Ideas. Experiments. Tools for Better Divers.
Welcome to DWF Labs. This is my workshop, where ideas become experiments, experiments become tools, and occasionally those tools become something genuinely useful for divers around the world.
A lot of these projects start the same way. I see students struggling with the same concept, watch divers run into the same planning problem, discover that useful information is harder to find than it should be, or simply catch myself thinking, “There has to be a better way.”
So I build something.
The goal is not to replace good training, experience, or judgment. It is to remove some of the unnecessary friction around diving. If a tool can make something easier to understand, easier to plan, easier to practice, or easier to talk about with another diver, then it belongs in DWF Labs.
Current Tools & Experiments
Some of these tools solve everyday diving problems. Others are trainers, planning aids, teaching resources, or experiments that started because I wanted a better way to explain something.
Everything in this collection is free to use here at Dive With Frank. Pick something useful and take it for a spin.
Why DWF Labs Exists
DWF Labs started as a passion project built around a pretty simple idea: useful diving tools should be easy to find and easy to use.
You should not need a subscription just to practice a dive-table problem. You should not have to surrender your email address to build a packing checklist. You should not need an account to estimate a starting weight, think through an emergency plan, or have a better conversation with your dive buddy.
I build this stuff because I enjoy solving problems. If something can save an instructor time, help a student finally understand a difficult concept, make planning easier, improve a conversation between buddies, or help a diver think through a problem more clearly, then building it was worth the effort.
Everything available here at DWF Labs is free to use, and I intend to keep it that way.
That does not mean DWF Labs has to stop at DiveWithFrank.com.
There may eventually be commercial versions for dive shops, instructors, training organizations, and other businesses that want selected DWF Labs tools operating directly on their own websites with their own branding, links, calls to action, and customer experience.
That is a different product from the free public tools you see here. Those partner and white-label options are still being developed, and I would rather build them around real-world needs than invent a pile of subscription tiers before anyone asks for them.
Some of these tools may also eventually escape the website altogether and become part of a standalone mobile or tablet app, especially where offline access would be useful.
But here at Dive With Frank?
DWF Labs stays free.
Diving already gives us plenty of real challenges. There is no reason we cannot eliminate a few of the unnecessary ones.
What’s Next?
DWF Labs is always evolving. Some future projects are already being built. Others are still notes, sketches, half-finished prototypes, or ideas that have not occurred to me yet.
If you have an idea for a tool, calculator, classroom resource, game, simulator, planner, or experiment that would make diving better, I’d genuinely love to hear about it.
The best DWF Labs projects usually begin with somebody noticing a little bit of friction and asking:
“Wouldn’t it be nice if…”
DWF Labs FAQ
Building tools for the dive community naturally brings up a few practical questions. Here is the deal on how DWF Labs works, what stays free, and where some of this may eventually go.
Are DWF Labs tools free?
Yes. Everything available here at DiveWithFrank.com is free to use, and I intend to keep it that way.
You do not need a subscription to use the public DWF Labs calculators, trainers, games, planners, builders, or experiments.
If I build another useful tool tomorrow, next month, or after spending entirely too much time staring at a computer during the winter, the public DWF Labs version belongs here with the rest of them.
Can I put DWF Labs tools on my dive shop’s website?
That is one of the directions I want the commercial side of DWF Labs to go.
The public DWF Labs tools remain free here on Dive With Frank. A dive shop, instructor, training organization, or other business that wants those tools operating directly on its own website is asking for a different deployment.
Future partner options may include DWF-branded versions, co-branded versions, and commercial white-label versions customized around the organization using them.
Those commercial options are still in development. If your organization is interested, tell me what you would actually want to use. Real-world requirements will help determine what gets built first.
Will there be commercial or white-label versions?
That is the plan.
A commercial partner version could allow an organization to use selected DWF Labs technology on its own website with its own logo, colors, links, calls to action, and customer experience.
Depending on the eventual model, that could range from DWF-branded installations through co-branded deployments and fully authorized white-label presentation.
The exact licensing model and pricing are not locked down yet. I would rather develop that around real users and real organizations than manufacture a stack of subscription plans and hope somebody wants them.
Commercial licensing would help support the continued development, hosting, maintenance, and improvement of DWF Labs while the public tools here remain free.
Could these tools link directly to a dive shop’s courses or online store?
Eventually, yes. That is one of the commercial ideas I find most interesting.
Imagine using a Weight Estimator on your local dive shop’s website. If the result helps identify a need for trim pockets, exposure protection, ballast, or another piece of equipment, a shop-integrated version could provide a useful next step into that shop’s own store.
The same idea could work with a Packing Checklist Generator. Preparing for a dry suit weekend, Open Water course, liveaboard, or international trip naturally produces a list of things a diver may need. A partner version could connect appropriate items to equipment, rentals, courses, or other resources offered by the organization hosting the tool.
The tool helps the diver identify the need. The local dive business already has somewhere useful to send them next.
That integration model is still future work. If your shop has a particular ecommerce platform, inventory system, or use case you would like supported, I want to hear about it.
Could DWF Labs eventually become an app?
Possibly.
There are enough tools now that putting some of them into a standalone phone or tablet app could make a lot of sense, particularly when offline access would make the tool more useful on a boat, at a quarry, while traveling, or somewhere with lousy connectivity.
If that happens, the app would be its own product with its own features and business model.
It would not change the promise here. The DWF Labs tools on DiveWithFrank.com would still be free.
Do I need an account to use DWF Labs?
No account is required for normal use of the public DWF Labs tools.
DWF Labs is built around a low-friction, privacy-conscious model. When a tool only needs to remember something such as display preferences, personal calibration, or other local settings, that information can often stay in your own browser rather than requiring a visitor account or unnecessary database record.
The exact technical needs vary by tool, but the basic philosophy is simple: I do not want to put an account-creation wall in front of somebody who just wants to use a useful diving tool.
Have an idea for DWF Labs, found something confusing, spotted something weird, or interested in eventually using one of these tools on your organization’s own website? Drop me a line and tell me what would actually be useful.
