Free Cool Tools

Top 10 Trendsetting Music Blogs

2010-08-10T02:23:00.000-07:00

We try to stay on the cutting edge of what music has to offer as well as cover the people and trends behind the music through our industry profiles.

Blogs dot com team has picked the Top 10 Trendsetting Music Blogs to help people find not only the best music being put out today, but also the acts that are likely to make it big tomorrow.

Top 10 Trendsetting Music Blogs

Aquarium Drunkard

Most music blogs don’t have corresponding record labels, but then again, most blogs aren’t like Aquarium Drunkard! This blog shares the same city with us here at LA Music Blog and covers everything you need to know about the indie music scene.

Brooklyn Vegan

While BrooklynVegan is mostly NYC-centric, it’s still a blog to follow no matter where you live. They have everything from metal to hip hop, and they know what to pay attention to at all times.

Buzzbands

Buzzbands is a staple of any LA music fan…or at least it should be! Kevin Bronson has an eye for live shows and an ear for what’s great in LA, and while he doesn’t always stick to LA bands, he does cover the great acts that come through town.

Invisible Oranges

This site covers everything metal, so if you love the heavy stuff and want to know the latest, follow these guys and you will never be left behind!

Kings of A&R

When compiling this list, Kings of A&R was the first blog that came to mind. I follow them on a regular basis to find new, up-and-coming acts to feature on our site, and they have an amazing track record of picking bands that get signed.

Pitchfork

Pitchfork was another easy one to add to this list. If an artist makes it on Pitchfork, they are going to get attention from everyone else…unless Pitchfork doesn’t like them, of course.

Rap Radar

For those of you looking for what is going on in rap and hip hop, this should be the site you follow. Rap Radar always has the inside scoop of who is working with whom and when new music will be released.

Stereogum

Stereogum might be more than a music site, but they have a very good eye and ear for what is great in a multi-genre format. They offer up-to-date news on the industry, the bands, and the people involved.

The Hype Machine

While The Hype Machine is more of a “Best of the Music Blogs” blog than a music news or review site in and of itself, it is a great way to get exposed to a variety of opinions on music in one convenient place.

The Lefsetz Letter

While Bob Lefsetz doesn’t blog in the traditional sense of the word, he is still one of the most outspoken and on-point bloggers in music today. I don’t always agree with him and some times he doesn’t focus on music, but if you want to know what’s happening in music today, sign up for his newsletter.

Important Features' Updates in Wordpress Version 3.0

2010-08-06T06:14:00.000-07:00

Wordpress 3.0 Features:

Custom Post Types
Menu Management
Custom Taxonomies
New Default Theme: “Twentyten”
Multi-site

a. Custom Post Types

By default, WordPress lets you publish two types of content: "Posts" and "Pages". In version 3.0, you can define additional content types with their own attributes. For example, if you’re running a WordPress site for a design agency, you might create a custom post type to display portfolio items, another for employee pages, and another for client testimonials. From there, you can customize your theme to better suit each individual post type.

You might even want to turn your WordPress site into something more like Tumblr. This will be easy to do in WordPress 3.0 simply by creating custom post types for Text, Photo, Quote, Link, Chat, Audio, and Video.

b. Menu Management

Menu management is one of the most exciting and talked about features in WordPress 3.0. This feature gives you full control over your site’s navigation menus. With an easy drag and drop interface, users can create menus that include any mixture of links to internal pages, external URLs, categories, you name it. Then you can embed these custom menus as a widget wherever your theme allows.

c. Custom Taxonomies

While this new feature may seem a bit complex to non-developers, it certainly brings WordPress 3.0 closer to a true CMS. Custom taxonomies allow you to create additional pieces of meta information. By default, there are "Categories" and "Tags". Now we can add additional types, with the option of being hierarchical or not.

For example, if you are a film fanatic and you use your WordPress blog to post reviews and rate new movies. You can create a custom taxonomy for "Rating", etc.,.

d. New Default Theme: “Twentyten”

Twentyten is the long-overdue default theme packaged with new installations of WordPress 3.0. It features a clean, yet bold design and introduces some nice functionality not found in many themes. Two features built into Twentyten are particularly useful if you’re new to WordPress and don’t have the coding skills to customize your theme. They are:

Custom Header Image
Custom Background Image

e. Multi-site

You can’t discuss WordPress 3.0 without mentioning the new multi-site capabilities. That is, you can manage several different websites (with different domains and/or sub-domains) all with a single installation of WordPress. What was previously known as WordPress MU (Multi-User) is now merged with the core WordPress system in 3.0. Enabling multi-site capabilities likely isn’t something for the average user, as it requires some tinkering with the code and configuring server settings. That said, the average user likely isn’t interested in having multi-site capabilities.

For more information, please visit: http://mashable.com/2010/05/10/new-features-wordpress-3/

Important Forums for Web Developers

2010-07-19T02:41:00.000-07:00

Release Notes on Mozilla Firefox 3.6.6

2010-07-05T02:53:00.000-07:00

What's New in Firefox 3.6.6

Firefox 3.6.6 modifies the crash protection feature to increase the amount of time that plugins are allowed to be non-responsive before being terminated. Please see the complete list of changes in this version.

Extensions and Themes

Extensions installed under Firefox 3.5 may be incompatible and/or require updates to work with Firefox 3.6. Please report any issues to the maintainer of the extension. When you install Firefox 3.6 all of your Extensions and Themes will be disabled until Firefox 3.6 determines that either

they are compatible with the Firefox 3.5 release or
there are newer versions available that are compatible.

Troubleshooting

Poorly designed or incompatible extensions can cause problems with your browser, including make it crash, slow down page display, etc. Restart the browser in Safe Mode. On Windows, start using the "Safe Mode" shortcut created in your Start menu or by running firefox.exe -safe-mode.

When started in Safe Mode all extensions are disabled and the Default theme is used. Disable the Extension/Theme that is causing trouble and then start normally.

Click here to Download Firefox 3.6.6

Google gets cosy with Adobe, brings built-in PDF support to Chrome browser

2010-06-22T04:49:00.000-07:00

Google recently announced its plans to introduce an integrated PDF viewing experience to its Chrome web browser.

Following on from an earlier decision to integrate the Adobe Flash Player, Google hopes the addition of PDF support will allow users to enjoy a seamless web experience without the need for third-party software or plug-ins.

Using the new functionality - currently available only via a pre-final developer release - users will be able to render PDF files "as seamlessly as HTML web pages" from within the Chrome browser, says Google

Although PDF plug-ins themselves aren't entirely new, Google claims its own implementation will provide better compatibility, performance and security.

Built on the Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface (NPAPI), Google's PDF viewer will be contained in the same browser sandbox as web pages; ensuring crashes caused by bad PDF files or known exploits impact only the open tab.

In addition to mitigating the threat of high-level security risks, the Chrome browser will also deliver the latest version of Chrome's PDF support to users automatically..

Despite the early promise, however, Google warns that its integrated PDF reader does not yet support all of the advanced features found in Adobe Reader, and adds that rendering quality is "a work in progress".

Chrome's native PDF functionality will eventually be made available via a wider beta release, prior to a final stable release.

Source:

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=25184

Look at New Releases of Wordpress Themes

2010-06-17T04:03:00.000-07:00

AnimeStar
Features Demo Download

Summy
Features Demo Download

Perfecta
Features Demo Download

Lorem
Features Demo Download

Thanks: http://newwpthemes.com/

Learn Adobe After High Quality Tutorial

2010-04-29T04:27:00.000-07:00

For beginners
Introduction to Adobe After Effects | Andrew Kramer

Basic effects | Andrew Kramer
Learn to create some basic effects using After Effects.

Animation | Andrew Kramer
Now you can learn how to create an animation.

Trim Paths | Aharon Rabinowitz
Learn how to create simple trim paths.

Simple Reflection Techniques | Aharon Rabinowitz
Very simple but cool technique creating reflections.

Web 2.0 Glossy Text | Matt Evans
Learn to create a glossy text.

How to track motion in Adobe After Effects CS3 | cgsutra.com
This useful tutorial explains how to track motion in After Effects.

Boharg II Breakdown | David Madry
Learn to set different speed for your footage and also learn how to set a color correction.

Starting with After Effects | Pascal Verstegen
Great tutorial explaining how to transform work from Photoshop to simple animation using After Effects.

Rendering | Shoaib Khan
Learn about rendering your video.

For Intermediate Users
Creating 3D Cloud Motion From a Still Image | Aharon Rabinowitz
Very useful effect for cloud motion. It gives much more realistic feeling than just a moving image.

Heart Rate Monitor | Shoaib Khan
Learn how to create a cool heart rate monitor.

Car Light Trails | Shoaib Khan
Shows how to create car light trails in After Effects.

Light Sabers | Andrew Kramer
Learn how to create Star Wars style Jedi.

Create a Split-Flap Type Display | Mattias Peresini
Very cool looking animation.

Creating Fire | Steve Holmes
Learn how to create a fire effect.

Adjustment Lights | Eran Stern
One way how to create adjustment lights.

Create an Elegantly Handwritten Text Reveal | Jurrien Boogert
Good looking effect for intro or outro.

Look Out New Wordpress Themes

2010-04-27T05:42:00.000-07:00

Stunning Press
Features | Demo | Download

Berita
Features | Demo | Download

Shopping Press
Features | Demo | Download

Marangal
Features | Demo | Download

Ice Breaker
Features | Demo | Download

Appcloud
Features | Demo | Download

MiniCard
Features | Demo | Download

Wp Blue Print
Features | Demo | Download

Zexee
Features | Demo | Download

Personalised
Features | Demo | Download

Yoghurt
Features | Demo | Download

Tree House
Features | Demo | Download

Vector Flower
Features | Demo | Download

City Journal
Features | Demo | Download

Craftworks
Features | Demo | Download

Spice Twitter Background Tools

2010-04-21T00:07:00.000-07:00

Free Twitter Designer

Twitter Background Checker

Twitter Background 0.1

Twitlay

Twilk

Twiback

Artweet

ClickableNow

Peekr

PrettyTweet

TwitBacks

Flickr My Background

Free Backgrounds

Creative Twitter Background

Custom Background for Twitter

Custom Tweets

Twitter Images

ChethStudios

Free Twitter Backgrounds – Hi-Res Grungy Set 1

We Love Backgrounds

Web Design Beach

Twitter Background Tutorials

Create A Twitter Background using PowerPoint

Create A Twitter Background using Adobe Illustrator

Design a Unique Twitter Background

A Twitter Background Made Using Photos of Facebook Friends

4 Ways to Optimize Your Twitter Background

Twitter Background Design How-To and Best Practices

How To Create A Twitter Background That Flows With Your Website Design

Useful Factors for Selecting Web Host

2010-04-16T04:14:00.000-07:00

Price

This is the aspect most of us will look at first when choosing a hosting provider; however, it shouldn’t be the deciding factor. When you see price differences it’s helpful to remember the old maxim that we get what we pay for. Jumping on the cheapest offer you see isn’t necessarily the best idea, especially if you rely on your site to make money. Things like non-outsourced support and quality hardware cost money, and a hosting company that charges $1.99 per month likely won’t offer these features. Take a closer look at the features that each host provides, and THEN compare prices.

