like to get involved with the projects and the community, the forum is the place to startopen source. This is an active and supportive community forum and is a great resource for learning more about Open Source.