Web Design Booth » Tools

How Using Dropbox Will Make Your Life Easier

Editorial Staff — Fri, 20 May 2011 17:50:56 +0000

For those of you who haven’t experienced the massive convenience and joy that is cloud computing, brace yourselves. What you read in this post may change your life. For those of you new to cloud computing, don’t worry if this sounds confusing at all. It’s very simple to implement and you’ve probably already been doing it to a certain extent.

Before applications like Dropbox, most people still did some method of cloud computing, most likely in the form of emailing themselves important documents that they would need to use on another computer. Dropbox works on this concept, adding an extreme ease of use as well as nifty additional features and creative uses.

What Is Dropbox?

Dropbox is a file hosting service that enables users to store and share files and folders over the internet with any other computer. Once account can sync with an unlimited amount of computers. The only limitation is that you can only sync one Dropbox account to your computer at a time (although there are definitely workarounds which I’ll get to soon).

Every Dropbox account starts with two free gigabytes of space. You can pay an annual fee to get more space. Dropbox also gives you ways to get more space for free, like referring new users (250 MB added for each referral) or writing a testimonial for Dropbox on your social media sites.

The Omni-Flah Drive

The most common use for Dropbox is to treat it as a type of flash drive or small external hard drive that you don’t have to carry with you. For any designer that works at an office and at home, this is extremely convenient. No longer will you have to scramble around in the morning looking for the tiny flash drive that has the extremely important project you have due for work today!

There’s something extremely revolutionary and comforting about being able to save your most important files and projects in a place where any other computer with the internet can access them. As long as Dropbox does not go down, you are golden. And even if it does go down for a few hours, automatic syncing means that you have offline copies of your Dropbox files at every computer that has your Dropbox installed.

The Public File Sharer

If you save any file in your public folder on Dropbox, you can copy the URL to your clipboard and paste the URL to anyone who needs the file (through email or instant messaging, etc.). People don’t need to have Dropbox installed to get the public file; they only need the link.

This type of sharing is similar to Mediafire, Rapidshare, or attachments in emails, but it’s nice to have it built in to your own omni-present flash drive. While the public file I uploaded is more for entertainment value , this feature has plenty of purpose for designers.

For designers, this is a great way to send clients a link of your latest prototype or mock-up design, and it is incredibly easy. Simply move any file you have in Dropbox to the “public” folder, and then just right click the file (in the Dropbox interface or in your Windows Explorer) and Dropbox will give you the option to “Copy public link.”

Ease of Use

The absolute greatest aspect of Dropbox in my opinion is its smooth and easy functionality. Not only can you add and organize files through the Dropbox interface in your browser, Dropbox works through your operating system to automatically sync up files in folders of your specification.

For example, say I have all the files I need for a design project on my desktop. To get them onto Dropbox, all I have to do is drag them and drop them into the specified Dropbox folder, and Dropbox will do all the syncing for me.

Pictured below is the product of me dropping an image into a Dropbox folder, and Dropbox syncing it. All the images with checks in the bottom left are already synced. The image with the circular arrows (that I circled in red) was syncing when I took the screenshot. The sync took about three seconds.

If any of this seems at all confusing, Dropbox explains it incredibly well when you install it on your computer. Most people don’t need any guide to Dropbox because it’s incredibly intuitive.

Shared Folder

There are a number of directions to take when it comes to Dropbox and group projects. For small projects, you can simply create a “shared” folder in your Dropbox. With shared folders, you invite other Dropbox users to have access to that folder. They can then put that shared folder into their own Dropbox account. Thus, any changes anyone makes to the folder will be applied to all.

Create a New Dropbox Account

The problem with shared folders are that they take away space from everyone’s Dropbox involved. Another common way people implement projects through Dropbox is to create an original account for the project. I know what you’re thinking: “But you said that you could only sync one Dropbox account to my computer at a time! Do I have to link and unlink to my computer every time I want to get to my own Dropbox?!?”

Dropboxen

Dropboxen is a Dropbox addon that you can use to work around the one-account-per-computer limitation. It’s not completely stable and currently doesn’t work for Windows 7 (you’ll have to use another workaround), but it’s a convenient way to manage multiple Dropbox accounts.

5 Tips To Optimize Your Wordpress.org Blog For Search Engines

12 Adobe AIR Applications for Twitter Lovers

Dicky — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:20:31 +0000

Twitter is known as a very simple way to keep in touch with family and friends by knowing what are they currently up to, particularly in the form of a sentence. The Twitter application has now extended its capacity to the desktop. The application provides a clean interface to keep tabs on the current happening of your social circle once you have created a Twitter account. Published comments will appear immediately within the AIR desktop application which eventually pushes away the need to log-in into the Twitter website.

The Adobe AIR platform provides an opportunity for developers to create web applications that runs on one’s desktop without needing a web browser. Today, Adobe AIR has some pretty cool applications that make one’s web browsing life much easier. Here are 12 cool Adobe AIR applications which can be used for Twitter.

You may also want to check out our previous article about Flickr Air Tools, Firefox Twitter Plugins and Beautiful Twitter Backgrounds.

TweetDeck

TweetDeck can be your very own personal browser to stay updated with the current happenings and keeps you connected with all your contacts across Twitter and many other social networking web sites. You can now stay updated and organized as TweetDeck displays everything to be seen at the same interface.

Tweetr

Tweetr is one of the Twitter clients which allows people to receive and send out twitter messages and has a few other additional features. It supports photo snaps using your webcam by clicking on the camera icon. The Tweetr application also provides up to 10MB space to save files and share files with your friends by simply dragging them onto the Tweetr window.

ShareFire

ShareFire is another news aggregator which is rich in features that allows people to share stuffs via Twitter, Facebook, AIM, MySpace, emails, and many more social networking services without need of dragging and dropping, or copying and pasting. This application also allows users to read and share all their news in a single interface. ShareFire also has a built-in support to share stories in more than ten different ways in just one click on an article. The application also supports 16 different languages as a plus point.