Further reference(s):

HostMonk – A site with comprehensive list of hosting companies and their packages. Use this site to compare prices of almost any web hosting companies’ hosting packages.
WHReviews – Reliable web hosting shopping guide.

Area of Focus / Specialties

It’s a fact that not all web hosts are right for all different kinds of customers. Some offer great shared plans but don’t have solutions that are good for growing businesses, while others have great enterprise solutions but aren’t the right fit for someone with a small recipe blog. Look into a company’s specialty or area of expertise before you buy, and go with one that understands your particular needs as a customer. You can find reviews and recommendations on the Web, and many of these will talk about a particular company’s strengths and weaknesses.

Tech Specs / Limitations

Take a good, honest look at your site and figure out what you want it to do. If you’re hoping to host a blog, an e-commerce site, rich content, and videos, then you shouldn’t go with the cheapest hosting package you can find. A cheap hosting plan probably won’t have the RAM, processing power, and disk space to serve all these needs, and you’ll spend more time dealing with downtime or load issues than you would like. Look to see what you are getting with the cheap host and what features are included in the cost. Do they charge for additional domains, support, backups, etc.. Call them. Ask questions. Tell them what you envision your site’s needs to be. Just don’t take it for granted that they take your site as seriously as you do.

Tech Support

In most people’s opinions, this is the big one. When my site, for some unknown reason, goes down, can I call up and get a real, live person on the phone? And, more than that, can they find out what’s wrong and fix it, or at least tell me what I need to do to get my site back online? Before going with a host look into their reputation for customer support. See what kinds of different ways you can contact them when you need support – email, toll-free phone, chat, and so on. Are they staffed 24/7? Do they outsource support?

You’ll find that, like in price and technical specifications, all hosts are not equal. Some hang their hat on their support crew, and some view customer support as an afterthought. Steer clear of the latter.

Features / Add-Ons

This area of consideration comes down to the following question - What makes this hosting company special? What extra incentive do they provide to make hosting your site with them just a touch more attractive? Whether it’s multiple data centers, energy-saving practices, or additional features such as regular data backups or free domain privacy, hosting companies often offer more than just servers. If you see one that offers something you need or find important, that can be a good indicator that you should look into using that company.

Hardware

You might have to do a bit of reading (or question-asking) to get to the bottom of this one. What kind of machines does your hosting company use? Are they top-of-the-line, out-of-the-box new machines, or are they cobbled together from what might be spare parts and chicken wire? If the hosting company doesn’t say what kind of servers they use, you’ll want to ask, since hardware can affect the performance of both their servers and your site.

Further reference(s):

Key factors in selecting Web hosting hardware

Customer Reviews / Satisfaction / Reputation

This is one of those factors that you’ll have to get a little creative to get the real story on. Do a Google Blog search for a particular hosting company, or look them up on Twitter – whatever you have to do to see what their current (or former) customers are saying about them. Are they easy to contact for support? What’s the average time it takes to respond to a ticket? When they find a problem with a site, what’s their course of action? This is one of the great things about social media – ask a question about a company, and you’re more likely than not to get a few answers.

Further reference(s):

LifeHacker readers’ favourite web hosting (list)
Web Hosting Talk – one of the largest web hosting community on the net.
Web Hosting Jury – reviews submitted by users themselves.

Email Features

This is one of those areas where you might not have considered asking your host for help. If you have a spam problem, then it may be because your hosting company doesn’t provide an adequate solution to stop it. Look into or ask about your provider’s spam solutions and general email practices. No matter what they say, email isn’t dead quite yet.

Control Panel / User Interface

Even if you’re the least tech-savvy person in the world, there are some things – installing WordPress, setting up email, setting up FTP accounts – you should be able to do without calling your hosting company’s support line. Does your provider use cPanel or Plesk to make updates and modifications easier, or do they use some clunky interface that no one can figure out? You’ll most likely be the one working with it, so if you can’t figure it out, then that’s going to be a problem.

Further reference(s):

Scalability / Room to Grow

Finally, an important thing to consider about your hosting provider (and the plan you choose) is whether or not they fit into your plans for the future. In other words, what you consider adequate hosting now might not meet your needs two years from now, once you start selling your wares online and getting some good traffic to your site.

Any web-based enterprise should have its eye on growth, so if a hosting company might have difficulty accommodating that growth it could pose an issue. Does the host have VPS or Dedicated Server solutions? Will they be able to easily upgrade your account? Transferring from one host to another takes valuable time and effort which could be avoided if the company can scale their solutions for growth. As with all these factors, do some research, get some opinions, and make an informed decision.

Bonus

Last but not least, we’d also like to share with you some useful resources that might be handy when it comes to web hosting.

Ruby on Rails Hosting – A comparison of services that provide ROR hosting.
Understand Cloud Hosting – "Cloud Hosting" has been quite a buzz these days, but do you know what it means?
10 Solutions For Your Cloud Hosting Needs – Sitepoint and their fair share on cloud hosting needs.
Who Is Hosting This – Find out who is hosting which website

Be Update Using Google Blogs

2010-04-12T05:48:00.000-07:00

General Products

Google Search Engine | Blog | RSS Feed

Google Earth | Blog | RSS Feed

Google Chrome OS | Blog | RSS Feed

Google Mobile Products | Blog | RSS Feed

For Bloggers & Webmasters

Google Blogger | Blog | RSS Feed

FeedBurner | Blog | RSS Feed

Adsense for Feeds | Blog | RSS Feed

Google Reader | Blog | RSS Feed

Google Adsense | Blog | RSS Feed

Google Adwords | Blog | RSS Feed

Google Webmaster Central | Blog | RSS Feed

Google Checkout | Blog | RSS Feed

Google Analytic | Blog | RSS Feed

Google Apps | Blog | RSS Feed

Google Sites | Blog | RSS Feed

Chat & Social Networking

Gtalk | Blog | RSS Feed

Google Friend connect and Buzz | Blog | RSS Feed

Gmail | Blog | RSS Feed

Orkut | Blog | RSS Feed

Google Wave | Blog | RSS Feed

Google Groups | Blog | RSS Feed

For Programmers

Google Codes | Blog | RSS Feed

Google Web Toolkit | Blog | RSS Feed

Google App Engine | Blog | RSS Feed

Multimedia and Entertainment

Picasa | Blog | RSS Feed

Youtube | Blog | RSS Feed

Productivitiy Tools

iGoogle Developer | Blog | RSS Feed

Google Desktop | Blog | RSS Feed

Google Notebook | Blog | RSS Feed

Google Docs | Blog | RSS Feed

Google Translate | Blog | RSS Feed

Silly Photoshop Mistakes Published Via Magazines

2010-04-03T02:31:00.000-07:00

Bad cut. Too much of the eraser tool.

Do you know Brad Pitt’s adopted son has an evil twin?

Bad merge, now we’ve got more players on the field.

Double trouble. Bad magazine removal and a typo.

Wrong hands. Look how they put their hands together.

One of the leg is just not right.

Where’s daddy? It looks like daddy was removed, but the hand remains.

Floating sword.

High School Musical 2 with extra hands.

Unprofessional work. A 2 dollars not worth spending for.

Thigh Anxiety.

Bad shadow.

Belt wasn’t really connected.

Bad image reflection from Apple.

Vanishing back wheel.

Bad greenery tookver.

Third arm spotted.

Two right arms, nice.

It’s probably impossible to turn the head like that?

Three hands with two thumbs up

Handbag removed.

Holding someone’s hand?

Professional Web Design Fonts

2010-04-03T01:37:00.000-07:00

AlexandriaFLF

Andika Basic

Andron Regular

Anivers Regular

Bergamo Std

Bonveno CF Light

Calluna Regular

Cantarell

CartoGothic Std

Charis SIL

Contra

Dejavu Sans

Dejavu Serif

DejaWeb

Delicious

Diavlo

Euro Sans Pro

Fertigo Pro

Fontin Sans

Galatia SIL

Gallette Medium

Tips & Common Mistakes We Make While Writing For the Web

2010-03-26T05:36:00.000-07:00

7 Tips for writing for the web

Get the attention

Your title has to be eye catching. Be descriptive. Tell your readers what they would be getting out of this post. Use keywords and make them bold. Sometimes the use of hyperlinks could also serve as a good highlight for the readers.

Get to the point

Make it brief, make it short. Let them get what they want, instead of getting them figure if this is what they want. You can state your point and start with your conclusion in front.

Space matters

Just take it that human eyes as claustrophobic. Text in awful lumps would be such a turnoff. Create more space. Have very distinct paragraphs, with each demonstrating only one point. List information with bullets. Use numbers when ranking matters.

Think of her/him all the time

Put yourself into the shoes of your readers. Do they really need or want to know this? Remember you not only have to capture their attention, you have to keep it there tightly.

Be honest with who you are

Your readers would want to know who they are reading from and how much they could trust what they are reading. You could leave a byline or include details of yourself on your blog or website.

Speak in a common language

Unless the acronyms are very widely used, I wouldn’t go for the idea of short forms. We know what SMS is but what if there is more than one meaning for SMS? Furthermore, always use words that users know. You don’t need bombastic and fanciful words to impress people. Impress people when you could use simple words to get a complicated idea across.

Write as though you are talking to them

Get personal. We usually feel for something when we are able to relate to it. Use active voice to speak to them.

10 Common English errors

Who / Whom

These similar pronouns are often used to join two sentences or phrases together but they work quite differently.

