25 Free Online Image Editors

August 10, 2011 Free Tools, Images, Online Tools, Web Design

Sometimes designers or other professionals who use photo editing programs catch themselves on the road without their personal computers, and they might have to make some changes to a project or create something on the fly. In these cases, when your Adobe Photoshop is far from reach, you will need another option for editing photos and images.

Thankfully, there are numerous options available for designers who are on the go and need a free and easy way to edit images online. Here are some of the best options available for free online image editing.

1. Photoshop

Thankfully, Adobe offers a free, online version of its Photoshop program that anyone can use from anywhere. Of course, it is not loaded with the same amount of features that the regular version has, but it offers enough basic features to let you work on things while you are away from your personal computer. You can crop, re-size and perform basic touch-ups using the online version, which means that you will have more than enough options to get some basic photo editing done when you are in a bind.

2. Pixlr

This site offers an express version of its program for basic editing like cropping and re-sizing and minor photo effects. The full version of the program is similar to Photoshop, and just like Photoshop’s online version, this will get the job done for you when you are on the go.

3. MyImager

This is one of the sites that will allow you to work with an existing photo via upload or with a photo found at a particular URL. You can also create new images in the program, though you will only have fairly basic editing tools to work with, so it is more for editing existing images than creating something entirely new.

4. Phixr

This is a good site for basic editing for photographs and allows you to do things like remove red eye from a picture, and add camera and lens effects.

5. BigHugeLabs

This is a convenient and easy to use online program if you are having some fun and creating things like CD covers, posters, or online fliers.

6. Lunapic

This tool has one of the largest lists of tools and options available as far as free online image editors are concerned. There are many effects available and you can also create images from scratch here as well using drawing tools and animation options.

7. Picnik

This is a good site because you can integrate it with your photo sharing and storage sites like Flickr, and Photobucket. There are some good features in the free online version that make editing very easy, but the premium version is also very cheap and worth the money, costing only two dollars a month for many added tools and features.

8. Free Online Photo Editor

Nothing fancy, but it does offer all of the basic functions that you will need to do quick edits of images and photos online when you are in a rush and do not have access to any editing programs.

9. PiZap

This is more of a fun photo editing site than a serious one. Here you can add speech bubbles, cutout faces, and fun effects on your personal photos.

10. BeFunky

BeFunky has a pretty huge database of free effects, almost 150 of them, and most of them are simple one-click features that are easy even for amateurs to use.

11. FotoFlexer

This is another site that allows you to take photos directly from your Flickr, Photobucket and Facebook accounts in order to edit them online.

12. FlauntR

You will have to register before using FlauntR, but it does offer great one-cllick editing options and it also can help you out if you are looking to customize your profile pictures for various social networks.

13. Photo505

This one is not very sophisticated, but it does have a lot of easy to use and fun pre-made effects and filters to apply to your photo.

14. Pho.to

This site has all of the usual options like cropping and re-sizing and some arty effects, but the coolest thing about it is that you can instantly make a caricature out of any photo.

15. Phoenix

The Aviary company offers many free tools online, with Phoenix being its online photo editor. The interface is preferred by many designers because it looks a lot like Adobe Photoshop, which is what most of them are most familiar with.

16. OnlinePhotoTool.com

This site allows you to do basic editing, and if you register, then you can save the images at their site as well.

17. WriteOnIt

Another fun and entertaining one, it enables you to make montages, cards, fliers, and things of that nature.

18. Poladroid

The name says it all – you can make your photos look like they were taken with an oldschool Polaroid camera using this site, however, you need to download the free app in order to use it.

19. Pixenate

Another basic editing site that lets you upload all your photos and make basic adjustments, like cropping, resizing and making the images brighter or darker.

20. Image Chef

Other than allowing you to edit your own images, you can use the sketchpad to make new artwork. You can also give your images frames with this tool.

21. 72photos

Another basic service for editing, but the best part is that you can use it as a storage site for your photos, because it gives you 200 MB of disk space and 10GB of bandwidth for free.

22. Dr. Pic

Upload your own pics or provide the URL of a picture and use basic editing tools to change and alter the image with this site.

23. Pixer.us

Another site that lets you upload a photo on the move and perform basic editing and touch ups to it.

24. FixPicture

This one includes basic editing tools like cropping and re-sizing, and you can also add effects to improve or decrease the focus or contrast of your pics.