Statuzer

This multiple platform Twitter client runs through Adobe Air in beta. It has multi-accounts for Twitter, StatusNet, identi.ca, and Hellotipi. It also has multi-columns and single modes. The features also includes webcam and image upload to the users Twitter profile image and twitpic. Statuzer also previews URLs. It offers direct thumbs for twitpic, youtube, flickr, yfrog, and vimeo.

Twinja

Twinja is another amazing Twitter client that provides you the functionality of Twitter right from the user’s desktop. Its user friendly interface works on both PC and Mac. It has several features such as automatic login which remembers the user’s login details, send messages and receive replies directly from the desktop, a quick view of Personal/Public/Featured timelines, an automatic User and URL recognition, and many more.

Twicker

Twicker is the one and only Twitter client that mainly focuses on search. Its major functionality is based on getting search results based on the user’s keywords and display them as avatars that are clickable. Twicker expands as the user clicks on an avatar to show the user the tweet and offer the option to reply the tweet. It can be definitely used as a user’s primary Twitter client, since it also provides the functionality to send non-reply tweets.

Twitulater

This Adobe AIR microblogging application supports Twitter and Koornk as well. Active users who are constantly showered by messages from a numerous amount of people they normally follow, find this application easier as it automatically splits the tweet stream into 10 different categories based on its content instead of according to the people they receive messages from.

Destroy Twitter

DestroyTwitter is known as a strong and compact Twitter application that is built to run on Windows, Linux, and Mac using the Adobe AIR platform. It has a series of canvases that updates the tweets via notifications that will appear instantly after the new tweet arrives. It uses a minimal amount of memory compared to other AIR-based alternative applications without lacking its performance and functionality. It easy runs on the background as an automated process.

Birdshot

Birdshot application for Twitter is built for active and productive people who require managing multiple Twitter accounts without being distracted. This application covers the basics by sending tweets and displaying the total amount of recent posting, direct messages, and replies. Users may click on any status to directly link the results on Twitter.com.

Posty

Posty is another microblogging application that allows user to interact with multiple social networks besides Twitter, right from the desktop. Posty also features note replies and public/personal posts.

Sideline

This Adobe AIR application is built for advanced searching and monitoring of the Twitter.com public timeline.

Twhirl

This desktop client is meant for social networking services like Twitter, Friendfeed, Seesmic, and identi.ca. Twhirl also allows users to connect to multiple accounts at one go, share what the users are doing, and keep them updated with their friends’ updates.

27 Useful Screen Capture Tools

Dicky — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:19:34 +0000

A screen capture is basically an image taken by your computer to record or capture visible items that are displayed on your monitor. This digital image is usually taken by running software on the computer device. Screen captures are usually used to demonstrate a meticulous problem, a program or even just to show others what you do on your computer.

To produce a screen capture or a screen cap, you will of course need a screen capturing tool. Producing a screen capture is complicated and is easier said than done. However, using the right screen capture tools might help make things easier for you.

Let us take a look at 27 of the best screen capture tools. We shall look at screen capture tools for Windows, Mac and Linux. There are certain screen capture tools that can be utilized by both Windows and Mac. Enjoy!

Snipping Tool

If you are looking for one of the best screen capture tool, which is also free, than the Snipping Tool is your answer. This tool is suited for Windows Vista, Windows7 and the tablet version of Windows XP. The Snipping Tool is already a popular choice among many as it fits the perfect niche of many users. The most important factor about the Snipping Tool is that it is simple and has extremely basic functions such as the editing function. If your screen capture needs are minimal and simple, then the Snipping Tool is your choice. After all, it is free!

FastStone Capture

Just like its name, this screen capture tool is indeed fast. If speed is what you are looking for, than this tool may just be your answer. The special feature about this tool is that it is extremely responsive and it is lightweight. A handy feature that can be found in this tool is the colour picker, which can be used for easy colour sampling. This tool is modestly priced and very user friendly.

Snagit

Snagit is yet another product by the TechSmith Company. This tool certainly does not disappoint. Slightly higher is price compared to FastStone Capture, this tool is worth every cent. This tool allows you to capture both still images and frames from videos. You can also easily capture images from objects that are larger than the screen itself. It also has highly customizable features. You can organize your screen shots according to date, name or even tag-based searching. Snagit is a screen capture tool that is definitely here to stay!

FullShot 9.5

FullShot 9.5 is a well- established screen capture tool for Windows users. The newest version of FullShot has more special features plus a contemporary look. The best feature about this tool is that you can capture screen easily using buttons on the window title bar. The file sizes can be minimized to optimize color palette. This tool also supports concurrent editing of multiple screen captures. The FullShot screen capture tool has been around for quite some time. It has been dubbed a popular tool with a great track record. As a conclusion, this tool is more than capable of being user-friendly and can successfully automate screen capture process.

RoboScreen Capture 2

RoboScreen Capture 2 has an impressive array of features. The features include the ability to add raster-based captions to capture an image. Although RoboScreen had been compared to be similar to HyperSnap version 6.7. When you capture a screen, the image is automatically saved within the Help project directory. This is then inserted into the current topic. This helps you to potentially save several steps and save time too. The advantages of this tool include the wide range of capture options and its tight integration with Adobe RoboHelp.

HyperSnap

HyperSnap is also a popular screen capture tool among users. It has been dubbed a “mature” screen capture tool. The special feature about this tool is that you have a high level control over the final image. You can determine the colour depth, colour palette and even the compression. Another advantage is the Help system of this tool. Users get useful and comprehensive help for any problems that you might have.

MadCap Capture 5

The newest version on this screen capture tool has many new enhancements. Among them is a range of new drawing ability. With MadCap Capture, you can be initiated quickly and easily. The strengths of MadCap Capture is that it is powerful and has a multi-layered vector-based image editor. The integration of MadCap Capture together with MadCap Flare is important to support “single-sourcing” and print – oriented image formats.

ScreenHunter 5.1

This tool is good for those of you looking for a basic capture tool. The best thing about this tool is that it is absolutely free. It is also one of the most popular tools among users. This tool is a favorite among users because it can be downloaded easily and for free. The only disadvantage you might face while using this application is that it does not support a .png output. Most users have commented that they like using ScreenHunter 5.1 just because of the simplicity of the interface. If you want a screen capture tool that is free and has only the basic applications, then this is the tool for you. You can download it for free on the Internet.