"Who" refers to a subject of the sentence. This is correct: The old man, who was dressed in simple clothes, is none other than the founder of a large business corporation.

"Whom" refers to an object of a sentence. This is correct: This is the Steve, whom I met in my friend’s party. "Whom" here refers to Steve. In the second part of the sentence, Steve becomes the "object" of the sentence.

Its / It’s

"Its" is a possessive adjective belonging to a thing or associated with a thing. This is correct: The dog is wagging its tail.

"It’s" is a contraction of "it is". This is correct: It’s pretty annoying to have someone talking loudly in the cinema.

Irregardless / regardless

There is no such word as "irregardless". Regardless means without considering the current or the mentioned situation. This is correct: Regardless of the dangers of this operation, the firemen dashed into the building to save the victims.

Practice / Practise

Practice is a noun. Practise is a verb. The one with the "c" at the back is a noun. The one with the "s"at the back is a verb. This is correct: I practise singing weekly. My singing practice is on every Wednesday.

Bought / Brought

These two words are easily misspelled because of a difference in only a letter.

"Bought" is a verb that is past tense of "buy" while "Brought" is a verb that is the past tense of "bring".

Principle / Principal

"Principle" refers to a noun that is the fundamental of foundation for reasoning or belief. This is correct: I am not doing any illegal or immoral activities because this is a matter of my own principles.

"Principal" is a noun that refers to the first in order of importance. It also refers to an original sum of money for investment or loan. This is correct: With the annual interest rate of ten percent and the principal amount of the investment is a hundred thousand dollars, you are likely to receive a hundred and ten thousand dollars at the end of the investment.

Unless / Although / Though

These are conjunctions, which connects 2 sentences together. "Unless" works differently from "although" and "though".

"Unless" is used to determine if a statement or event is valid or true, based on a condition that is given. If the condition is fulfilled, the statement would not be valid. This is correct: Unless you have an e-mail address, you will not be able to sign up for Facebook. This is incorrect: Unless you have an e-mail address, you will be able to sign up Facebook.

A popular mistake is the usage of "but" when using "although" and "though". This is incorrect: Although you had done your best, but you are still unable to become one of the finalists of this competition. This is correct: Although you have done your best, you are still unable to become one of the finalists of this competition.

In time / On time

Both phrases work very similarly, with a slight difference in meaning. "In time" would refer to having enough time to spare to accomplish a certain task. This is correct: He was saved because they brought him to the hospital in time.

"On time" would indicate punctuality, which meets the planned time. This is correct: The meeting has to start on time.

At the end/ In the end

"In the end" is used to show that a long time has passed and there is a conclusion. This is correct: In the end, I received a refund for my spoilt printer.

"At the end" is to show a point where something stops. This is correct: The bulk of the movie was entertaining, but it became disappointing at the end, because it ended so suddenly.

At the beginning / In the beginning

This is similar to the previous one. "At the beginning" refers to a specific point of time. This is correct: You will be asked to give a simple introduction of yourself at the beginning of the lesson.

"In the beginning" refers to something that starts over a period of time. This is correct: Our ancestors faced many hardships in the beginning.

Significant Websites that Changed the Internet Market

2010-03-24T23:59:00.000-07:00

1. Wikipedia

2. Amazon.com

3. Hotmail

4. Facebook

5. Project Gutenberg

6. Twitter

7. Pandora

8. Apple

9. YouTube

10. Craigslist

11. The Drudge Report

12. GeoCities

13. Digg

14. LiveJournal

15. Google

Importance of Call to Action Buttons on Websites

2010-03-15T05:22:00.000-07:00

The Purpose of "Call to Action" Buttons

Call to action buttons can serve a variety of functions. After all, “call to action” is really a bit vague. All it means is that it’s main purpose is to get a visitor to your site to do something. That something could be adding a product to their shopping cart, downloading something, requesting information, or just about anything else.

Because call to action buttons have such varied purposes, a lot of consideration has to go into what the button aims to achieve. The type of site, the target market, and the desired action can all play a role in how to best design a call to action button.

Types of "Call to Action" Buttons

There are a few different types of call to action buttons. While each type aims to get visitors to perform a certain action, that action can vary considerably. Below are the most common types of call to action buttons, based on the action they want you to take.

1. Add to Cart Buttons

E-commerce sites generally use a number of call to action buttons, but the most widely-used one is the “add to cart” button. These buttons generally appear on individual product pages. Their purpose is to entice customers to purchase an item. Common design elements in add to cart buttons include simple wording (such as “Add to Cart” or “Add to Bag” or “Buy Now“) and the use of icons (usually a bag or cart).

2. Download Buttons

Download buttons are similar to add to cart buttons in that they’re trying to entice a visitor to take possession of an item. In the case of download buttons, many designers opt to include more information than other types of buttons (such as version information or download size).

3. Trial Buttons

Some sites try to entice their visitors to try their offerings, generally in the form of a free trial. This could be a free download or a free account, depending on the particular site. Some sites use the “less-is-more” philosophy and keep the language on their buttons to a minimum, while others like to offer more information on what the trial contains.

4. Learn More Buttons

Learn more buttons are generally used at the end of a block of teaser information (often on the home page). These buttons are usually simple, but often oversized to attract visitor attention.

5. Sign Up Buttons

Sign up buttons appear most commonly in two different versions. The first type is usually directly associated with a sign up form. The second type is usually used in a similar fashion to “add to cart” buttons, as a way for users to purchase or sign up for a service or account, before they actually reach a sign-up form.

There are other types of call to action buttons, but these are the most common. Guidelines that apply to those above will likely also apply to any other type of call to action button you might be designing.

Using Negative Space Effectively

You want your call to action buttons to stand out from the surrounding content and really command attention from your site visitors. To that end, you need to make use of negative space around those buttons. Incorporate blank space between your content and your call to action button. While this is less important (and less common) on some buttons, such as add to cart buttons, with others, like those to learn more, work better with more space.

It’s important to balance the amount of negative space you have around the buttons with the size of the buttons themselves. It’s about proportion. You want your button, the space around it, and the surrounding content to all look like they go together, even with disparities in size. You may have to fiddle around with things a bit in order to get them looking just right.

Some guidelines:

* Make sure there’s enough space around your button so that it doesn’t feel cluttered
* Consider principles like the rule of thirds or the Golden Ratio when determining how much space to include
* Negative space gives your call to action button room to stand out among your other content and sets it apart

Size and Color

How large your call to action buttons are is very important. A button that’s too large will overpower everything around it. A button that’s too small will get lost in the shuffle of all the other content on a page. You want your button to be large enough to stand out without overwhelming the design.

Color can be used to great effect to help balance the size of your buttons. For larger buttons, choose a color that’s less prominent within your design (but still stands out again the background). For a smaller button, you may want to choose a brighter, contrasting color to really make the button pop. In either case, make sure the color you use sets the button apart without clashing with the site’s overall design.

Some guidelines:

* Your call to action buttons should ideally be the largest buttons on a given page
* Use contrasting colors to make smaller buttons stand out more
* Use less distinct colors to make oversized buttons fit in better
* You call to action buttons need to command attention without overwhelming your design

Language

The exact wording you choose to use on your call to action buttons can have a huge effect on conversion. Compare “Buy Now” with “Add to Cart“. One is much more urgent than the other one. Or how about “Try it for Free” with “Free Trial“? One is much punchier than the other and stands out more.

The language you use on your call to action buttons should be as straight-forward and simple as possible. You want visitors to know with just a glance exactly what they’ll get when the click on a button. If they question it, that means they’ve paused, which can lead to lower conversion rates.

Don’t forget your font sizes, too. The text on your call to action button should be large and bold, properly suited to the size and color of the button itself. Make sure there’s sufficient contrast and that the text is easy to read.

Some guidelines:

* Use simple, direct language
* Use a large, bold font on the button for the main text
* Make sure the language clearly calls for a specific action

Create Urgency

You want visitors on your site to carry out the desired actions with as little thought as possible. While you don’t want to deceive your visitors, the more opportunities you give them to stop and consider what they’re doing, the more opportunities you’re giving them to say “no”.

You want your buttons to give them the impression that they need to act right away. You want to encourage them to make their decision immediately, on the spur of the moment. While this won’t work for every call to action button (especially those to purchase high-ticket items), for low-cost or free actions, having visitors click with little forethought is desirable.

Some guidelines:

* Encourage your visitors to act immediately
* Don’t give your visitors any reason to pause
* While urgency is important, don’t mislead your visitors in any way

Provide Extra Information

Where appropriate, use your call to action buttons to give visitors extra information about what they’re going to get if they click on the button. This is most commonly seen with trial buttons or download buttons. Common examples of extra information include the length of time a free trial will last or the size of a file download. Version information is also commonly seen.

When including extra information, remember that you need to keep the focus on the actual call to action. Make sure that the text for the language enticing visitors to act is most prominent, with other information much less visible.

Some guidelines:

* Only include extra information when it adds to the user experience
* Extra information is only appropriate on some types of call to action buttons, most notably download or trial buttons
* Make sure the main call to action is still the most prominent text on your button

Prioritize

It’s important to prioritize the call to action buttons on your page if there’s more than one. This can be done in a number of ways, but the most common are through the use of color and size.

Use color to highlight the most important button on a page, or to make the less important ones seem less prominent. Or use size to make the most important button stand out (by making it larger) and de-emphasizing the less-important ones.

Icons and Images

Including visual cues in your call to action buttons can also help to increase conversion rates. An icon of a shopping cart on an “add to cart” button, for instance, or an arrow on a download button are both good examples. Think of unique icons to use, too, but make sure that the icon adds to the user experience by clarifying what the button is for, and doesn’t add any confusion.

Some guidelines:

* Make sure the icons you use help clarify your button’s meaning, rather than confuse it
* Easily-recognized icons can immediately indicate meaning to your visitors
* Don’t be afraid to use less-commonly used icons, as long as their meaning is still clear

Examples

Here are a few examples of great call to action buttons. While they don’t all perfectly conform to the guidelines above, they meet enough of the criteria to be considered great.

