Here’s a handy little site that I think is useful to add to your bookmarks if you are a web designer, it is called Iconfinder. It does exactly what it says…. finds the icon of your choice.
The site is simply designed and straight to the point, add your search query, click and wait for the results. All icons are licensed with either Creative Commons, GPL, or LGPL. Below is a screenshot for “home” icons.
I’ve been doing some research online tonight for a FREE alternative for Photoshop - my Photoshop installation recently became corrupt (no clue how but it might have something to do with the fact it was cracked..um yeh) Call me evil, I just call me poor.
Anyway, I can’t seem to completly uninstall Photoshop and so it won’t allow me to re-install it… and since Photoshop cost about USD $649 per copy... I’ll most likely be using an alternative until I can format my hard drive.
Anyway, I can not work with out some type of imaging software. Period. I’ll let you know which one I decide on.
Artweaver isn’t just a Photoshop alternative like GIMP, but a fair clone of Photoshop itself. While Artweaver lacks the polish and advanced feature sets of Photoshop, the menus are laid out like they are in Photoshop and the tools function close enough that use is intuitive. The programs are so similar, in fact, that seasoned Photoshop users will find themselves wondering why a feature is suddenly missing from the menu. While it isn’t a true replacement for Photoshop, Artweaver’s feature set is robust; it includes layer management, image cloning, a history function, transparency, pen tablet support, and a host of the common filters in Photoshop. Artweaver is available as a full install or in a portable version. Artweaver is a free download for Windows only.
Fotografix is an amazing example of what creative developers can accomplish in less than one meg. The 680Kb portable application is a very capable image editor and provides nearly all the same functionality I utilize in Photoshop on a daily basis. It was a no-brainer to include in my list of 40 apps you can download in two seconds. Mirrored on Freeware Files.
GIMP stands for “GNU image manipulation program”, and it is one of the oldest and most well known alternatives to Photoshop in existence. Although it doesn’t quite have all of them, you’ll find most of the features included in Photoshop somewhere in GIMP. GIMP is cross platform and supported by a large community.
If just having the feature set isn’t enough for you, there is an alternative based on GIMP known as GIMPShop. It’s the same as GIMP, except the layout has been structured as close to Photoshop as possible, so anyone making the transition should still feel right at home.
Inkscape is an open-source vector graphics editor similar to Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Freehand, or Xara X. What sets Inkscape apart is its use of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), an open XML-based W3C standard, as the native format.
Krita has been lauded for ease of use and won the Akademy Award for Best Application in 2006. Part of the Koffice suite for [Linux only] , Krita is slightly less powerful than both Photoshop and GIMP, but does contain some unique features. It has become very popular recently due to its ease of use. While it is not as feature-rich as the Photoshop, or even GIMP, it does contains the necessary tools to create/edit a professional image from scratch. In fact, the latest version contains some features that are not found in both GIMP and Photoshop.
ChocoFlop is a design application designed exclusively for [Mac only] , optimized for Mac architecture. It’s quick and fairly well featured. This program won’t always be free, but until a stable version is released (it’s currently in beta) they are allowing free use. The program works pretty well as is, and if you’re the type who doesn’t mind an occasional bug it’s certainly worth a look.
Picnik is a web based photo editor that has recently taken off due to a partnership with Flickr. It has all the basic features plus a few advanced ones like layers and special effects. It is cross platform since you only need a browser.
Adobe actually has a free web based photo editor of their own.Adobe Photoshop Express has all the basic functionality you’d expect as well as a few advanced features (sadly though, no layers), and interfaces well with a number of photo sharing websites. Again, completely cross platform.
Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins.
CinePaint is a deep paint image retouching tool that supports higher color fidelity than ordinary painting tools. One of the advantage that it has over GIMP is that it is able to support 32-bits image (GIMP only supports 8-bits image). Cinepaint is mainly used by developers in the flim industry for motion picture frame-by-frame retouching. The current version runs on Linux, BSD, Mac OSX. Stable version for Windows is not available at the moment.
PhotoPlus [Windows only] is the amazing photo editing software that enables you to fix and enhance digital photos, create stunning bitmap graphics and even web animations.