TNT Screen Capture 2

Experts dub this tool the least extensive tool apart form ScreenHunter. Although it has a simple array of features, it is quite a satisfying tool. It is easy to use and offers online help for first time users as well as users who face problems in the process. The benefits of using this tool is that it is easy to use and has a wide range of capture types and tools. However, some users have complained that it does not support capturing individual buttons or cascading menus.

Jing

Another really great screen capture tool is Jing for Windows and Mac. This tool is also free. A software company known as TechSmith produces the Jing screen capture tool. This is the same company that produced another popular screen capture tool, which is Snagit. The special feature about Jing is that it works quickly. You can get the job done in a matter of seconds. The basic addition of Jing is free. But is you want an upgrade; it is not that expensive as well. The upgrade, known as Jing Pro is modestly priced. Jing uses basic and easy –to – use tools.

Constrictor

The Constrictor is a screen capture tool that can be used by Macintosh users. The special feature that users will find interesting is that this tool allows you to position a frame over the exact area that you want to snap. It also allows you to customize the snapped image. Effects such as framing and feathering are other special features you will find handy in this tool.

Paparazzi!

This screen capture tool is for Macintosh OS X users. This tool makes screen shots of long web pages.

Copernicus

The Copernicus tool is another screen capture tool for Macintosh users. The special feature about this tool is that it can be used for screen capturing and also screen movies. It is also a favorite among Macintosh users because of its “all-in-one” special applications. Also, you may want to opt for this tool because it is absolutely free and downloadable on the Internet.

iShowU

This newest screen capture tool for Mac is making quite the headlines these days. The reason being is, iShowU for Macintosh users is a great tool and is also popular among youngsters. This tool has a special feature that not many other screen capture tool has. The special feature is that this tool allows you to capture anything on a screen along with audio. However, the audio must be from a compatible source such as a microphone. Audios from Macintosh itself can be captured also.

Layers

This screen capture tool is quite a convenient tool for Macintosh users. Reviews on this tool dub this as a tool with a twist. Why? You might ask. Well, this screen capture tool allows you to save the entire display on your screen as a PSD file. This tool is called Layers because each window that it captures is known as a layer. These include menus, dock, desktops and even icons.

Qarbon Viwelet Builder

This tool was formerly known as LeeLou. This tool is unlike other screen capture tools because you can create animated demos with the screens you have captured. These animated demos are known as ‘viewlets”. These viewlets can be played back in any java-enabled browsers without plug-ins. Windows and Linux users can also use this tool.

ScreenSend

The best feature about this tool is that is allows you to show-off something on your screen to anyone at any time. It is very user friendly. All you need to do is click your mouse a few times. To show-off what is on you screen all you need to do is select an area of your screen and post it. Just choose an easy to type URL and you are done!

ScreenShot Pro

ScreenShot Pro is another screen capture tool for Macintosh users. It allows you to capture a screen by using cross- hairs to select the area that you want. After that, all you need to do is preview the file and save it in any format you want. For example, JPG, PICT, BMP and TIFF.

ScreenShot Helper

This tool is specialized for Mac OS X users. It is almost similar to ScreenShot Pro. The only difference is that it is free and downloadable. Among its special features is the ability to show a full screen window with solid colors.

Screentool

This tool is also a favorite among Macintosh users. This is because it captures your screen and saves it as movie. The format of the movie is QuickTime and MPEG-4. Another special feature is that allows you to take screenshots

ScreenShot Plus

ScreenShot Plus is a screen capture tool is special for Macintosh OS X. This application uses Apple’s tools to capture a screen. It allows you too to scale the captured screen. Among the formats that you can use is PSD, JPEG and TIFF.

SnapClip

SnapClip for Mac is known for its quickness and its easy to use approach. It is used as a basic tool to capture a screen quickly. The screen shot that you take can be saved in various formats for your convenience. The screen shot can also be saved in to a Clipboard.

SnapNDrag

SnapNDrag is a screen capture tool for Macintosh OS X users. Users love to use this version because of the convenient ways to capture a screen. It is also a favorite because it is free and easy to download. The output of this application can be saved in a number of formats such as PNG, PDF and even JPEG.

SnapWeb

SnapWeb is a convenient application for Mac users. It creates screen captures of web pages. The special feature is that you can save web pages even if you screen is minimized. The entire page content can be showed at once. The formats for the output can be either JPEG or PDF files.

SnapzPro

This is another tool for Macintosh users. This tool could be your choice because your screen captures can be made into a movie via Quick Time Movie. Other formats for the output includes a wide choice between TIFF, JPEG, GIF, PICT and even PNG. Printing of screen captures is also made easy with this application.

EasyCopy

Like EasyCopy Gold, this tool also provides a wide variety of tools to manage graphics. It also allows advanced screen captures of windows or the entire screen.

PicPick

This tool is user friendly and very easy to use. You can resize and edit you screen capture the way you want it. There is also an array of editing tools that you can utilize. The best part is that any average user without any help can use these tools.

40 Places Where You Can Create Your Websites Online

Dicky — Wed, 26 May 2010 14:35:07 +0000

Website builders are tools that allow internet users to construct particular websites without manual code-editing. They are usually distinguished into two categories which are the online proprietary tools provided by web hosting companies, specifically intended for users to build their personal site; and software which runs on a computer, creating pages offline and which can then publish these pages on any host.

Online website builders usually require their users to sign up with the web hosting company. The range of services varies widely between creating basic personal websites or widgets to making e-commerce websites. These sites are usually either template based or on more flexible platforms which are totally design-free.

Listed below are the 40 places where you may create websites online for free.

Weebly

Weebly is a useful website builder where Internet users can create free website and blog with no technical skills required. Weebly provides an easy drag and drop interface with dozens of professional designs. Users are also able to drag on slideshows, forums, files, games, RSS feed, or any other HTML embeds code. It is also has a free domain hosting. As an added advantage, there are a variety of content elements provided such as adding pictures, videos, audio and music, maps, documents, and multiple columns.