Livestream

Windows 7

Fileshare HQ

Logbook

TasteBook

GoodBarry

Lifetree Creative

The Resumator

Notepod

Inkd

Elegant Themes

ZenDesk

Storenvy

Bara’Mail

Download EBooks From Free Websites

2010-03-09T04:16:00.000-08:00

FreeBookSpot

4eBooks

Free-eBooks

ManyBooks

GetFreeEBooks

FreeComputerBooks

FreeTechBooks

Scribd

Globusz

KnowFree

OnlineFreeEBooks

MemoWare

BluePortal

OnlineComputerBooks

SnipFiles

BookYards

The Online Books Page

AskSam Ebooks

Baen Free Library

eBookLobby

Attention Job Seekers - View Simple Creative Resumes For You

2010-03-02T03:55:00.000-08:00

Curriculum Vitae by Jonny-Rocket

Resume by Pau Morgan

Me, Myself Curriculum Vitae by Novisurjadi

Life Chart Resume

Resume by Arianedenise

Resume on Fabric

Curriculum Vitae by Mistis

Curriculum Vitae by iTudor

Curriculum Vitae by Verine

Curriculum Vitae by bulooji

Curriculum Vitae by Fransanchez

Vinyl Record-Themed Resume

Michael Anderson Resume Infographic

Resume by ChuckDLay

Resume by Adam Stephenson

Resume by Anna Yenina

Personal Resume Draft by Steven Duncan

Graphic Design Resume by SunnyBlack

Resume Advice by Gusbodr

2009 Resume SID Santos

Resume Passport

Resume Confidential 2008 by Sercan Tunali

2010-02-26T04:10:00.000-08:00

Guru

99designs

Behance Job

Mistersoft Freelancing

37signals Jobs

Bixee

Jobs on Webdesignerwall

Coroflot

Freelanceswitch Jobs

Designm.ag

Lime Exchange

GetACoder

Crowd Spring

iFreelance

People per hour

Krop

Sologig

Joomlancers

Journalism Jobs

Freelance Sites for Designers and Programmers

2010-02-17T02:41:00.000-08:00

Digitalpoint Forum

Smashing Jobs

Elance

Odesk

GetAFreelancer

Sitepoint Marketplace

Simply Hired

RentACoder

Metafilter Jobs

Problogger Jobs

Dice

Scriptlance

Website Monitor Up / Downtime Service Tools

2010-02-12T03:27:00.000-08:00

Free Web Monitoring

1. Mon.itor.us

Not only they monitors more than 120,000 sites, Mon.itor.us also offer services like Internal Monitoring and Visitors Tracking.

Frequency: 5 mins
Premium Services: Yes
upported Protocols: HTTP/HTTPS, POP3, IMAP, FTP, TCP/IP, more

2. Site Uptime

Frequency: 30 mins
Premium Services: Yes
upported Protocols: N/A
Alert via: Email, SMS

3. Internet Seer

Frequency: 5 mins
Premium Services: Yes
upported Protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP. POP3 and other Ports

4. Site 24×7

Frequency: 60 mins
Premium Services: Yes
upported Protocols: HTTP, DNS,
Alert via: Email, SMS, RSS

5. HyperSpin

Frequency: 1 Hour
Premium Services: Yes
upported Protocols: Ping, HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SSH, SMTP, DNS, POP3, IMAP, MySQL, and any arbitrary services running on TCP/IP
Alert via: Email, SMS

6. HostTracker

Frequency: 30 mins
Premium Services: Yes
upported Protocols: HTTP
Alert via: Email, ICQ, GTalk, SMS

7. Dotcom Monitors

Frequency: 60 mins
upported Protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, POP3, DNS, FTP, SOAP, Video, Audio
Premium Services: Yes

8. Site Probe

Frequency: 60 mins
Premium Services: Yes
upported Protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SMTP, and POP3

9. FreeBackup.info

Frequency: N/A
Premium Services: No
upported Protocols: HTTP
Alert via: Email, SMS

10. Killer Website Monitor

Frequency: 1 Hour
Premium Services: Yes
upported Protocols: HTTP

11. Vertain

Frequency: N/A
Premium Services: No
upported Protocols: HTTP
Alert via: Email, SMS, Phone

12. Uptrends

Frequency: 30 mins
Premium Services: Yes
upported Protocols: N/A
Alert via: Email, SMS, RSS

13. Uptime Party

Frequency: 60 mins
Premium Services: Yes
upported Protocols: HTTP

14. Service Uptime

Frequency: 60 mins
Premium Services: Yes
upported Protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, POP3, DNS, IMAP, SMTP, IMAP, more

15. Internet Vista

Frequency: 60 mins
Premium Services: Yes
upported Protocols: HTTP
Alert via: Email, SMS

16. EControlPortal.Net

Frequency: 5 mins
Premium Services: No
upported Protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, PING, DNS, IMAP, POP3, RADIUS, NNTP, WEB CONTENT, AUTHORIZATION
Alert via: Email

17. ServerMojo

Frequency: 15 mins
Premium Services: No
upported Protocols: HTTP, DNS, MySQL, Ping
Alert via: Email, SMS, Twitter, Jabber

18. UpPanel

Frequency: 30 mins
Premium Services: Yes
upported Protocols: HTTP/HTTPS, FTP, SSH, SMTP, MySQL, PING, more

19. WebsitePulse

Frequency: 60 mins
Premium Services: Yes
upported Protocols:HTTP/HTTPS, FTP, SSH, SMTP, MySQL, PING, more

20. Basic State

Frequency: 15 mins
Premium Services: No
upported Protocols: HTTP, DNS, Server

Forums That Web Designers Should Know

2010-02-10T01:04:00.000-08:00

Forums for Web Designers

1. Digital Point – HTML Web Design

One of the biggest webmaster communities online.

2. Web Design Forum.net

3. CSS Chat

4. Designers Talk

5. Estetica Design Forum

6. Freelance Gossip

7. Graphic Design Forum

8. HTML Forum

9. Kirupa Forum

10. Open Web Design

11. Site Point

12. Web Designer Forum (UK)

13. Web Design Forum

14. Webdigity

15. Webforumz

16. Webmaster Talk

17. Wtricks

18. TalkFreelance

11 Commonly Made Web Design Mistakes

2010-02-08T02:50:00.000-08:00

1. Where’s the Search box?
The web is like an archive of information. Whether it’s a corporate website or merely a blog, a search box is essential. The visitor might be looking for something that is hidden within the website, with the search box, chances are, visitors will get what they want.

Suggestions:

Google Custom Search is a neat, simple and effective way to get started. It enables visitors to search your site in an efficient manner. Just copy the HTML code from the control panel and paste it on your website and voilà, you’ve got a search function right on your website.

Here’s a simple form code to display Google’s search engine on your site too. All you have to do is change the site name to your website’s name. Plus, you can modify the submit value to anything you like.

view plaincopy to clipboardprint?

2. Poor Readability & Legibility
This is a crucial element of web design. Of course, a good interface design will grab the users’ attention but users have to read text to be able grasp the information they desire. Some websites use the most bizarre font styles and sizes that make reading a pain.

Suggestions:
Fortunately, there are simple ways that you can do to improve the users’ reading experience on your website.

Compare color schemes of most major sites and notice how the colors improve readability. A good place to try out different color schemes is Adobe Kuler.
Use a Sans serif typeface as it allows for easy reading on the web.

3. Unorganized Content Layout
A website’s content is what drives traffic to it. How the content is structured is what will make it a success or a failure. Users do not read unless absolutely necessary but scan through information and pick out points of interest on a web page. Some designers just put a block of text on the web page and totally neglect headings, sub-headings, bullets, keywords, paragraphs, etc.

Use an appropriate page title for each web page so users know exactly where they are. Some designers even forget to name the web page.

Overall, the worst in this category will be putting inaccurate, inaccessible, insignificant or out-of-date content on your website. The content must coincide with the overall theme of the website and be useful. If a page is under construction, why bother putting it up? If a designer really must, then it is only temporary and 3 weeks will no longer be deemed temporary.

Suggestions:
Organize content on your website using HTML and CSS should be used when creating the design of your pages.

Create enough whitespace between your text and images by using margins.
Update and be consistent. The purpose of updating is not just to add new content but to spot and correct past mistakes. Jakob Nielsen suggests you hire a web “gardener”.

Budget to hire a web gardener as part of your team. You need somebody to root out the weeds and replant the flowers as the website changes but most people would rather spend their time creating new content than on maintenance. In practice, maintenance is a cheap way of enhancing the content on your website since many old pages keep their relevance and should be linked into the new pages. Of course, some pages are better off being removed completely from the server after their expiration date - Jakob Nielsen

4. Bad Navigation
Navigation within a website should be seamless. Users should be able to find their way around easily. While there is no standard for navigation within a website, especially now as more new web development technologies emerge, it is imperative to understand that navigation must be intuitive and consistent.

If text is used as navigation, it should be concise. Visual metaphors should not be re-invented. If hyperlinks are used, then they should stand out from the body of the text. Dead links should have no place on any web page whatsoever. This increases user confusion and wastes time. And one that is even just as worse is having a link on the homepage that links to the homepage.

Suggestions:

Make navigation smooth by using textual descriptions for all links. Provide alt text for images. Use alternative text description techniques for Flash or Javascript links.
Organize and structure your navigation in tandem with the theme of the website. Personal websites can afford to be more creative yet accessible but a business website requires more efficiency and clarity.

Remember, if users can’t find what they want in less than 3 clicks, most will leave immediately.

5. Inconsistent Interface Design.
Excessive creativity can be just that. Excessive! Some designers take it to another level when creating websites by creating different designs for every web page within a website. This is by no means confusing to the user. And utterly annoying. No matter how outstanding and attractive a website is, if the overall look and feel is not consistent, users cannot relate to it and feel less in control. Thus, leaving as soon as they arrived.

Suggestions

Use a standard consistent template for every page with links to the main sections of the site.
The keyword is simple. Create aesthetically simple designs and users will never get confused on your website.

6. Unfriendly Screen Resolution
I’m sure we’ve visited websites where you have to scroll horizontally. This is an absolute no-no in modern web design. A good designer will develop websites that fit on most screen sizes. The current optimized layout for websites currently is 1024 x 768 pixels.

