This week’s focus is Pixlr.com.  Pixlr.com is not just one tool, but an entire suite of image editing and sharing tools.  There are four components to the Pixlr suite: Pixlr Editor, Pixlr Express, Pixlr Grabber, and Pixlr Imm.io.

Pixlr Editor is a very powerful image editor and creator with a feature set that is very similar to that of high-end commercial products.  It offers layers, filters, and a host of brushes and pens.  If you are at all familiar with Photoshop, you’ll feel right at home in Pixlr Editor.  Pixlr Editor allows you to create images from scratch, or upload an image from your computer or website for editing.

Pixlr Express allows you to upload and image from your computer or a website for fast, basic image adjustments.  You can resize, crop, adjust color levels, and apply various effects.

Pixlr Grabber is an add-on for Windows or Firefox that allows you to right-click an image on a webpage and upload it to Pixlr for editing.  I’m not certain if Grabber is Mac compatible.

Imm.io is an image sharing service that you can use to share your images with others online without needing web hosting of your own.

These tools are very convenient for quickly editing an image for placing on the Web or if you do not have image editing software installed on your computer.  This would also be a great tool to use in a classroom setting for creating images for art class or prepping photos students have taken for inclusion on the class blog.

Pixlr is free and requires no user account creation.  There are some advertisements on some pages, but those can be easily blocked.  Pixlr is a flash-based application, so you will need to have Adobe’s free Flash Player installed on your computer to make use of it.  Not meaning to belabor a point, but because Pixlr is Flash-based, it will not run on the current iteration of Apple’s upcoming iPad.

In any event, Pixlr is a great tool to add to your Web 2.0 arsenal.