For web developer

FileVista, an impressive file manager application that can be installed on your websites, is giving away 5 x "5 Users License" ($199/each) to WRD readers.

Details on joining the giveaway is mentioned at the bottom of the post. But before that:

What is FileVista?

It is a feature-rich file manager application that works on your browser and offers a desktop-like working experience (even more) for your web files.

The application is built with ASP.NET (works on Windows servers), has a free "single user" version and more users require a license.

FileVista supports every action that can be expected from a file manager like create, delete, rename, copy, move, zip and unzip files + folders.

Actions can be accomplished very quickly as the interface is completely Ajaxed and a context menu (right-click) has shortcuts to everything.

It has a very powerful, permission-based access control system which gives the administrator full control over the contents with features like:

creating groups and users
locking users/groups into folders with desired rights (user's actions, disk usage and allowed file types)
groups can have sub-administrators which can manage the users of that group

Using the application, you can also create custom links to files, set them to be temporary and even password-protected (every file can have its own password).

The file uploader is so nice. It handles multiple file uploads, displays a real-time progress bar and can resume interrupted downloads (handy for large files).

FileVista is multilingual (supports 9 languages) and it is definitely a very useful resource for collaboratively managing + sharing files (a very good fit for interactive agencies).

How to join the giveaway?

It is pretty easy, simply comment to this post and/or tweet this article with hashtag #wrdfilevista (click to tweet easily). You can do both to increase the chances.

Winners will be selected randomly on 9 February 2011 (1 week later).

Good luck to everyone.

Requirements: Windows Server, ASP.NET 4.0+
Compatibility: All Major Browsers

jDownload is a jQuery plugin which aims to provide more details to the end users about the file to be downloaded.

Once a download link is clicked, it sends an Ajax query to a PHP file which returns the name, type and size of the file in a modal window.

User can choose to get the file or cancel the request which is specially a good experience for knowing the size of the file before downloading it.

The plugin requires jQuery UI besides the jQuery itself for the modal dialog and comes with various options for customization including the dimensions of the dialog, event to trigger it (click, hover, etc.), and more.

Also, based on the same idea, functionality can be improved further by adding "zipped downloads" or "send as e-mail" types of options to the end users.

Requirements: jQuery & jQuery UI
Compatibility: All Major Browsers

PGRFileManager is an open source PHP file manager application with a totally Ajaxed interface.

It makes adding, moving, renaming and deleting single or multiple files and/or folders possible. Also they can be moved with drag 'n' drops.

The application can create thumbnails of images and rotate them with a click. For text files, they can be edited with CKEditor.

There is also a context menu on every level for applying actions quickly.

PGRFileManager can integrate easily into the popular FCKEditor and CKEditor which will work for the image/file insert/upload menus.

Requirements: PHP

For anyone working with multiple clients, the sharing of files (screenshot of a design, documents, etc.) can be difficult, specially if they are large in size.

cFTP is an open source and multi-user PHP application that  enables you to create a repository to send/receive files with multiple clients.

Each client/user is limited to see the files uploaded for them which also works as a history of "sent" files.

For images, it displays the thumbnails for a better recognition.

The application has a simple and good-looking interface and can be installed with a web-based installer.

It can be localized in means of date-time format, timezone and language.

And also, cFTP can be branded by simply uploading a logo.

Requirements: PHP & MySQL

KCFinder is an open source and web-based file manager, built with PHP, that is inspired from the popular CKFinder.

It has a completely Ajaxed interface and can be integrated easily with other applications like FCKeditor, CKEditor, and TinyMCE WYSIWYG web editors (or anything custom).

The file manager has a context menu when right-clicked on any item that shows options like rename, delete, download, etc.

It has a clipboard functionality for copying and moving files, images can be auto-resized to a pre-defined width-height when they are uplaoded.

Also, KCFinder has a multilanguage interface which can be customized with CSS.

Requirements: PHP5+ with GD extension

Mollify is an open source web-based file manager, built with PHP & GWT, that can control files hosted in a web server or hosting account.

It has a simple, intuitive & Ajaxed interface that also supports multiple languages.

The application is multi-user (users & user-groups) where a file-level access can be set.

File actions & directory actions can be completed quickly from context popup menus. It is also possible to download files/folders in zipped format.

Mollify can upload multiple files at once & enables to list the contents with sortable columns.

A unique feature offered is the ability to define aliases for folders in order to hide the real folder structure for security purposes.

The interface is totally customizable with CSS. Also, integration of the application with other products is possible as the frontend & backends are independent (they communicate with HTTP/JSON).

Requirements: PHP 5.2+
Compatibility: All Major Browsers

Downloadify is a lightweight JavaScript + Flash library for generating files on the browser & saving them without any server requests.

It uses Flash 10's ability to generate files on the client-side & trigger a save to the user’s computer.

It is very ideal for using on small-sized files that were already loaded like vCards, color codes, custom codes, addresses, etc.

It only requires swfobject & doesn't need any other JavaScript library to run.

Requirements: Flash 10 & swfobject

IZWebFileManager is a powerful open source file manager control for ASP.NET 2.

It works very similar to Windows Explorer & can copy/move/rename/delete (multiple) files and folders.

The file manager supports:

file upload

displaying hidden files and folders

drag'n drop

right-click context menu

keyboard controls

& more..

IZWebFileManager has a multilingual interface & offers a permission control where any feature can be disabled.

Requirements: ASP.NET 2
Compatibility: All Major Browsers

Uploadify is a jQuery plugin for implementing single + multiple file uploads easier & better.

It requires Flash (which completes the upload) & a server-side file in any language (. PHP one is included) which processes the uploaded file.

The plugin offers various options to control & customize the upload interface like:

files types
max. number of simultaneous files
auto or manual start of uploads
size limit
callback on every step (onSelect, onCancel..)
& more..

And, implementation is as simple as any other jQuery plugin; just by calling a function.

Requirements: jQuery 1.2+
Compatibility: All Major Browsers

FileManager is a MooTools-based file manager that allows you to control your files-folders with style.

It runs in a modal box & with an Ajaxed interface, helps:

browsing files/folders quickly
rename, delete, move (with drag'n drop), copy (drag + hold CTRL) and download files
view detailed reviews of images, text-files, compressed-files or audio content
Option to automatically resize big images when uploading
Use it to select a file anywhere you need to specify one inside your application's backend

FileManager uses the FancyUpload3 script that is soon to be released for good-looking file uploads.

And, it can be easily integrated with TinyMCE as well. For a standard demo, click here & for a TinyMCE integrated demo, click here.

P.S. Thanks very much to David Walsh for the suggestion.

Update (14th September 2010): URL of the resource is updated.

Requirements: MooTools, PHP
Compatibility: All Major Browsers