Suggestions:
It’s hard and almost impossible to cater the design to fit every resolution especially when visitors are now surfing from mobile phones and netbooks, but we can get a rough idea what are the generally used screen resolutions with these following ways:

Check your stats – Analyic services like Google Analytics provides you information about what monitor resolution they are using. These are useful information you should know before initiating your next revamp.
W3 Schools Browser Stats – W3 Schools gives clear lists of the most popular browser used by netizens and sort them according to popularity. There are other interesting and important statistics too.

7. Complicated Registration Forms
Registration forms are tricky. How much information do you require from the user? Gone are the days where a user had to enter a zillion details to register to your website. Some websites make most registration fields mandatory and validate the fields to the extent where the user is frustrated after a few tries. Remember, users visit a website to acquire information. Not the other way round.

Suggestions:
Compare registration forms across communities on the web and understand what basic information is required of the user during the registration process.

8. Unscrupulous Use of Images/Animations
Too much images on a web page is a huge turn off. Images can be used to capture users’ attention but it can also be a distraction or just plain aggravating. Images should be used to illustrate and guide the user where appropriate.

Animations are awesome and a powerful medium. Especially when used appropriately. When it’s a cycle or just too much on a web page, it gets on the users’ nerves. Users don’t have the patience, time or resources so designers must offer alternatives or better yet, the skip button, if it’s a full page animation.

9. Cluttered Pages, More Whitespace
Too many designers forget about whitespace and its importance. They are so engulfed in their own design creativity that they forget that it’s not about them. Thus, they try to cram as much as they can onto a single page. End result? A busy, cluttered and unreadable page.

10. No Background Music, Please!
Users don’t want cool, they seek efficiency. And yes, 99 percent don’t care about the music on your website. Some designers make it worse by putting different background music on every web page.

Suggestions:
Don’t use background music, but if you must, create a frame for the code and user controls. That way, the music loops continuously, instead of changing each time a new page is loaded within the website. And the user can stop or pause whenever.

11. Test, Test and Test
This cannot be overemphasized. How many times have we been to web pages that can only be viewed on a certain browser? Web developers have to have a checklist of sorts when testing websites.

Can the website be viewed in different environments?
Is the design layout consistent in all browsers?
Can the website be viewed in different settings such as Images turned off, JavaScript turned off, etc?

Tips, Tricks and Secrets of Windows 7 - II

2010-02-03T01:51:00.000-08:00

17. Explore God Mode

Windows 7 has changed Control Panel a little, but it's still too difficult to locate all the applets and options that you might need. God Mode, however, while not being particularly godlike, does offer an easier way to access everything you could want from a single folder.

The first part, "Everything" will be the folder name, and can be whatever you want: "Super Control Panel", "Advanced", "God Mode" if you prefer.

The extension, ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C, must be entered exactly as it is here, though, including the curly brackets. When you press [Enter] this part of the name will disappear, and double-clicking the new folder will display shortcuts to functions in the Action Centre, the Network and Sharing Centre, Power options, troubleshooting tools, user accounts and others - more than 260 options in total.

18. Right-click everything
At first glance Windows 7 bears a striking resemblance to Vista, but there's an easy way to begin spotting the differences - just right-click things.

Right-click an empty part of the desktop, for instance, and you'll find a menu entry to set your screen resolution. No need to go browsing through the display settings any more.

Right-click the Explorer icon on the taskbar for speedy access to common system folders: Documents, Pictures, the Windows folder, and more.

And if you don't plan on using Internet Explorer then you probably won't want its icon permanently displayed on the taskbar. Right-click the icon, select 'Unpin this program from the taskbar', then go install Firefox, instead.

19. Display the old taskbar button context menu
Right-click a taskbar button, though, and you'll now see its jumplist menu. That's a useful new feature, but not much help if you want to access the minimize, maximize, or move options that used to be available. Fortunately there's an easy way to get the old context menu back - just hold down Ctrl and Shift as you right-click the taskbar button.

20. Desktop slideshow
Windows 7 comes with some very attractive new wallpapers, and it's not always easy to decide which one you like the best. So why not let choose a few, and let Windows display them all in a desktop slideshow? Right-click an empty part of the desktop, select Personalise > Desktop Background, then hold down Ctrl as you click on the images you like. Choose how often you'd like the images to be changed (anything from daily to once every 10 seconds), select Shuffle if you'd like the backgrounds to appear in a random order, then click Save Changes and enjoy the show.

21. RSS-powered wallpaper
And if a slideshow based on your standard wallpaper isn't enough, then you can always create a theme that extracts images from an RSS feed. For example, Long Zheng has created a few sample themes to illustrate how it works. Jamie Thompson takes this even further, with a theme that always displays the latest BBC news and weather on your desktop. And MakeUseOf have a quick and easy tutorial showing how RSS can get you those gorgeous Bing photographs as your wallpaper. Or you can watch our custom theme video tutorial.

22. Customise the log-on screen
Changing the Windows log-on screen used to involve some complicated and potentially dangerous hacks, but not any more - Windows 7 makes it easy.

First, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background in REGEDIT, double-click the DWORD key called OEMBackground (not there? Create it) and set its value to 1.

Now find a background image you'd like to use. Make sure it's less than 256KB in size, and matches the aspect ratio of your screen as it'll be stretched to fit.

Next, copy that image into the %windir%\system32\oobe\info\backgrounds folder (create the info\backgrounds folders if they don't exist). Rename the image to backgroundDefault.jpg, reboot, and you should now have a custom log-on image.

Alternatively, use a free tweaking tool to handle everything for you. Logon Changer displays a preview so you can see how the log-on screen will look without rebooting, while the Logon Screen Rotator accepts multiple images and will display a different one every time you log on.

23. Recover screen space
The new Windows 7 taskbar acts as one big quick launch toolbar that can hold whatever program shortcuts you like (just right-click one and select Pin To Taskbar). And that's fine, except it does consume a little more screen real estate than we'd like. Shrink it to a more manageable size by right-clicking the Start orb, then Properties > Taskbar > Use small icons > OK.

24. Enjoy a retro taskbar
Windows 7 now combines taskbar buttons in a way that saves space, but also makes it more difficult to tell at a glance whether an icon represents a running application or a shortcut. If you prefer a more traditional approach, then right-click the taskbar, select Properties, and set Taskbar Buttons to "Combine when taskbar is full". You'll now get a clear and separate button for each running application, making them much easier to identify.

25. Remove taskbar buttons
One problem with the previous tip is the buttons will gobble up valuable taskbar real estate, but you can reduce the impact of this by removing their text captions. Launch REGEDIT, browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics, add a string called MinWidth, set it to 54, and reboot to see the results.

26. Restore the Quick Launch Toolbar
If you're unhappy with the new taskbar, even after shrinking it, then it only takes a moment to restore the old Quick Launch Toolbar.

Right-click the taskbar, choose Toolbars > New Toolbar, type "%UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch" (less the quotes) into the Folder box and click Select Folder.

Now right-click the taskbar, clear 'Lock the taskbar', and you should see the Quick Launch toolbar, probably to the right. Right-click its divider, clear Show Text and Show Title to minimise the space it takes up. Complete the job by right-clicking the bar and selecting View > Small Icons for the true retro look.
27. Custom power switch
By default, Windows 7 displays a plain text 'Shut down' button on the Start menu, but it only takes a moment to change this action to something else. If you reboot your PC a few times every day then that might make more sense as a default action: right-click the Start orb, select Properties and set the 'Power boot action' to 'Restart' to make it happen.

28. Auto arrange your desktop
If your Windows 7 desktop has icons scattered everywhere then you could right-click it and select View > Auto arrange, just as in Vista. But a simpler solution is just to press and hold down F5, and Windows will automatically arrange its icons for you.

29. Disable smart window arrangement
Windows 7 features interesting new ways to intelligently arrange your windows, so that (for example) if you drag a window to the top of the screen then it will maximise. We like the new system, but if you find it distracting then it's easily disabled. Run REGEDIT, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop, set WindowArrangementActive to 0, reboot, and your windows will behave just as they always did.

30. Browse your tasks
If you prefer the keyboard over the mouse, you will love browsing the taskbar using this nifty shortcut. Press Windows and T, and you move the focus to the left-most icon on the taskbar. Then use your arrow keys to change the focus to other icons, and you get a live preview of every window.

31. Display your drives
Click Computer in Windows 7 and you might see a strange lack of drives, but don't panic, it's just Microsoft trying to be helpful: drives like memory card readers are no longer displayed if they're empty. We think it's an improvement, but if you disagree then it's easy to get your empty drives back. Launch Explorer, click Tools > Folder Options > View and clear 'Hide empty drives in the computer folder'.

32. See more detail
The new and improved Windows 7 magnifier offers a much easier way to zoom in on any area of the screen. Launch it and you can now define a scale factor and docking position, and once activated it can track your keyboard focus around the screen. Press Tab as you move around a dialog box, say, and it'll automatically zoom in on the currently active control.

Tips, Tricks and Secrets of Windows 7

2010-02-01T02:10:00.000-08:00

Windows 7 is out and if you've either just installed it or bought a new PC running Windows 7, then we're here to help you get the most from it.

Look beyond the headlines about interface tweaks and you'll find Windows 7 is crammed with lesser known, but still important, new and enhanced features, which taken together deliver improved performance and productivity, better troubleshooting, stronger security and a whole lot more.

We've updated our Windows 7 tips with a bunch of new ones, including the Windows 7 God Mode (see tip 17). Read on for 67 ways in which Windows 7 will make a real difference to your PC.

1. Problem Steps Recorder
As the local PC guru you're probably very used to friends and family asking for help with their computer problems, yet having no idea how to clearly describe what's going on. It's frustrating, but Microsoft feels your pain, and Windows 7 will include an excellent new solution in the Problem Steps Recorder.

When any app starts misbehaving under Windows 7 then all your friends need do is click Start, type PSR and press Enter, then click Start Record. If they then work through whatever they're doing then the Problem Steps Recorder will record every click and keypress, take screen grabs, and package everything up into a single zipped MHTML file when they're finished, ready for emailing to you. It's quick, easy and effective, and will save you hours of troubleshooting time.

2. Burn images
Windows 7 finally introduces a feature that other operating systems have had for years - the ability to burn ISO images to CDs or DVDs. And it couldn't be much easier to use. Just double-click the ISO image, choose the drive with the blank disc, click Burn and watch as your disc is created.