25. Splashup

A very easy-to-use interface allows you to use the tools and features with ease. You can upload and edit photos or create one from scratch with this site.

free image editors, image editors, online image editor

Two best free tools for advanced gif creation

July 29, 2011 Free Tools, Images

There are many options available online if you are looking to make simple animated GIFs out of your favorite pictures. Though there are many of these websites that will allow you to upload your photos on the spot and make GIFs out of them, most of these will not give you any advanced options. However, there are also some very good animators that you can download for free in order to give you more options for making more exciting, advanced and interesting GIFs. Here are two of the best free GIF animators for people who are looking for more professional options when creating their personalized GIFs.

1 ) Beneton Movie GIF

This free animator will allow you to create advanced GIF images for any type of project you might be interested in. It is a very powerful freeware animation maker that really gives you tons of features that will allow you to make your personalized GIF images. Not only that, but the interface is incredibly simple to use and you will be making GIFs in no time at all. It supports 48 different file formats such as BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG, and AVI, which means that you are not limited to strictly image files, you can also make GIFs out of videos as well. It is free of cost, simple to use, and gives you many options to explore when creating your personalized GIFs.

Take a look at the interface, it’s very simple to navigate. On the right side, there is a window for normal and animated effects where you can even select multiple frames at a time if you are looking to work fast. The GIF animator also gives you many editing tools that you might need for your images. The interface boasts drag-and-drop effect frames for quick editing and 20 different effects. It also has a built-in image editor with many tools similar to the ones you might be familiar with if you have used Adobe Photoshop before – tools such as the pencil, airbrush, alpha brush, fill, and text boxes.

It also offers a preview window that will let you preview either individual frames or the entire animation, and there are also options to zoom or loop the preview in order to get a better look at it.

2 ) Falco GIF Animator

This is another great freeware animated GIF maker that also gives you many editing options with an extensive list of tools and techniques for personalizing your GIF images. Despite being free, it is very powerful.
It also supports many different file types, including DLL/EXE, BMP, PNG, JPG, ICO, CUR, ANI, TARGA, PSD (Photoshop), PCD (Kodak), TIFF, and many more.
You have unlimited undo and redo operations that will make it easy for you to not mess up your project even when you are just starting out and getting to know the animator. The numerous editing tools will help to enhance and personalize your images. Again, the tools that are offered a very similar to the ones that you will probably be familiar with already if you have any prior experience editing images in different programs – pencil, text, spray, filled rectangle, color selection, lasso, hue, blur, eraser, and many more tools are at your disposal.
This is a GIF animator that is simple enough for beginners to use, but also offers enough options to satisfy most professionals as well. You can preview you file after creation and add effects to your animations while you are checking out the preview as well.

How to create tests and quizzes with Google Docs and Excel

July 26, 2011 Documents, Online Tools, Tips

With almost everything moving more and more into the online realm these days, education seems to be following this trend as well. For those taking online classes to finish up a degree, or for teachers who like to assign their students online assignments, there are now plenty of ways to test or quiz people online.

These methods are not just good for teachers, for example, they can also be used by employers who want to narrow down their lists of candidates for a new job position before starting the interview process. Want to test a programmer or coder’s knowledge with some theoretical questions before you decide to hire them? Make an online test for them and see what they know before you spend your time interviewing each candidate individually.

Online test-taking makes learning easier and more mobile, and technology has changed the way in which students are being assessed and graded, enabling them to take these tests and pass these evaluations even when they cannot make it to the classroom.

Let’s take a look at the two best ways to make tests and quizzes that people can take online.

1) Google Docs (Forms)

Google Docs is ideal because so many people already have Gmail accounts and use them regularly. It is a perfect way to create tests and quizzes which can then be easily embed into a website for the students to take. Google Docs also has instant reporting that lets you know as soon as someone has finished taking the test.

This is how to create a test in Google Docs.

1. Log in to Google Docs first. If you don’t have a Gmail account, get one at http://www.gmail.com. If you already have one, go to http://docs.google.com/.

2. Once you are logged in, click “Create New”, and then “Form” in the top left of the screen.

3. Give your quiz a name and then type the information for your quiz. The information fields are designed so that it will be easy for you to create the quiz and for everyone taking it to understand the quiz.

4. Now add the questions. It is all very simple and easy to use. You can provide the question, help for the question, choose what type of question you want it to be (text, multiple choice, etc), and then put in the answer. For each new question you want to make, all you have to do is click “Add Item” at the top left corner and then add the type of question you want.