Webs

Webs provide all the tools needed to create professional looking website within minutes. With Webs, users can add a blog, calendar, forum, photo gallery, video gallery and many more. The site can even be turned into a social network with the ability to add members and generate personal profiles. Your site can be changed into a community where family, friends, and colleagues are able to connect and collaborate.

Webnode

Webnode is a free and easy website builder. It is simple, free, and on-line. Users can also use their own domain. Webnode is ideal for one’s site and e-shop as it has hundreds of modern templates are tailored to everybody’s personal needs. It is an ideal solution for e-commerce, business, and personal websites. There are already more than one million companies, artists, students, and bloggers worldwide that are already Webnode’s satisfied users.

Jimdo

With Jimdo, users can pick a design and click to customize. Add text, photos and videos within seconds and edit your website online wherever you are. Users can also make their own online store with secure payments, a shopping cart, and other essential features.

Spruz

Spruz is a completely free website at enables one to build a website with fully integrated social features. Spruz allows users to create websites using their own domain name. This website builder also allows additional features such as forum, blog, photos, videos, and more.

Google Sites

With Google Sites, users are able to create free webpages in an easy way. Create rich web pages easily, collect all information in one place and control the list of people who can view and edit your site. Google Sites can also be used to plan club meetings and an activity, collaborate on a team project, share info on a secure company interest, and also allows people to stay connected with their close pals and family members.

Edicy

Edicy is a trouble-free tool to be used to create websites. All one needs to do is to just sign up and the site will be online within minutes. Users can then start to upload pictures, videos, texts, forms or almost anything else to their personal site instantly. Edicy is a fully functional and completely customizable tool.

Wikispaces

Wikispaces’ visual page editor is as simple to use as a word processor. It allows one to format text, upload files and images, add widgets, and add links to other sites using a simple toolbar interface. It allows effective collaboration with unlimited messages and pages, easy collaboration with others, page histories. The page histories enable users to monitor activity on their wiki easily.

Sauropol

Create an instant webpage with Sauropol which is free software for hosting and custom domain. Users may choose designs, change site title, and start their content editing. One may also publish blogs, bulletin boards, image folders, document folders and many more. Amost any feature will be able to be customized and changed.

Roxer

Everybody can now create stunning web pages online within minutes with Roxer. Roxer offers live editing feature which enables users to just visit their web page and make on –the-spot changes. No programming is needed in Roxer as one may create web pages that will turn out to be exactly up to their expectation, without bothering about HTML. Roxer is a complete builder as all works can be done in the web browser without installing anything. They even host it for free.

Viviti

Viviti provides hassle-free editing right in the web browser with lots of components to choose from. Make your web page stand out uniquely with more than 175 themes and flexibility to create custom themes. One could even start a blog with Viviti in no time and link the blog to Twitter and Facebook.

DevHub

DevHub enables users to turn their passion into business beyond blogging. DevHub is a free website builder and hosting which is easy and fun to use. Choose templates from their built-in templates feature or design your own web page template. As an added advantage, you could even earn money as a reward for your efforts.

SnapPages

SnapPages is a simple “drag-drop-done” web page builder with professionally designed website templates that are easily customizable. One may also create their own template so that they would not end up with another cookie-cutter website. SnapPages is flexible regardless of the website usage for an organization, small business, or personal use.

Yola

Yola is an absolutely dedicated site to help users build a web page effortlessly. They offer well acclaimed, web hosting, and user friendly tools all for free. Websites build from Yola are fast to build, customizable, absolutely free without banners and pop-up advertisements, and rich with top web services like Google Maps, Youtube and many more.

Moogo

Moogo allows people to create a professional and low cost, and easy to use web page with only three simple steps which are choosing a layout, creating a web address, and creating a Moogo account. Creating website using Moogo needs no experience in design or programming. One may have a website that has active support via email, website, blog, Twitter and also Facebook.

FreeWeb

FreeWeb offers free website creations with more than 300 attractive and professional designs available, Live-Mode feature to edit the website directly on a template, unlimited galleries, pages and more. It is also ‘search engine optimized’ for getting top results in search engines and agreeable to the requirements of modern web-design.

Flooha

Flooha allows users and also developers to create website in three simple steps by choosing a website application, picking themes and add-ons, and direct installation. Users have the ultimate control towards their site with unlimited possibilities and full featured applications.

HyperWebEnable

HyperWebEnable offers an absolutely free website with your own domain name. Various add-on scripts can also be added to your blog. Users will also be able to make money with their website via monetize. Additionally, HyperWebEnable provides unlimited webspace to host your website with unlimited bandwith, technical support via email for your website, tips to improve page traffic and rank, free domain renewal, and advertisements on the blog.

350 Pages

350 Pages allows website building within minutes with hundreds of professional designs, no technical skills requirement, and a drag-and-drop-objects interface. Users will also be able to sell theur products online using e-commerce features from 350 Pages.

Homestead

Homestead allows users to choose from over 2,000 detailed website templates to start with a complete functional site which includes images and texts. Users can fully take charge of their web page to edit anything. Besides providing users their own personalized website address, email addresses can also be personalized with one’s own company name. Track down and collect visitor’s information as an additional advantage.

Own Free Website

Own Free Website is a free service with very easy usage of needing no programming knowledge. Various professional designs are already integrated for users to choose. Users will be able to get their own short domain name. Other additional features include visitor counter, guestbook, survey function, and more.

WiX

WiX offers a simple but powerful platform to create flash website templates and more. You will be able to create websites, widgets, free MySpace layouts, banners, newsletters, and even flyers. WiX needs no downloads or programming. It has the point-click-drag-drop interface which is extremely fast and easy.

Bravenet

Bravenet provides both website hosting and web tools for website building. The huge selection of web tools from Bravenet include message forums, guestbooks, mailing lists, hit counter and statistics, photo albums, email forms, online calendars, web polls, blogs, journals, and even speaking characters. The web hosting features include tons of bandwidth, plenty of disk space, hosting up to 10 domains, unlimited email and FTP access, and more.