Links
There’s also free web services that allows you to perform basic image editing online.
Here’s few examples:
Another Great Affiliate that actually pays!WPWebHost.com I just signed up with them as an affiliate and added a banner to the bottom of my posts using the Shantz WordPress Prefix/Suffix Plugin which I also love by the way.
I earned 70.00 bucks with only 2 referrals and in no time at all. If your like me when you first found out about affiliate marketing you thought “great I can just add links to my website and I’ll make money”. Well it’s really not that easy.
I’m very picky about the affiliates I add to my website. If I don’t believe in their product I’m not gonna bug my visitors with their ads. If it’s something I think my visitors would be interested in then I’ll sign up and add the banner. Knowing full well that I’ll probably never see a dime… but I tend to have the “hey what the heck can’t hurt” kind of attitude when it comes to most affiliates.
However there have been only a few affiliates that I have made money off of and those few are The WP Remix Theme, Woo Themes and now WPWebHost! The cool thing about WPWebHost is you can create and track your own affiliate links! Which is not something most of the Wordpress theme affiliates allow you to do.
WPWebHost also offers tier linking which basically means you can make money from other affiliates who sign up under you.. and no that is not why I’m promoting them. I’m promoting them because I made money and money is is always fun to share! SIGN UP TODAY!
Plus their client list is pretty impressive.. well if your familiar with some of the designers who blog that is..
Design Shard is now Hosted with WPWebHost and its been a really great experience so far, support is fast at responding to questions about their hosting and about Wordpress, the features of there servers are better than what I was on at Godaddy! I would recommend them with confidence if your thinking of changing hosts.”
- Max Stanworth,Design Shard
Check out what they have to offer for only 5 bucks a month!!
I’ve recently started taking on some freelance jobs and really just learning more about what is involved in being a freelance designer. It’s been interesting to say the least. I’ve found some really useful tools online that I wanted to share with my readers. I know a lot of designers visit this site looking for themes and social networking icons so hopefully these tools will be useful to some of you.
If your a webmaster or web designer I highly recommend you read the rest of this post at www.simonday.com
This is a great resource for anyone who does freelance design or builds websites.
Web design build questions to ask (yourself) or new clients
What do you want the web site to do for your company?
(is it to just promote brand awareness and for people who hear about them and then go to their site, will people be finding them through search engines, is it existing clients looking for support or news, are you selling online, are you offering downloads, company reports etc)
Who is your target audience (age / level of internet experience etc)?
(Do they require a modern, fast paced, highly graphical site to target the younger generation or a more user friendly site for the less experienced or older internet users. )
What image do you want to portray (Professional / Casual / cutting edge etc)?
(Some sites use white space and limited text to give a relaxed feel while others use lots of images and text to give the site a busy feel. Define the feel of the site)
If you have branding what colours, fonts, styles do you use? (See business cards, letterheads etc). More often that not the sole trader will have no graphics, no logo and no identity so in these cases you need to ask the client for colour schemes they think fit with the ideas but also do market research on the competition because the client may not be right.
CORE QUESTIONS:
What do you absolutely definitely want on the site?
(This list could include blog, shopping cart, members log in, private areas, RSS feeds. Gallery newsletter, contact forms, advertising space, different languages, search facility, etc)
What would you like if possible/within budget?
What absolutely must be on the homepage and what is the order of priority? (This is a core question and you should allow the client time to ponder and discuss this with you. Their answers here should define the position of the building blocks. The answers could be phone number, email, help icon, downloads, cart total, core product links etc.)
What must be visible at all times? (Every page has a fold. A fold is below the visual part of the page and requires you to scroll down to see it. I have a height I use but you should decide for yourself where it should be. The client must understand this and agree what can go above and below).
How many links will be needed and how many levels of navigation will there be? (You need to understand the journey paths and decide how far down the link structure will go (level one, level two, level three etc)
New set of icons “WHITE MAGIK” in .PNG format. But please link us back if you use it to chethstudios.blogspot.com.White Magik is perfect for white minimalistic sites and can be used with image hover for excellent looks!
