The following is a list of tools that I have found helpful in the development of Komo.
A number of editors are available external to the Eclipse API. I found Nvu to be very convenient, with lots of nice features, but at times it could be a little buggy (this page is being written in Nvu). Nvu offers comprehensive creation and editing of HTML, XHTML, and Cascading Style Sheets, and linking with the W3C validation service. It is freeware and can be downloaded from the Nvu Website.
Altova XMLSpy 2006 Home Edition is a freeware version of their full retail product that allows creation and editing of XML as well as HTML, XHTML, and CSS files. Documents can be checked for being well-formed and valid. It is available for download from Altova.
A number of image creation and editing tools are available, ranging from Microsoft Paint (included with Windows) to very sophisticated applications. I find IrfanView to be a helpful freeware program for acquiring, viewing, resizing, and changing the format of images (e.g., from .png to .gif).
The Eclipse SDK is available for download from the Eclipse Website as a 100M+ zip file (Windows version). The Java 2 platform is available from Sun Microsystems. A number of plug ins are available for Eclipse and these are described below.
WindowBuilder is a visual development tool for designing GUIs and includes support for RCP. The reviews have been generally positive and some have commented that it generates clean code. I found the documentation a little sparse. It is available as a download from Instantiations and there is a 14-day free trial period. The freeware version is helpful and a full version can be purchased (perhaps a bit pricey for some).
A couple of XML editor plug ins are available. I found the freeware version of XMLBuddy to be quite serviceable.
A useful freeware Cascading Style Sheet editor plug in can be downloaded from SourceForge.
This freeware plug in supplements the error-checking features of the Eclipse Java editor. It compares your code with the Sun Microsystems Java code standards and provides suggestions - often useful sometimes a bit arcane. It is available for download from SourceForge .