AngelFire

AngelFire is a web-on drag-and-drop site builder that allows one to create blogs and photo albums. It also has other site building and file management tools, and a disk space of 20 MB for free.

Terapad

Terapad has all the latest Web 2.0 features for users and user may even create their own domain name. Terapad also provides a built in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), E-commerce, access to their template library, internalization and accessibility and is perfect for SME’s and organizations. Terapad keeps your web page update and maintained 24/7 with 100% control and customizing freedom.

Nexo

Nexo offers custom website creations for families, friends, teen sport teams, schools, organizations and other events. It’s easy to personalize your website with Nexo as you will have a selection of unique designs and layouts. Share your pictures, videos, and blogs; add interactive calendars, polls, and to-do lists; and also invite members and set permissions.

Blink

Blink is suitable for those who are interested in creating professional website that sells without technical programming or web design skills. Users may easily accept credit card payments from their website and will be able to work from any corner of the world. There is no need of purchasing expensive web design software. Everyone can create an unlimited number of websites with simple drag-and-drop functionality.

Office Live Small Business

Make a free website quick and easy with no hidden fees and no technical skills needed with Office Live Small Business. Office Live provides free website hosting, free templates and user friendly tools, free email accounts, and also free online support.

Ucoz

uCoz is a free web page builder with unlimited space hosting which allows users to create own web pages and provides plenty of additional features such as blog, forums, guestbook, photo albums, and many other tools to build the web page. uCoz site builder is highly customizable by advanced users and is user friendly for newbies.

You Free Web

With You Free Web, users may create a free web page and blog with easy drag-and-drop interface. There are no technical skills required to create the web page as there are dozens of professional designs. You Free Web also provides free domain hosting for users.

My Tiny Baby

MyTinyBaby.com help parents to build a free website for their baby boy or baby girl with absolutely no programming and web design skills required. All one has to do is to just create a free account and share pictures, videos, and stories regarding their baby. Custom designed templates are also available.

eSitesBuilder

Create your own website for free regardless of your web design and web page development skills. You may create your website by choosing a turnkey website package out of eSitesBuilder’s eight packages, choose a website template from a wide collection, and just create your page by using eSitesBulder’s user friendly content management system (CMS).

WebStarts

WebStarts allows internet users to create a free website with their own domain name. Drag and drop photos, text, videos and more. Create professional looking websites with WebStarts from dozens of pre-designed layouts or users may even create their own ones. Get your personal website ranked on giant search engines as sites built with WebStarts are research engine friendly.

Clan Site Manager

Clan Site Manager is an easy, powerful and advertisement free site great for hobbyists, gamers, social clubs, micro social networks, church groups and to build website about one’s interests.

Moonfruit

Moonfruit offers a number of interesting features such as unparalleled design control, social media integration, the Moonfruit library, search engine optimization (SEO), integrated Google tools, flexible image tools, 3rd party widgets adding, and selling things on the site.

Ewisoft

Ewisoft website builder comes with an optional e-Commerce module to sell products online. It is suitable for beginners and professionals too. It is so easy to use that all one has to do to start a web page is insert images, edit text, and drag-and-drop.

Our Church

Our Church.com is a Christian website hosting service which is easy to build within minutes. They provide reliable family sites, safe from offensive advertisements and their website hosting services offer professional features for absolutely free.

DoTemplate

Looking for a good template for your website? doTemplate is a web template builder which offers a range of website themes you can personalize online before downloading it. There is no software needed and it is absolutely free.

WebSpawner

Create free websites with WebSpawner fast and easy with no programming or HTML skills needed. There is also a free customer support available to assist users 7 days in a week. It is a comprehensive website creation solution and includes a reliable free hosting with free resources to help users get the most of their website and maximize effectiveness.

Piczo

Piczo is specially created for teenagers all over the world to build personal communities, creatively express themselves, and share personal experience with their close ones in a safe environment. Piczo offers a truly customizable content, glitter text, colourful graphics, and photo plus video tools without technical skills requirement. Piczo also helps consumer brands build relationships with teens between ages of 13-18 worldwide.

35 Online Photo Editors To Help You Editing Photo Online

Editorial Staff — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:21:43 +0000

As our generation is changing, tools for image editing and enhancers have improved and has multiplied. Editing photo online has become easier with the help of innovative and creative online photo editors.

Back to few years ago, Adobe Photoshop is the king of photo editor. But there are quite a number of Free Photoshop Alternatives around us, which we can perform the photo editing without paying any single cent for the application!

Now, we even have websites that allow us to edit photo online. One advantage of the online image editor is, it doesn’t consume the memory size of your laptop or desktop, since you edit photos online. The processing part is done by the server and you won’t feel any slow or lag at your machine. And also, you won’t be hassled in downloading these tools anymore and it’s so easy to use.

Here, we share 35 useful Free Online Photo Editing Websites which we think it may be very helpful as one of your photoshop alternatives.

Online Photo Editing Websites

Picnik

This online tool makes your photos look beautiful in just one click. Try it!

Splashup

It has multiple image editing which makes your photos look great!

FotoFlexer

Try this most advanced online image editor!

Improve Your Images

Check this cool photo editor that restores, corrects, and adjusts your photos!

Photoshop.com

This one is an online image editor of photoshop.com.

Aviary

In this website, not only images can be edited, also the audio and color. Not only that, there are also a lot of features on this online tool.

FlauntR

An online tool that has a lot of features. Check this out!

Pixlr

Not only this creates images, it also open images from your computer as well as from URL.

Sumo Paint

Some features of this online photoshop alternative is the linear blur effect and mosaic that helps designers in improving their images that they want.

PicMagick

A free online photo editor that has several cool features.

DrPic

With a simple touches, your images would look fabulous!

Pixenate

Pixenate makes your photo editings easier with its cool features.

Snipshot

Cool features that will make your images look good.

Picture2Life

It has features that makes your images look fascinating.

Lunapic

You can edit your profile pictures for Facebook and Myspace with this online tool.

72photos

This displays your uploaded images with high and customizable quality.

Cellsea

This online tool have several features that will make your images either whacky or look astonishing.

Online Phototool.Com

Check out this online photoshop alternative tool!