5. If you want to make the questions multiple choice, then you have to click on “Multiple Choice” in the “Add Items” button. It you want to make more multiple choice questions, you can just duplicate them by clicking on the Duplicate icon, which is located to the right, in between the Pencil and Trash Can icons. Once the question is duplicated, just change the question title and options to what you want them to be.

6. Whatever kind of question you want, continue to add them either by clicking on “Add Item” and making a new type of question, or clocking the Duplicate icon to make a question just like the last one you made. Once you complete the question, quick on “Done” and move on to the next.

7. Make sure to check the “Make this a required question” checkbox so that the person taking the test must answer it. If you do not check that box, then are able to just skip the question and move on to the next one without answering it.

8. Once you have finished, you can save the quiz. If the Save button is already grayed out, that just means that Google has already saved he quiz, which it does automatically.

9. If you want to make your tests more appealing and interesting or colorful, you can click on the “Themes” button and choose a different theme and different color scheme.

10. Once you are done and you are ready to send it out, you can either send the quiz to the test-takers via e-mail or embed the quiz on your own website and provide them with the link.

2) Microsoft Excel

Excel is another great tool to use for tests, because just about everyone who has a computer has Excel or some compatible spreadsheet program. Creating a test is easy even for people who are novices with Excel and it can be easily distributed via email, since the file size will not be large at all. Excel looks as if it was made for creating quizzes, because the column-style presentation is really ideal for these types of things.

Here is how you can create a test in Excel.

1. First, open a blank sheet in excel. You will need four columns for a proper test – column A will be for the questions, column B for the answers, column C for determining whether the answer is right or wrong, and column D for the scores.

2. Type the questions in column A, one by one from the top down.

3. Leave column B blank, because this is where the corresponding answers will be typed later by the person taking the test.

4. Write the needed formula in column C to make that the scores pop up automatically. Type the following into column C: =IF(B1=””, “”, IF(B1=”answer”, “Right”, “Wrong”)), Replace “answer” with the correct answer to your question. And B1 should be changed to B2, B3, etc for each new question and answer as you continue down the column.

5. If the test-taker puts the correct answer into column B, “Right” will be displayed. If a wrong answer is submitted, then “Wrong” will appear, naturally.

6. If are interested in scoring the answers, the formula which should be put into column D is: =IF(C1=”Right”, 1, 0). Remember to advance the number as you scroll down the column.

7. If you want to display the total score, you need to take one more step. If you give the person 20 questions from A1 to A20, then you need to type this into D21: =SUM(D1:D20).

8. With the equation for the total sum of the score now working, your test should be ready to go.

An ultimate list of Document File Formats

July 21, 2011 Documents

A file format is, essentially, the layout of a file in terms of the way in which the data within the file is organized. In order to use a program to open that file, it must be able to recognize and access the data that is located inside the file.

The file format is usually stated as part of a file’s name – usually as an extension or suffix –and this extention is commonly separated by a period from the name of the file itself. This file extention usually contains three or four letters that identify the file format.

There are many different file formats out there and many different programs work with these different file formats. Here, we have compiled a very complete list of various types of document, spreadsheet and presentation file formats.

Document File Formats

ABW

Associated with AbiWord, a word processing program, developed and maintained by the Abisource community.
open with: AbiWord

WRF


Associated with Thinkfree Write, part of Thinkfree Office, and used for document files created by the application.
open with: Thinkfree Write
WRI


Associated with Windows Write, a simple word processor used in older versions of Windows OS.
open with: Microsoft Write
XHTML


A family of current and future document types and modules that reproduce, subset, and extend HTML 4.
open with: Internet browsers
XML


Used for files written in Extensible Markup Language and is a structured text file with various content for many programs.
open with: Open Office
PDF – Portable Document Format


The Portable Document Format is associated with Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF) documents first and foremost.
open with: Adobe Reader
HTML


Associated with Hypertext Markup Language and provides a means to create structured documents by denoting structural semantics for text such as headings, paragraphs, lists, links, and quotes among other things.
open with: Internet browsers
HWP

A Haansoft (Hancom) Hangul Word Processor document.
open with: Open Office
QUOX


This is a Question Object File Format Question Object document for Quobject Designer or Quobject Explorer.
open with: Quobject Designer and Explorer
TeX


The TEX file extension is associated with TeX/LaTeX text document files and is a document preparation system for high-quality typesetting.
open with: Dia
AWW