3. Create and mount VHD files
Microsoft's Virtual PC creates its virtual machine hard drives in VHD files, and Windows 7 can now mount these directly so you can access them in the host system. Click Start, type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter, then click Action > Attach VHD and choose the file you'd like to mount. It will then appear as a virtual drive in Explorer and can be accessed, copied or written just like any other drive.

Click Action > Create VHD and you can now create a new virtual drive of your own (right-click it, select Initialise Disk, and after it's set up right-click the unallocated space and select New Simple Volume to set this up). Again, you'll be left with a virtual drive that behaves just like any other, where you can drag and drop files, install programs, test partitioning software or do whatever you like. But it's actually just this VHD file on your real hard drive which you can easily back up or share with others. Right-click the disk (that's the left-hand label that says "Disk 2" or whatever) and select Detach VHD to remove it.

The command line DISKPART utility has also been upgraded with tools to detach a VHD file, and an EXPAND command to increase a virtual disk's maximum size. Don't play around with this unless you know what you're doing, though - it's all too easy to trash your system.

4. Troubleshoot problems
If some part of Windows 7 is behaving strangely, and you don't know why, then click Control Panel > Find and fix problems (or 'Troubleshooting') to access the new troubleshooting packs. These are simple wizards that will resolve common problems, check your settings, clean up your system and more.

5. Startup repair
If you've downloaded Windows 7 (and even if you haven't) it's a good idea to create a system repair disc straight away in case you run into problems booting the OS later on. Click Start > Maintenance > Create a System Repair Disc, and let Windows 7 build a bootable emergency disc. If the worst does happen then it could be the only way to get your PC running again.

6. Take control
Tired of the kids installing dubious software or running applications you'd rather they left alone? AppLocker is a new Windows 7 feature that ensures users can only run the programs you specify. Don't worry, that's easier to set up than it sounds: you can create a rule to allow everything signed by a particular publisher, so choose Microsoft, say, and that one rule will let you run all signed Microsoft applications. Launch GPEDIT.MSC and go to Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Application Control Policies > AppLocker to get a feel for how this works.

7. Calculate more
At first glance the Windows 7 calculator looks just like Vista's version, but explore the Mode menu and you'll see powerful new Statistics and Programmer views. And if you're clueless about bitwise manipulation, then try the Options menu instead. This offers many different unit conversions (length, weight, volume and more), date calculations (how many days between two dates?), and spreadsheet-type templates to help you calculate vehicle mileage, mortgage rates and more.

Don't take any Windows 7 applet at face value, then - there are some very powerful new features hidden in the background. Be sure to explore every option in all Windows applets to ensure you don't miss anything important.

CALCULATE MORE: The new Calculator is packed with useful features and functionality

8. Switch to a projector
Windows 7 now provides a standard way to switch your display from one monitor to another, or a projector - just press Win+P or run DisplaySwitch.exe and choose your preferred display. (This will have no effect if you've only one display connected.)

9. Get a power efficiency report
If you have a laptop, you can use the efficiency calculator to get Windows 7 to generate loads of useful information about its power consumption. Used in the right way, this can help you make huge gains in terms of battery life and performance. To do this you must open a command prompt as an administrator by typing 'cmd' in Start Search, and when the cmd icon appears, right-click it and choose Run as administrator.

Then at the command line, just type in 'powercfg -energy' (without quotes) and hit Return, and Windows 7 will scan your system looking for ways to improve power efficiency. It will then publish the results in an HTML file, usually in the System32 folder. Just follow the path it gives you to find your report.

10. Understanding System Restore
Using System Restore in previous versions of Windows has been something of a gamble. There's no way of telling which applications or drivers it might affect - you just have to try it and see.

Windows 7 is different. Right-click Computer, select Properties > System Protection > System Restore > Next, and choose the restore point you'd like to use. Click the new button to 'Scan for affected programs' and Windows will tell you which (if any) programs and drivers will be deleted or recovered by selecting this restore point. (Read our full Windows 7 System Restore tutorial.)

11. Set the time zone
System administrators will appreciate the new command line tzutil.exe utility, which lets you set a PC's time zone from scripts. If you wanted to set a PC to Greenwich Mean Time, for instance, you'd use the command

tzutil /s "gmt standard time"

The command "tzutil /g" displays the current time zone, "tzutil /l" lists all possible time zones, and "tzutil /?" displays details on how the command works.

12. Calibrate your screen
The colours you see on your screen will vary depending on your monitor, graphics cards settings, lighting and more, yet most people use the same default Windows colour profile. And that means a digital photo you think looks perfect might appear very poor to everybody else. Fortunately Windows 7 now provides a Display Colour Calibration Wizard that helps you properly set up your brightness, contrast and colour settings, and a ClearType tuner to ensure text is crisp and sharp. Click Start, type DCCW and press Enter to give it a try.

13. Clean up Live Essentials
Installing Windows Live Essentials will get you the new versions of Mail, Movie Maker, Photo Gallery and others - great. Unfortunately it also includes other components that may be unnecessary, but if you like to keep a clean system then these can be quickly removed.

If you left the default "Set your search provider" option selected during installation, for instance, Windows Live will install Choice Guard, a tool to set your browser home page and search engine, and prevent other programs from changing them. If this causes problems later, or you just decide you don't need it, then Choice Guard may be removed by clicking Start, typing msiexec /x and pressing.

Windows Live Essentials also adds an ActiveX Control to help upload your files to Windows Live SkyDrive, as well as the Windows Live Sign-in Assistant, which makes it easier to manage and switch between multiple Windows Live accounts. If you're sure you'll never need either then remove them with the Control Panel "Uninstall a Program" applet.

14. Add network support
By default Windows Live MovieMaker won't let you import files over a network, but a quick Registry tweak will change this. Run REGEDIT, browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live\Movie Maker, add a DWORD value called AllowNetworkFiles and set it to 1 to add network support.

15. Activate XP mode
If you've old but important software that no longer runs under Windows 7, then you could try using XP Mode, a virtual copy of XP that runs in a window on your Windows 7 desktop. But there's a big potential problem, as XP Mode only works with systems that have hardware virtualisation (AMD-V or Intel VT) built-in and turned on. If you've a compatible CPU then this may just be a matter of enabling the option in your BIOS set-up program, however some high profile brands, including Sony Vaio, disable the setting for "security reasons". And that blocks XP Mode from working, too.

One solution has emerged, but it's a little risky, as essentially you'll have to alter a byte in your laptop firmware and hope this doesn't have any unexpected side-effects. Gulp. If you're feeling brave then take a look at the Feature Enable Blog for the details, but don't blame us if it goes wrong.

A safer approach might be to use VirtualBox, a virtualisation tool that doesn't insist on hardware support, but then you will need to find a licensed copy of XP (or whatever other Windows version your software requires) for its virtual machine.

16. Enable virtual Wi-Fi
Windows 7 includes a little-known new feature called Virtual Wi-Fi, which effectively turns your PC or laptop into a software-based router. Any other Wi-Fi-enabled devices within range - a desktop, laptop, an iPod perhaps - will "see" you as a new network and, once logged on, immediately be able to share your internet connection.

This will only work if your wireless adapter driver supports it, though, and not all do. Check with your adapter manufacturer and make sure you've installed the very latest drivers to give you the best chance.

Once you have driver support then the easiest approach is to get a network tool that can set up virtual Wi-Fi for you. Virtual Router (below) is free, easy to use and should have you sharing your internet connection very quickly.

Things to Know About Flash Content Management System

2010-01-28T04:43:00.000-08:00

In a nutshell, Flash CMS allows anyone to build an interactive Flash website easily without hassle. You don’t need Adobe Flash or knowledge in Actionscripts programming to create a nice looking Flash site. With Flash CMS, everything is basically drag-drop, WYSIWYG.

Website built with Flash CMS is also optimized for SEO and Google Analytics is integrated to track user clicks. Click here to learn more about what Flash CMS can do.

Useful Adobe Air Applications For You - II

2010-01-21T02:56:00.000-08:00

Microblogging

TweetDeck

Alert Thingy

Feedalizr

MySocial AIR

Twhirl

Posty

Toro

Spaz

bTT

Tweetr

Social Network

DiggTop

Facedesk

Flair

Babuki

MINI DIGG

Miscellaneous

Wordpress Comment Moderator

Apprise Reader

Ora Time and Expense

Timeloc

Doomi

Klok

MiniTask

Agile Agenda

Xdrive Desktop Lite

AirTalkr

Pownce Desktop 2.0

Useful Adobe Air Applications For You

2010-01-20T00:32:00.000-08:00

Google

GMDesk

ReadAir

Google Analytics Reporting Suite

Photo & Video

Flickr Desktop Search

ImageDropr

Flickr Flipper

Snoto

FLVPlay HD

AIRTube Video Downloader

RichFLV

uvLayer

mooFlair

Adobe Media Player

Design

Websnapshot

Shrink-O-Matic

Colorpicker

ColourLovers Desktop Color Finder

Font Picker

Icon Generator

WebKut

Color Browser

Photoshop Express Uploader

Importance, Tips and Examples of Web Interactivity

2010-01-18T02:59:00.000-08:00

There are many elements that go into the creation of a website. A website is the best medium to communicate with users from all over the world. It is therefore essential, it should be designed in such a way that users should be attracted and be engaged on the site. This is when a website can reach its users effectively.

Designers have often wondered about the secret ingredient to make a website appealing. The combination of design and functionality is something every designer wishes to implement in a site. Many successful websites have one main secret ingredient, not every designer is aware about. That element is website interactivity.

What is Web Interactivity?

A simple example can illustrate this point. Picture this: 2 shopping stores are right next to each other. However, one attracts more customers than the other although both have the same goods. This is only because of one reason. The one shop that attracts more customers uses the concept of interaction with people. This is in terms of consumer suggestions, attractive offers, contests and displays. The whole scenario draws people as the overall environment makes a customer feel more comfortable.

In terms of web design, the concept can work in the same manner. The trick lies in a subtle use of web interactions to attract users and cause them to engage on a page.

Here, we can take another example. A radio button or hyperlinks are elements of a web interface. Contrast these with a 3Dimensional Cube or a 3Dimensional Flip Book, both being examples of interactivity. They are complete experiences of doing stuff that engages users with web pages whilst the user is going through the information displayed on the website. This is what makes these examples stand out. The use of interactivities woven very creatively with website content makes them successful in capturing user-attention.