MyImager

You can check this another tool that makes your images look even more beautiful.

Pikipimp

You can manage your images through this online photoshop alternative tool!

Online Image Editor

Check out its unique feature of this online photoshop tool.

Fun Photo Box

This can create your images into a funny one.

Imagic Photo

In this tool, it creates quality professional results.

Photo505

Another online tool that lets you create cute and funny effects on your photos.

Loonapix

This creates funny photo effects online. Try this!

WriteOnIt

This creates photomontage, free cards, magazine covers, and funny photos.

MagMyPic

This lets you create your images look like a magazine cover like those of popular celebrities.

Hairmixer

With this tool, you can choose which hairstyle you want for your face to look like a celebrity.

Big Huge Labs

You can do cool stuff on your photos with this online tool.

jpgFun

It has several photo effects and editings that creates good outputs of your photos.

Photvisi

You can create collage on this online tool.

Fotocrib

You can create add a 3D effect and several other features for your photos online!

Blingee

With this online tool, you can create glitters, graphics, comments on your personalized photos.

Web Photo Resizer

A tool that lets you resize your photos online.

Preloadr

This offers professional tools to optimize your photos.

10 Social Media Monitoring Tools to Monitor Your Brand’s Performance And Results

Dicky — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 14:08:01 +0000

Social media has become much more than a way to stay connected and to have fun: it is a way to market yourself, your business, your products and services.

By establishing a presence in social media, you give yourself virtually unlimited exposure to relevant people without encountering any significant cost issues. While this is good, it can be hard to track how you are performing across the wide spectrum of the Internet.

With powerful tools you can judge the effectiveness of your social media efforts and keep track of what people are saying about you. Here are 10 Social Media Tools to monitor your brand’s performance and results across multiple social media sites.

Twazzup

A dashboard program that monitors Twitter, Twazzup will tell you every time your keywords are mentioned in a tweet. It will also categorize your results by link popularity, contributors, tagging clouds and users. Unique features like avatar mouse-overs that give more details about that user’s relevant tweets make Twazzup a surprisingly powerful and valuable social media monitoring tool.

Buzzlogic

Here’s a nice tool that has a marketing emphasis, showing stats for feedback on your products and reader statistics. Buzzlogic sports tools intended to help you build more powerful and influential relationships and to track competing products. Buzzlogic is a proprietary conversational Advertising utility that all social marketers should try.

Scoutlabs

While some social media monitoring tools can get quite complicated to use, Scoutlabs uses a simple, user-friendly interface that delivers very powerful information to social marketers that can help them track the performance of their brands. One unique feature allows users to superposition graphs to help analyze trends in accumulated data. The dashboard is easy to setup and features a composite Buzz rating that helps you check your results at a glance. Special categories for online sentiment, mentions, and quotes help you drill down to give you an in-depth understanding of your data.

Tweetdeck

One way to monitor your performance in social media is by using an integrated browser client that will show you every time your target phrases are mentioned. Tweetdeck unifies Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace to give you a convenient way to use and monitor social media. What’s nice is that when your keywords are referenced, you have an easy way to quickly respond without having to leave the program.

Reputation Defender

Created for the specific purpose of helping you preserve and restore your reputation in social media, Reputation Defender offers a robust monitoring service that will help you keep track of your children, your privacy, and your brand. A feature called MyEdge helps you deal with the results that Google serves up about you.

Socialmention

This is a tracker that will show user-defined statistics for your keywords over a thirty day period. It is a free program, but it doesn’t allow for storing historical data or some other premium features most pay monitoring sites offer. There is a convenient display that shows every relevant hashtag, post ranking, source, user, and keyword.

Brandwatch

This mid-level priced service is a powerful monitoring tool that is known for having top reporting features and an automated sentiment feature. Special tools for marketing, agencies, PR and reputation, and brand management make this an indispensible tool for monitoring your performance in social media.

radian6

radian6 features an incredible Engagement console that lets you listen, engage, and plan in one handy desktop application. Monitor the performance of all your brands, services, and keywords across every social network platform simultaneously. This is the powerful solution that will propel your business to the next level. For example, radian6 does not limit itself to the major social media platforms: it extends performance searching to include blogs, forums, photo and video sites, comments, and millions of other sites on the Web. radian6 aggregates data from all across the Internet, filters and segments it, and reports and charts it for you based on a host of user definable and selectable metrics.

Alterian SM2

With marketing agencies in mind when SM2 was designed, you get relevant performance data from social media platforms that helps you make the most out of your marketing time and money. Find out who’s happy and who’s mad about you, your company, and your products. Gauge the effectiveness of your social media marketing and use the information to design your next campaign. Special features of SM2 include a custom workflow tool, language and geographic filters, as well real time alerts. Try the free version or pay by the volume of results.

Addict-o-matic

Addict-o-matic gathers information about your keywords or brands from across the Web, including Flickr, YouTube, Digg, Google Blogs, as well as all the traditional social media platforms. When you visit the Addict-o-matic Web page, you get to instantly create a page that shows all the relevant information to your search terms from up to twenty five content providers and aggregators. This one tool gives you comprehensive information that will be invaluable for monitoring your performance in social media.

15 Useful Time Tracking Softwares

Dicky — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:48:45 +0000

Have you ever wondered where did all your time go? Do you have problems estimating and keeping track of your project timelines and billing your clients according to time spent on a particular project? Well, fret no more…there are a sea of online tools that can ease your pains and help you sail through a project, big or small.

For example, there are full-fledged project management tools available online with time tracking modules and features. On the other hand, there are simple tools meant solely for time management too! Time management tools have been predominantly used in the law, accounting and advertising agencies to manage client relationships and costs. However, the tool has gained popularity with freelancers and software developers due to its functionality.

In this article, we feature various time tracking software that are available in the web. Whether it is a desktop application, web-based solution, or functions as both, these softwares offer better time management and tracking for your projects. Read on to find out more!

Dovico Timesheet Tracking Software

If you want a software that is able to handle multiple projects and cater to a variety of reports and formats, then this is the solution for you. It is a compatible with Windows applications like Microsoft Projects, Access and Excel and can be web-based as well. Best of all you will be able to receive reports that you need on a scheduled basis via email. Relatively inexpensive, a monthly subscription of $10 per user is adequate for you to enjoy this tool!