Associated with Ability Write and used for its documents file. Use for preparing, editing and presenting letters, reports, quotations, memos, mailings and newsletters.
open with: Ability Write
ACL


Associated with Microsoft Officeand is used to store lists of corrections used by the AutoCorrect feature in the Microsoft Office Suite.
open with: Microsoft Office Suite
SXW


This is used for document files created by OpenOffice.org Writer.
open with: Open Office
Amigaguide


A hypertext file used by AmigaGuide.
open with: AmigaGuide
NB


Associated with Mathematica and used for its notebooks, which are structured interactive documents that can contain text, graphics, sound, calculations, and typeset expressions.
open with: Mathematica Notebook
CWK


Associated with Apple ClarisWorks, a now discontinued office suite, formerly developed by Apple.
open with: ClarisWorks/AppleWorks
MCW


Associated with Microsoft Word.
open with: Microsoft Word for Macintosh
DOT


Associated with Microsoft Word.
open with: Microsoft Word
HWPML


A Haansoft (Hancom) Hangul Word Processor Markup Language document.
open with: Open Office
LWP


The LWP file extension is associated with IBM Works, an office suite for the IBM OS/2 operating system.
open with: Lotus Word Pro
Texinfo


This is a UNIX GNU info reader file format and the official documentation format of the GNU project.
open with: UNIX GNU
DOTX


The DOTX file extension is associated with Microsoft Word.
open with: Microsoft Word
RTF – Rich Text document


Associated with documents in Rich Text Format, which is a text format with some very basic formatting preserved.
open with: WordPad
DOC – Microsoft Word document


The DOC file extension is associated with Microsoft Word and is the most commonly used format in this program.
open with: Microsoft Word
CSV


An ASCII text encoded as Comma Separated Values, used in most spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel or by most database management systems
open with: Microsoft Excel
FDX


Associated with Final Draft and contains Final Draft documents in XML file format.
open with: Final Draft
WPD


Associated with Corel WordPerfect, a word processing program.
open with: Word Perfect
ODM


An open XML-based document file format for office applications to be used for documents containing text, spreadsheets, charts, and graphical elements.
open with: Open Office
ANS


Associated with Microsoft Word.
open with: Microsoft Word
ODT


This is used for OpenOffice.org Writer text documents and can be converted into Microsoft Word file formats.
open with: Open Office
TXT


Many MS-DOS, Unix, Windows applications and text editors used this file extension for common text file.
open with: Note Pad
WPS


Associated with Microsoft Works, an office suite produced by Microsoft, which was offered as smaller, less expensive aleternative to the Microsoft Office suite.
open with: Microsoft Works
WPT


Associated with Microsoft Works.
open with: Microsoft Works
PAGES


Associated with Apple Pages, a word processor and page layout application developed by Apple, which is part of the iWork productivity suite.
open with: Apple Pages
PAP


A file format used in Papyrus word processor documents.
open with: Papyrus Word Processor
AFP


This is the InfoPrint Solutions Company’s Advanced Function Presentation platform,which is a standard in the print industry for printing variable data at very high speeds with complete integrity.
open with: Xenos 2de Vision
SDW


This is a StarWriter text document, used in earlier versions of StarOffice.
open with: Star Office
NBP


Associated with Mathematica and used for its notebooks.
open with: Mathematica Notebook
UOF


A Chinese developed open standard for office applications.
open with: Open Office
DOCX


The DOCX file extension is associated with Microsoft Word’s more recent versions.
open with: Microsoft Word
OTT


An open XML-based document file format for office applications to be used for documents containing text, spreadsheets, charts, and graphical elements.
open with: Open Office

Spreadsheet File Formats

CELL


A Haansoft (Hancom) SpreadSheet software document.
open with: Haansoft Viewer
numbers


Associated with iWork Numbers, a spreadsheet application developed by Apple Inc. as part of the iWork productivity suite alongside Keynote and Pages.
open with: iWork Numbers
ODS


Associated with OpenOffice.orc Calc and used for its spreadsheet files.
open with: Open Office
VC


Associated with VisiCalc. VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet program available for personal computers.
open with: VisiCalc
OTS


An open XML-based document file format for office applications to be used for documents containing text, spreadsheets, charts, and graphical elements.
open with: Open Office
QPW


Associated with Quattro Pro, which is a spreadsheet program developed by Borland and later sold by Corel.
open with: Quattro Pro
XLS