30 of the best tutorials on web for converting A PSD to a XHTML & CSS layout. These tutorials you will learn the process on how to create a Photoshop web layout and be able to convert it into a valid XHTML & CSS web page. The tutorials are a step by step process which are easy to follow and keep up with.
Now lets talk about Apture and how damn cool it is. You must check it out. At least test it on your blog and see how crazy cool it is.
Apture a wordpress plugin that allows you to search for and embed various media into your blog posts just integrated Slideshare. This means that you can directly search for and integrate presentations into your blog post without leaving your blog editing window.
Here is a short list of some Podcasts about Wordpress. Some of them do a pretty good job at being entertaining and geeky at the same time. I can dig it.
WordCast Podcast
Join Beth Skinner, Kym Huynh and Dave Moyer each week to hear all about the latest in WordPress and the blogging world! You’ll be incredbly informed with all the coolest plugins, the best looking themes, awesome interviews, the latest news, and much, much more
WordPress Weekly is a podcast hosted by Jeff Chandler and co host David Peralty from WP Tavern and Jeffro2pt0. The show is produced live every Friday evening at 8 P.M. EST (USA). Discussed are a wide range of topics around the WordPress community.
Great podcast delivery by Charles Stricklin and Jonathan Bailey gives lots of information on anything happening in the WordPress world. Unfortuantely shows are not weekly, more monthly.
NattyWP has recently come out with some really sweet premium designs. I didn’t used to be a very big fan but after checking out this theme and a few of their other new themes.. I’m excited to see what else they have to offer.
Newsday will be a perfect choice for a news site (magazine), a corporate blog, and also as a business template for a company site. NattyWP
WP WooThemes Ultimate Icon Set and the idea is to expand and build on the set (which contains 79 icons at the moment) in the coming months. The free download contains all 79 icons, sized at 256×256 pixels and available in both PNG and GIF formats.
Free icon set - Quant
The set is available in gif format (filesize is smaller than png for two tone images). There are two sizes 36×36 pixels and 16×16 pixels. It is free for non commercial use and free for commercial use if you place a link back to this site.
Coquette Part 4 Icons
These free icons flirt with style! “Coquette” free icon set contains 50 high quality, free icons in these sizes: 16×16px, 32×32px, 48×48px, 64×64px and 128×128px and 32-bit transparency PNG file format. Check out Dryicons.com for the other 3 sets.
Grace Free Icon Set
80 High Quality Icons for Web and Application use!
Stylish iPhone & iPod Touch Icon Set
This set contains 29 icons to replace the iPhone/iPod default icons and selected third-party applications, and it’s available exclusively as transparent PNG files. A selection of Dock and Wallpaper images
are also included. Stylish web 2.0 icon style. Free to download
in zip file. Download Now !
Free Icons by Axialis software
Web development icons
Web development icons is a set with 60 free icons in web 2.0 style (24×24). These icons are free to use in any kind of project unlimited times.
Michael Flarup of PixelResort has released a developer icon set of 150 32×32 icons called Pixelicious in celebration of his new site.Download the icon set Pixelicious from their site.
Easily add and rotate banners in your wordpress blog anywhere you like without editing any themes or touching any codes
Normally adding banners will need you to edit your wordpress theme, mess with lots of codes and even then you won’t have the result as you want.
But what if you had the power to easily place your banners in any position you want to on your blog? What if you could also track your banners, find out how good they really are doing? Above all what if you didn’t even have to worry about editing your Wordpress theme to do all of this?
What if all of this could be done with one powerful and easy plugin? That is where Max Banner Ads comes into play. Adding, controlling, and tracking the banners on your blog has never been more easier or more powerful with the Max Banner Ads plugin.
The AdSense Manager Wordpress plug-in is a great plug-in which makes it easier than ever to place and maintain Google AdSense ads on your blog. The plug-in is great because it automatically generates AdSense code for your blog and allows you to use widgets to position ads on your blog. Another great feature is the ability to limit the number of ads so you do not violate any TOS.