Chrometa

This is a unique desktop solution that does not need any form of data entry to capture time-related data. The software automatically records time spent on documents, emails, web pages and other applications and even has the ability to export data into Microsoft Excel. A 30-day free demo is available. On the other hand, purchase of this software will cost $99 for a single user which entitles you to free software updates and technical support.

Klok

Klok has a user friendly interface and is absolutely free! Although it has its limitations being in the beta stage, it works well on all platforms and can still be used for comprehensive time tracking.

Rachota

If you are someone who is constantly on the go then you may want to consider Rachota. It is one of the more versatile solutions and is portable since it runs from a USB drive. It is available in 11 different languages and is free. Need I say more?

ClickTime Web Timesheet

This is a web-based application with good compatibility to Mac, Windows and Linux. What is interesting is its Mobile Edition for PDAs & Smartphones for those who value mobility. Discounts for the start up fee are being offered if you sign up for two or more modules starting from $79. The subscription itself is less than $100/month.

SlimTimer

This free software is simple to use and its web-based features allows you to add tags to tasks to be shared with other co-workers. Although it may seem that it does not provide many features, this software can provide reports on time spent by co-workers on various tasks, export data to Excel format and send emails.

Time Assistant

This is a perfect tool for organizations with 15-200 persons to improve productivity. It allows you to manage working time of employees and calculate salaries based on personal timesheets. Time assistant is a web-based solution that provides a variety of features in reports, approval levels, personalization, languages, PDA support and many more.

TrackerSuite.Net

If automated approval routing and messaging is important to you then, TrackerSuite.Net web-based solution is the thing for you. It can be integrated with Microsoft Project and other TrackerSuite. Net modules and claims to be a “virtual office”. Use it, to believe it!

Severa

With multi-language support, a highly intuitive GUI and capability to export to Microsoft Excel, this is one of the most versatile tools in the market which helps in time tracking, scheduling and resource management. Best of all is its integration with Google Maps, Google Search, LinkedIn and Facebook too.

TraxTime

Easy and affordable, that is the best description for this software. Pay only $39 as a one-time payment for this time tracking software, and you will enjoy tracking in the form of a punch-clock, idle time detection, detailed text memos and custom reports for unlimited number of projects.

TimeCache

For those who use Mac, TimeCache is the ultimate time billing software under Pandaware products. You can even purchase a cross platform license to use it for both Mac and Windows. Price is $70 per user and for the TimeCache Manager the license fee is $250.

ActiTIME

This tool is free for small project groups of less than 10 users. For a 20 user account, it costs $ 40/monthly while the online version is $55/monthly. It provides access controls for different level of users and assigns project teams. One of its specialties is the promise of branding opportunity with its highly customizable layout.

Responsive Time Logger

This is a tool that enables you to work fast by utilizing its many shortcuts such as pop-up calendar, pop-up clock, instant task switching, empty field warnings and memorized descriptors. There are also special time recording features mainly four separate stopwatches to customize billable time and expense recording, minimum duration, duration increment and interval description functions. Well, they don’t call it responsive time logger for nothing! The software costs $89 for 1 user license and can accommodate up to 100 users at a discounted rate of $ 2,999.

Tenrox Timesheet

With executive dashboards and analytics, this software is a solution for small and medium businesses and helps manage employee and payroll timesheets. It is a web based solution which can also help in accounting processes and costs $130 per license. Tenrox is compatible with most popular supporting programs such as QuickBooks, Sage, Ceridian, Paychex, Oracle, Salesforce and many more.

Grindstone

This desktop application is a free download for Microsoft users and has a unique feature called a Stopwatch. The Stopwatch can either be displayed in other windows on the desktop or be hidden depending on your preference. This tool also helps you stay on track by providing reminders on deadlines.

20 Great Project Management Tools

10 Useful Firefox Plugins For Twitter Lovers

Editorial Staff — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:10:55 +0000

Firefox is one of the most preferable web browsers worldwide with a numerous number of active users. Twitter is a remarkable social networking service that has become many people’s favorite in a short duration of time and has millions of users registered to it. There is no doubt why people would like to merge these two great internet services together.

Twitter plugins has made twittering much simpler. It is more preferable as people are able to received updates and notifications’ instantly regarding what is happening in their Twitter. One will be able to multitask to keep up his/her hectic work in the Firefox browser and receive Twitter updates as well, without needing to log-in into their Twitter account.

Previously, we went through a lot of useful Firefox plugins such as Firefox SEO Tools for Bloggers and also Firefox extensions for web designers and developers. This is yet another series of Firefox plugins for Twitter lover!

These are our favorite 10 Firefox Twitter addons which you could use to tweet, reply tweets, show people what you are currently viewing, send direct messages, and much more features! Have a look at all this plugins and enjoy the freedom of using Twitter in your Firefox browser.

1. Echofon

Echofon, which is previously known as TwitterFox, is a great Firefox plug-in to be used. It adds a minute status bar icon that has notification when your buddies post tweets. Echofon allows you to access your Twitter account in just a single click and it displays the number of unread messages on the status bar. You will be able to manage multiple Twitter accounts and other trouble-free Twitter functions such as posting your own tweets, direct message and retweet.

2. Twitbin

Twitbin is a petite Firefox plug-in which appears as a sidebar. It allows you to be up to date with all of your Twitter discussions right from the sidebar of your browser. You will be able use this extension to send and receive messages to and from your buddies, view conversations, share links of website you like, and more.

3. Power Twitter

The Power Twitter offers extra functionalities to the Twitter web interface which includes an inline of all sorts of playable and viewable media, photo uploading, link expansion and shrinking, link translation to page titles, status history peeks, custom settings, and daily questions. All this could be done right on your Twitter web interface. As an added advantage, you will be able to view your Facebook status updates via this plug-in.