How does one achieve website interactivity?

There are many elements that can be focused upon to achieve web interactivity that attracts users. The main subject of the website should be taken into consideration. This can give a clue as to the kind of interaction to be used. For example, a product website will have various categories on display. The range should be presented in an interactive manner rather than plain rows of products. A 3Dimensional Flip Book can be used to its advantage to showcase a range of products with the relevant information. A user gets engaged whilst flipping through the book.

The creation of these website interactivities requires time to be spent on technical details. However, in the recent times, designers can create these interactivities within minutes without any programming with rapid interactivity software that is available in the market.

Examples of great interactivity websites

Infinit Colours

Starbucks Coffee at Home

Square Circle

Roth Aniko

Harry Potter

Cathy Beck Communication

Magnivate Interactive Boutique Agency

Magnivate Interactive Boutique Agency

Data Fisher

Mercedes A-to-S

Nokia 3110 Evolve

Aparte Graphique

Monoface

Unfortunate Events movie

10 Essential Tips For Marketing Your Blog

2010-01-11T05:06:00.000-08:00

Well, a new year is upon us, it’s also the start of a new decade within the blogosphere. More and more people are building blogs, and that means there are lots of blogs competing for the same eyeballs and your blog is just one of many. Try finding accurate figures on how many blogs there are and you will know it’s impossible to find a verifiable number because bloggers and their blogs come and go. Look around. It’s certainly a disheartened moment when you see blogs with quality articles that have been abandoned by their creators.

With all of these blogs out there, and all those information available at no cost, how do you make your blog stand out? No problem, just follow these tips and your blog will blossom in this new era when you stay ahead of the rest of your competitors.

1. Target your content to a specific readership

Unless you want to throw all of your marketing budget and precious time on people who could care less about your blog, then you must pay attention to determine the preferred audiences to whom you would like to target. Before posting any piece, determine if it hits the sweet spot of your demographic.

2. Be original, be honest

Don’t follow the herd within your sphere of interest. Followers aren’t innovators and innovation keeps readers reading. So, don’t simply spin the same old post. Take an original slant on a common topic.

Be honest. Verify your facts and provide links to additional verification. Readers trust you to be a good reporter, instructor, mentor or inspiration so keep it honest at all times.

3. Don’t be afraid of a little controversy.

Controversy sells. You and I know that. If it is a part of your business model, be prepared to engage others with differing opinions because, guaranteed, lots of readers will disagree, and you may even encounter a few trolls and haters who frequent blogs for no other purpose than to post inflammatory garbage.

4. Post as a guest blogger

Don’t post to just any blog within your realm. Submit your best pieces to the prestigious blogs – the ones that already have a substantial following. For example, Hongkiat.com is considered by industry insiders to be one of the best blogs for designers, marketers and freelancers. Getting one of your posts published on a top of the line blog is a great way to drive traffic to your blog where readers can find tons of content – all your archives – just waiting for a bookmark.

Of course, getting published on a well-established blog requires insight and something new to be added to the discussion. A rehash of conventional wisdom, regardless of the field of endeavor, won’t make the cut with top tier blogs within any industry or area of interest.

5. Simplify subscriptions

Don’t hide your RSS button down the page together with your Wordpress theme credit links, make them visible & clear for your reader’s eyeballs by taking the following approaches:

Add an RSS chicklet at the top of your sidebar so visitors can easily load your posts into their RSS readers.
Offer email subscriptions.
Provide links to mobi feeds so readers can access new content from their cells or iPhones.
Provide one click subscriptions using reader links to PageFlakes, Google Reader and other remote site readers. You can build a big following fast if you make it easy to find your blog again. And again, and again.

6. Social Media Marketing

social media

The expansion of social media and the evolution of multi-generational media apps are only going to pick up steam. Social media sites have taken off, providing bloggers with an arsenal of tools based on the guerrilla-marketing axiom: Use the resources of others to your advantage.

A few years back, Twitter didn’t exist. Today, not only is it ubiquitous, it spawned a whole new level of web innovation and interactivity.

Follow the rules & open accounts at Facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter. Every time you make a new post to your blog, let your readers know about it by posting to these popular sites. Update your status with interesting & latest news that fascinates your readers.

7. Create different profiles for each social media site

On LinkedIn, you want to be all about business. On Facebook, show a little of your personality – the carbon-based life form behind the blog. On Twitter, shine the spotlight on your blog. Each profile should be designed to show a different facet of you and your expertise.

8. Don’t oversell. Teach, too

If you post to social media sites all day long, flogging your latest blog post, it won’t be long before your Facebook friends hit the hide button next to your name. It can’t be all selling and no sizzle. Instead, post information on a new blog piece, but also post news from other sites that you think will benefit your readers. Know when to stop pushing for a larger readership and when to start giving away information to drive more readers to your blog.

9. Long tail keywords get you found

If you maintain a book review blog, a broad keyword like books will keep you buried in the backwash of Google’s SERPs. Instead, narrow the focus of a search engine search through the use of terms and phrases, broadly referred to as long tail keywords.

So, instead of using “books” as a primary keyword, use a long-tail keyword like “independent book reviews” or “book reviews of current bestsellers.” Sure, not as many people will use these long tails when conducting a search but those who do will discover your blog at the top of page 1. And that’s just where you want to be.

10. Optimize your blog – Both for readers & bots

Cut the clutter of 23 affiliate banners, animated adverts and other distractions. Remember, your site should be attractive to human sensibilities.

Indeed, it’s important to look good to readers who follow you. It’s just as important to look good to search engine spiders. Conduct keyword research using tools like Google’s keyword generator that provides keywords used by actual Google users over the past 30 days. Place those keywords in headlines, sub heads and a few of them in your blog posts.

If you don’t know much about SEO, grab yourself a cup of coffee & start reading the comprehensive list of search engine ranking factor provided by Seomoz.

The pace of innovation is only going to increase in this new decade so, if you’re standing still you’re losing ground to competitor bloggers. Stay current, use all the new tools and follow all the new rules.

Googles' Office Around the World

2010-01-08T03:17:00.000-08:00

Mountain View California, US

New York, US

Santa Monica Arizona, US

Chicago, US

Moscow, Russia

Zurich, Switzerland

Best HTML Newsletter Templates For You

2010-01-06T02:52:00.000-08:00

Campaign Monitor – 30 FREE HTML Newsletter Templates

Carbon Graffiti – 10 Free email marketing templates

Aweber: – 5 Awesome Functional Newsletter Templates

Welcome

Blog Newsletter

Malibu

Outdoorsy

MailChimp – 4 basic flexible HTML email templates

Cakemail – 17 Well Designed Newsletter Templates

More Free Newsletter Templates

Interspire – 30 Free Newsletter templates

Stock Layouts – TechTimes theme

Octeth – 10 Free Email Templates

Hot Email Templates – 28 Free HTML Email Templates

Active Campaign – 11 Free Email Templates

Mach5 – 4 Free Email Templates

Omnistare Tools – 10 Free Email Newsletter Templates

Benchmark – 3 Simple HTML Email Templates

Delivery Success – 10 Free Newsletter Templates

Templatesbox – 84 Free Newletter Templates

Online Multimedia Photo, Audio and Video Editor

2010-01-04T03:19:00.001-08:00

flauntR

Picture2Life

Improve Your Image

LookWow

MakeAGif

Photoshop.com

Online Photo Tool

PicMagick

72Photos

Dr.Pic

EasyCropper

FotoFlexer

Picnik

rSizr

Splashup

Sumo Paint

Web Resizer

Aviary – Phoenix Image Editor

Audio Editors

Electro-House Blender

Aviary Myna Audio Editor

Looplabs

Jamglue

Mad Creator

Chirbit

Soundation Studio

Video Editors

CaptionTube

Animoto

JayCut

One True Media

EditorOne

How to Access iGoogle

2009-12-31T04:19:00.000-08:00

This time, the new iGoogle places the tabs on the left side of the page instead on the top. It allows you to expand the tabs to see the list of gadgets in a tree view. This new structure works similar with Google Reader to me.

Another big improvement is each gadget has an expanded interface aka canvas view. Within canvas view you’re able to check for more information and deeper functions will be provided too like we can directly read an email or a subscribed feed.

How To Access The New iGoogle

To accession the unofficially release version of the new iGoogle, try the steps below:

Visit http://www.google.com/ig
Paste this in the browser address bar:
javascript:_dlsetp('v2=1');
To go back to the original version, click “Leave the sandbox” on top of the page or paste this in the browser address bar:
javascript:_dlsetp('v2=0');

Add Feedburner Subscriber Count In Text

2009-12-24T03:53:00.000-08:00

Step 1

Copy paste the following code into your template, replace feedburner-id with your Feedbuner username. This script will grab you the feed count in numbers.

view plaincopy to clipboardprint?

//get cool feedburner count
$whaturl="http://api.feedburner.com/awareness/1.0/GetFeedData?uri=feedburner-id";

//Initialize the Curl session
$ch = curl_init();

//Set curl to return the data instead of printing it to the browser.
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);

//Set the URL
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $whaturl);

//Execute the fetch
$data = curl_exec($ch);

//Close the connection
curl_close($ch);
$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($data);
$fb = $xml->feed->entry['circulation'];

//end get cool feedburner count

//get cool feedburner count
$whaturl="http://api.feedburner.com/awareness/1.0/GetFeedData?uri=feedburner-id";

//Initialize the Curl session
$ch = curl_init();

//Set curl to return the data instead of printing it to the browser.
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);

//Set the URL
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $whaturl);

//Execute the fetch
$data = curl_exec($ch);

//Close the connection
curl_close($ch);
$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($data);
$fb = $xml->feed->entry['circulation'];

//end get cool feedburner count

Step 2

Paste this anywhere you want and it’ll display a Feedburner subscriber count in text.
view plaincopy to clipboardprint?

echo $fb;

To style it nicely with your website or blog’s theme, add or and tweak the CSS accordingly.