This plug-in works great to keep readers interested in the content of your blog. It provides readers with links to other posts with similar keywords. When you use this plug-in, a list will appear at the end of each of your blog posts with a list of related posts. A similar plug-in is the Similar Posts plug-in.
Top 10 SEO Related WordPress Plugins
WordPress has some pretty good functions built in to help you with SEO (Search Engine Optimization), however you might find you need some plugins to help you along the way. Here are ten of my favorite WordPress plugins that have to do with making your web site work better with the various search engines out there.
All in One SEO Pack - The All in One SEO Pack plugin does exactly what its name implies - it allows you to customize and automate adding title tags, descriptions, keywords and meta tags to every page and post published on your blog. The All In One SEO Pack allows you to optimize each individual post on your website and users have reported a noticeable increase in traffic to their blogs from Google searches after installing and using the All in One SEO Pack plugin.
Redirection - Redirection is a WordPress plugin to manage 301 redirections and keep track of 404 errors without requiring knowledge.
Search Everything - Increases Wordpress’ default search functionality through an options panel.
HeadSpace2 - Controls almost every aspect of your site’s meta-data, including advanced tagging, Analytics, and dozens of plugins. The best WordPress SEO solution!
Robots Meta - This plugin makes it easy to add the appropriate meta robots tags to your pages, disable unused archives, nofollow unnecessary links and more.
Add to Any Share/Save/Bookmark Button - Helps readers share, save, bookmark, and email your posts and pages using any service, such as Delicious, Digg, Facebook, Twitter, and over 100 more.
SEO Smart Links - SEO Smart Links provides automatic SEO benefits for your site in addition to custom keyword lists, nofollow and much more.
SEO Title Tag - Search engine optimize your blog’s title tags. Mass edit the title tags of posts, pages, category pages, tag pages - indeed, any URL!
Optimal Title - Optimal Title mirrors the function of wp_title() exactly, but moves the position of the ’separator’ to after the title rather than before.
SEO Friendly Images - SEO Friendly Images automatically adds alt and title attributes to all your images. Improves traffic from search results and makes the tags w3c/xHTML.
Have a favorite of your own that didn’t make it onto the list? Please feel free to share via the comments!
In order for any person to
make money blogging you need to advertise, promote
affiliate marketing, and generate interest in products that will make you money. Smart Ads is a great plugin that helps place advertisements on your blog without having to constantly input the html code. The Smart Ads Wordpress plugin will allow you to automatically place ads before and after your blog posts. There are additional options to remove ads for subscribers, showing ads on posts older then a certain amount of time, and to disable the top ad if the top of the post contains an image. One of the nicer features of the SmartAds Wordpress plug-in is the ability to create a “SmartAd” which is a custom ad that you can add to your blog.
The Feedburner Feedsmith plug-in automatically redirects to your Feedburner feed regardless of how various users access it. Taking a couple of minutes to setup a feedburner account allows you to combine this plug-in with the feedburner subscribe by email option. As you see on my blog (its the subscribe to my blog form). This means you’ll give subscribers multiple options of subscribing, whether by RSS feed, email, or ShareThis.
If you use the “more” tag in
your blog posts (meaning, you just show a short amount of
your blog posts on your home page with a “Continue Reading” or similar link leading the reader to the full post), then only the part of your post before the “more” tag (before the “Continue Reading” or similar link) is visible in your feed to subscribers. If you want your subscribers to see your full posts in their feed readers, then the Full Text Feed plug-in is for you.
With this plug-in, your full posts will show up to subscribers in their feed readers at all times.
This is a great plugin for people who want to maximize the ad space on their blogs. Using text files that you create, the plugin automatically rotates between the ads you specify to appear in a particular space on your blog.
This is a light-weight and easy to use plugin which allows you to add any text and/or HTML/CSS code to your posts and/or pages as prefix (top / beginning), middle and/or suffix (bottom /end). (That includes even any new or old posts and pages and even your feed)
Ever curious what’s going on with the hottest designers online? Follow them on Twitter and find out. In this post you’ll find a huge list of some of the hottest web designers and graphic designers online who currently tweet.
I can dig it.