4. Twitkit

Twitkit functions as a Twitter sidebar for your Firefox browser. It has a 6-segment interface, which uses tabs to separate its contents. Using this Twitkit extension, you will be able to view your user timeline, the Twitter public timeline, your buddies list and latest tweets, your followers list and their latest tweets, status regarding your account, and @replies made to you.

5. TwitterBar

The TwitterBar extension allows you to tweet your message to the Twitter web interface directly from your Firefox’s address bar. A small Twitter icon would be noticeable at the side of the address bar, and clicking on it posts your tweets. You can also check the number of characters left as you are only allowed to post up to 140 characters long in Twitter. You could also tweet a URL of your currently viewing page by just clicking on the icon. With this TwitterBar version of 2.9, you can now add new accounts and post multiple Twitter accounts.

6. Twitzer

You can now post longer messages with more than just 140 characters on your Twitter web interface by using this Twitzer plug-in for your Firefox browser. Besides, it expands TinyURL links to ensure that you click on safe links.

7. Instant Tweets

Instant Tweets is almost similar to the TweetBar extension. You can tweet from your Firefox address bar and share links of the page that is currently being viewed. Just click on the bird icon that sits on the side of your address bar to share or tweet the particular link. It also automatically displays the number of character left as you type and shortens long URLs. All you have to do is right click on images to tweet it on Twitter instantly. Additionally, the bird icon will be noticeable in blue colour if someone is following you and turns red if no one is.

8. TwittyTunes

A music lover will definitely want to share their favourite songs and tracks that they are listening to with their buddies and other followers. This could be done by using the TwittyTunes extension for Firefox. It posts websites that you often visit and videos you stream to your Twitter. You could submit any songs you specify with just one click by assigning TwittyTunes to your Firefox browser.

9. Friendbar

Friendbar is a useful application for not only Twitter but also Facebook. This Friendbar application allows you to manage both popular social networking web interfaces from one place. You can now keep in touch with your buddies from both networks with this single plug-in. It continually streams updates from both your Twitter and Facebook accounts right on the toolbar. Tweet, retweet, direct message, @message, and more from the Friendbar toolbar. It automatically generates a TinyURL of the website that you are viewing so that you could easily share the links on both the social networks.

10. Yoono

Yoono is another sidebar plug-in for Firefox. It allows you to stay connected with your buddies across a variety of instant messengers and social networking websites from one place. The Yoono sidebar supports services like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Yahoo IM, AIM and more. Yoono simplifies your way of sharing stuffs you like with all your social networks simultaneously. You will be able to discover more cool stuffs with the discovery widget that displays the related websites, videos, images, and more as you surf the internet.

20 Great Project Management Tools

Editorial Staff — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:47:55 +0000

Project Management is often defined as the science of organizing, planning and managing the available resources of a particular organization to successfully complete a project, which aims to meet the organization’s goals and objectives. This type of system will be useful in ensuring the timely and effective output of a project. Furthermore, the implementation of such a system will give you greater productivity in every project.

To guide you in the proper implementation of this system, we give you 20 project management tools that you can use either for personal or commercial purposes. Read through the instructions and overall overview of implementing such system for more insight towards this program. You may be surprised at how easier things will become if the tips and techniques given in this post are followed accordingly? Get started!!!

1. Huddle

Huddle.net provides all the collaboration, sharing and project tools you need to get your team, partners and clients working together.

2. Planzone – Collaborative Project Management Software

A user-friendly tool, that keeps track of your projects, create blogs & reports, you can even manage yout tasks and share documents and files.

3. 5pm

This is used to track how far you are with your projects. An online tool where you can customize your reports and is also available on mobile phones, so you can keep track of your projects wherever you are without the hassle of bringing your laptops with you!

4. CoMindWork

Not only that you can keep track for the progress of your projects, it also gives your clients the idea of how long will the project be finished. You can also send emails and post the progress of your projects, where clients can easily view.

5. Entry.com – Integrated suite for Project Management

A powerful combination of project managemen and help desk software that keeps projects on track and at the same time, provide support and track IT issues.

6. Intervals

This is another online tool to streamline task, time and progress of your projects. NO need to install and a user-friendly application! Take a look.

7. WORKetc

You can keep track of your projects, help customers, bill your customes and get paid faster, and can even share documents without email! Check this tool!

8. ProWorkFlow

ProWorkFlow combines project management, workflow and time tracking into one application. It is able to keep accurate time-tracking records. For those who like to manage projects on the go, ProWorkFlow even has native iPhone apps for you!

9. Zoho Project

Zoho Project brings your team members together and centralized the project management into one place. The Project Wiki feature lets user create and publish webpages, embed videos and other media.

10. Claromentis Project Manager Sofwtare

This tool provides gantt charts, project resource allocations, where your team can share project-related resources and keep track of your projects’ progress.

11. Bamboo Project Management Suite

With Bamboo Project Management Suite, you not only that you can keep your projects on track, you can also automate and manage notifications to your team members to keep task status up-to-date.

12. ClientSpot

A tool organizer for your projects and files. This tool also track conversations and can even manage client data, you can also share files and track your tasks and time for your projects.

13. OnStage

With onstage portal, you can easily manage and track your projects, and even conversations real-time, you can also upload files, and also customizable.

14. PlanningForce

This tool helps you maximize your work, keeps track of history, and saves time for your project calculations.

15. Assembla

A tool that tracks your projects, add and manager team members, and even monitor activities and share infomations with your team.

16. Attask Project Management Software

You can customize your dashboards, monitor progress of your projects, and allows you to import and export MS project files, with this project management tool.

17. Wrike

This optimizes projects and keeps track of your work, you can even manage your projects on this tool! Check this out.

18. Tenrox Project Management Software and Workforce Management Solutions

This tool accounts for project costs and revenues. NOt only that, this also helps you keep track of the progress of your projects. Check this out!

19. Timetonote – Free, Simple, Fast and Elegant CRM

It is a tool for tracking customer, suppliers, and others.

20. SantexQ

This is a time tracking and billing tool in an all-in-one package. It keeps track on your projects and manage your billings, with a customized reports from your team members.

If you are enjoy reading this article, why not head over to look into our previous articles about blogging tools and also image optimization tools, which we think might bring benefits to you too.

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