Beautiful 2009 Christmas Wallpaper

2009-12-21T03:41:00.000-08:00

Cwismas

Ferrety Holidays Wallpaper

Cubie Christmas

Yeti’s World

Santa Holiday Wallpaper

Winter Wonderland

Where Snowflakes Are Born

A Christmas Song

Christmas Tree

Xmas, Holiday Wallpaper

Where Christmas Gifts Are Born

Bells Blessing 2

Christmas Globe Mix

Dreamy World

Holiday Cheer – Winter Night

Christmas Snowman Wallpaper

Merry Christmas, Xmas, New Year I

Merry Christmas, Xmas, New Year II

Merry Christmas, Xmas, New Year III

Christmas Wallpaper (Blue)

Salt and Pepper

Free Rss Feed Icons

2009-12-18T05:08:00.000-08:00

RSS icon (Animated)

RSS Dock Icon

mycircles RSS

RSS with reflection

FeedIcons 2

Acid RSS

Ojingogo RSS Icon

Grudge Style RSS Icon

RSS Owl

RSS Feed Badge

Perishable Press Collection of Feed Icons

Snap2Objects Vector RSS Icons

NewsFire Replacement Icon

Mini RSS Icons

4 Colors RSS Icons

Web 2.0 RSS Icon with PSD

RSS Icons pack

Christmas RSS Icon

Heart Shape RSS Icons

RSS Reader Icon

World Biggest RSS Icon

PDF - Free Tools, Tips and Resources

2009-12-08T03:57:00.000-08:00

PDFTextOnline – Extract text from PDF and makes these text copy-able.

ShowPDF – A PDF-to-HTML converter.

FreePDFConvert – Convert MS Office, Images, Web Pages, Vector Graphic Formats files to PDF or Convert PDF to Word (doc) or Excel (xls) document, extract Images from PDF.

Document Converter eXPress – Convert files to PDF or Image without the need of installing special software.

Web2PDF Online – A free HTML to PDF Conversion service for your websites that allows your visitors to quickly save useful information in your blogs and websites to PDF files.

Lettos – DOC to ODT & PDF, ODT to PDF a DOC, PDF to TXT

PDFIt – A Firefox extension that allows you to convert any page into a PDF through a online service provided by Touchpdf.com.

htm2PDF – A service to convert your webpages to PDF

Zamzar – A free online file conversion that able to convert PDF to many document formats.

PDFOnline – Convert documents to PDF, PDF service for iPhone, web to PDF and PDF to word.

KoolWire – Just send your documents to pdf@koolwire.com, then you will receive a converted file in PDF format.

HTML2PDF.BIZ – Web Service & API that converts your Website into PDF.

ExpressPDF – ExpressPDF is an online service that lets you convert your Microsoft Office documents to PDF.

Online PDF Converter – You can convert you PDF file to text or image (JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF) absolutely free.

PDFText – Converts your PDF (Acrobat) file to plain text.

RSS2PDF – Free Online RSS, Atom or OPML to PDF Generator.

PDF-o-matic – A simple PHP script that uses HTMLDOC to convert the web page of your choice.

LOOP – A free web-based service that allows you to convert and combine files to PDF.

FeedJournal – Convert RSS and Atom feeds into PDF newspaper.

BookletCreator – A free online tool that allows to create a booklet from a PDF document.

Offline Tools

doPDF – With one click you can convert your Microsoft Excel, Word or PowerPoint documents or your emails and favorite web sites to PDF files.

PDF995 - Pdf995 makes it easy and affordable to create professional-quality documents in the popular PDF file format.

BullZip - BullZip PDF Printer works as a Microsoft Windows printer and allows you to write PDF documents from virtually any Microsoft Windows application.

PrimoPDF - Create PDF files from 300+ file types and optimized for print, screen, ebook, or prepress.

PDFConverter Desktop – PDFConverter Desktop is Windows software which allow to convert your files to PDF directly from your desktop.

OmniFormat - A free document conversion utility which allows dynamic conversion and image manipulation of over 75 file formats.

PDF to JPG – A complete solution for the conversion of PDF documents into JPG, TIFF or other graphical files.

PDF Image Converter – An easy-to-use application that converts PDF pages to image files with excellent quality.

PDF to Text Converter – Easy PDF to Text Converter can extract text from pdf files — it does NOT need Adobe Acrobat software.

PDF Ripper – Extract image, text, chart, formula from PDF files.

PDF to Word Doc Converter – A desktop document conversion tool to convert Adobe PDF file to Microsoft Word Doc file.

PDF Creator – An application for creating PDF documents from almost any windows application that is capable of printing.

Some PDF Convert Tools – Convert PDFs to DOC competently and in batch.

SWF Printer PRO –Convert documents (DOC,XLS, HTML etc) into both standalone flash movie (.swf) presentations with navigation and/or PDF document format with security options support.

Colorful & Beautiful Blog Designs

2009-12-02T01:34:00.001-08:00

WebDesigner Wall

Web Design Hobart

Brija.com

Design Disease

Cult-foo

Danilo Fiocco

Eric Dies

Designministeriet

Dezine Zync

Dreamling.ca

Depthinfinity

Nimbupani Designs

TruSpeaks

Ilovecolors

Hello My Name is Heather

Duirwaigh Studios – Message from the Muse

Veerle’s Blog

Use 95 Proxy Sites to Access Blocked Websites

2009-11-26T23:01:00.000-08:00

1. http://www.hidemyass.com
2. http://www.anonymizer.com
3. http://www.wujie.net
4. http://www.ultrareach.net
5. http://surfshield.net
6. http://www.guardster.com/subscription/proxy_free.php
7. http://anonymouse.ws/anonwww.html
8. http://www.browser-x.com
9. http://www.spysurfing.com
10. http://www.xerohour.org/hideme
11. http://www.proxyz.be
12. http://www.sc0rian.com/prox
13. https://www.proxify.us
14. http://kproxy.com/index.jsp
15. http://www.brawl-hall.com/pages/proxy.php
16. http://www.proxify.net
17. http://proxy.computersteroids.com/index0.php
18. http://www.unipeak.com
19. http://flyproxy.com
20. http://alienproxy.com
21. http://proxify.com/
22. http://www.unfilter.net
23. http://www.proxymouse.com
24. http://www.surfonym.com/cgi-bin/nph-proxy
25. http://www.superproxy.be/browse.pl
26. http://www.websiteguru.com/mrnewguy
27. http://www.letsproxy.com
28. http://www.fsurf.com
29. http://indianproxy.com
30. http://www.letmeby.com
31. http://Boredatschool.net
32. http://www.ibypass.org
33. http://www.ipzap.com/
34. https://proxify.biz
35. http://kproxy.com/index.jsp
36. http://www.attackcensorship.com/attack-censorship.html
37. http://mrnewguy.com
38. http://www.evilsprouts.co.uk/defilter
39. http://www.proxify.info
40. http://www.torify.com
41. http://www.switchproxy.com
42. http://www.proxifree.com
43. http://www.secure-tunnel.com/
44. http://www.proxify.cn
45. http://www.arnit.net/utilities/webproxy/new
46. http://www.proxify.co.uk
47. http://www.betaproxy.com
48. http://www.proxify.org
49. http://www.proxychoice.com
50. http://www.proxysnail.com
51. http://www.anonypost.com
52. http://www.thestrongestlinks.com
53. http://www.hujiko.com
54. http://www.anonproxy.info
55. http://www.peoplesproxy.com
56. http://www.freeproxy.us
57. http://www.proxyweb.net
58. http://www.nopath.com
59. http://urlencoded.com
60. http://www.pole.ws
61. http://www.browseany.com
62. http://www.spiderproxy.com
63. http://www.clickcop.com
64. http://www.sneakysurf.com
65. http://www.mywebtunnel.com
66. http://www.thewebtunnel.com
67. http://www.3proxy.com
68. http://www.yourfreeproxy.com
69. http://www.proxy7.com
70. http://www.fireprox.com
71. http://www.stupidcensorship.com
72. http://www.letsproxy.com
73. http://www.sneak2.com
74. http://www.cecid.com
75. http://www.freeproxy.ca
76. http://www.ibypass.org
77. http://www.goproxing.com
78. http://www.projectbypass.com/
79. http://www.ipsecret.com
80. http://www.nomorelimits.net
81. http://www.proxify.de
82. http://www.bywhat.com
83. http://www.snoopblocker.com
84. http://www.anonymizer.ru
85. http://www.proxyking.net/
86. http://www.perlproxy.com
87. http://www.proxylord.com
88. http://tntproxy.com
89. http://satanproxy.com
90. http://zombieinvasion.info
91. http://demonproxy.com
92. http://www.myfreeproxy.com
93. http://www.gezcem.com/nph-proxy.pl.old
94. http://mpleger.de
95. http://www.the-cloak.com/login.html

Disclaimer
Note that not all of them are working perfectly; some of these websites could be offline too. I’m not encouraging you to use this to bypass sites that you are banned from surfing in colleges, work place, etc. Use them with cautions make sure you know what you are doing. I shall not be responsible for any damages or rules and regulation you violate from using these proxies.

15 Professionally Looking Joomla Templates

2009-11-20T03:01:00.000-08:00

ElveSocial

City sky

Guild Wars

Disco Beat

PJ Enchanted

Top Gear

JS Lunar Eclipse

Forex Trading

Violin1

JS Optimus

Bikini Beach

Delicious

Espresso

Blog You

PopPraise

18 Creative 404 Error Pages

2009-11-02T22:30:00.000-08:00

Propeller

B3ta

Tinsanity

24-4 Media

CssTricks

iFolderLinks

Ook

Github

Planetgeek

lightpostcreative

Ferdaze

Centerd

Amorphia Apparel

Dawdle

PEN-and-PAPER

Spore

Martinkorner

Twitter

15 Free Online File Sharing Alternatives

2009-08-27T01:50:00.000-07:00

Free Cool Tools

Top 10 Trendsetting Music Blogs

Top 10 Trendsetting Music Blogs

Important Features' Updates in Wordpress Version 3.0

Important Forums for Web Developers

Release Notes on Mozilla Firefox 3.6.6

Top 10 Hot Topics and Searches in Google

Google gets cosy with Adobe, brings built-in PDF support to Chrome browser

Look at New Releases of Wordpress Themes

Learn Adobe After High Quality Tutorial

Look Out New Wordpress Themes

Spice Twitter Background Tools

Useful Factors for Selecting Web Host

Be Update Using Google Blogs

Silly Photoshop Mistakes Published Via Magazines

Professional Web Design Fonts

Tips & Common Mistakes We Make While Writing For the Web

Significant Websites that Changed the Internet Market

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