Associated with Microsoft Works.
open with: Microsoft Excel
XLSB


Associated with Microsoft Excel.
open with: Microsoft Excel
CSV


Associated with Comma Separated Value files, which is a simple text format for a database table.
open with: Open Office
XLW


Associated with Microsoft Excel, and contains the screen locations of one or more workbooks and also the references to each individual workbook.
open with: Microsoft Excel
XLSM


Associated with Microsoft Excel, and is used in Microsoft Excel 2007/2010 for Workbooks, spreadsheet document files.
open with: Microsoft Excel
XLSX


Associated with Microsoft Excel as file formats for Excel Spreadsheets based on Open XML data format.
open with: Microsoft Excel
WK4


Associated with Lotus 1-2-3 and are used by Lotus 1-2-3 version 4.
open with: Lotus 1-2-3
XLR


Associated with Microsoft Works version 6.0.
open with: Microsoft Works
123


Associated with Lotus 1-2-3 and used by some versions of Lotus 1-2-3.
open with: Lotus 1-2-3
SDC


Spreadsheet file used by StarOffice StarCalc in older versions (3.0-5.0).
open with: Star Office
XLT


Associated with Microsoft Excel and is used in Microsoft Excel 97 to 2003 for template documents.
open with: Microsoft Excel
SXC


Associated with OpenOffice.Org and used for spreadsheets in OpenOffice Calc.
open with: Open Office
XLK


Associated with Microsoft Excel,and used by Microsoft Excel 2000 and earlier version for backups of the the .xls workbook files.
open with: Microsoft Excel
XLTM


Associated with Microsoft Excel, and is used in Microsoft Excel 2007/2010 for template documents with macros enabled.
open with: Microsoft Excel
WK3


Associated with Lotus 1-2-3 and is used by Lotus 1-2-3 version 3.
open with: Lotus 1-2-3
STC


A template for creating a new OpenOffice spreadsheet file, often used for creating many similar spreadsheets.
open with: Open Office
SLK


Associated with Microsoft Excel and conventionally have a .slk file extension.
open with: Microsoft Excel
AWS


Associated with Ability Spreadsheet.
open with: Ability Spreadsheet
WKS


Associated with Lotus 1-2-3 and used by Lotus 1-2-3.
open with: Lotus 1-2-3
WKS


Associated with Microsoft Works.
open with: Microsoft Works
WQ1


Associated with Quattro Pro for DOS and contain spreadsheets.
open with: Quattro Pro
WK1


Associated with Lotus 1-2-3 and used by Lotus 1-2-3 version 1.
open with: Lotus 1-2-3

Presentation File Formats

NBP


Associated with Mathematica Player slideshows.
open with: Mathematica Player
ODP


A file format for electronic office documents such as spreadsheets, charts, presentations and word processing documents.
open with: Open Document
STI


A file extension used by OpenOffice.org Impress. File contains presentation template.
open with: Open Office
SXI


Associated with OpenOffice.org. File contains presentation.
open with: Open Office
OTP


An open XML-based document file format for office applications to be used for documents containing text, spreadsheets, charts, and graphical elements.
open with: Open Document
SHW


Associated with Corel Presentations, developed by Corel Corporation, which is part of Corel WordPerfect Office suite. The files contain slide shows created using Corel Presentations.
open with: Corel Presentations
NB


Associated with Mathematica notebook Slideshows.
open with: Mathematica Notebook
SDD


A file extension used by StarOffice (StarDraw 3.0/5.0). File contains presentations, drawings.
open with: Star Office
POT


Associated with Microsoft PowerPoint and is used for templates, which are used when creating multiple PowerPoint presentations with the same formatting.
open with: Microsoft PowerPoint
PPS


Associated with Microsoft PowerPoint and may include formatted text, bullet points, images, movies, sound effects, or music.
open with: Microsoft PowerPoint
PRZ


Associated with Lotus Freelance Graphics and allows users to create and compile text, digital images, diagrams, basic drawings, and charts (such as bar charts and pie charts) into a digital slide show.
open with: Lotus Freelance Graphics
KEY, KEYNOTE


A presentation software application developed as a part of the iWork productivity suite by Apple Inc.
open with: Apple Keynote
PPT


Associated with Microsoft PowerPointand is used for editable slide shows, which are very often used for presentations.
open with: Microsoft PowerPoint
SLP


Associated with the Logix-4D Manager Show Control Project
open with: Logix-4D Manager
WATCH


Associated with Dataton Watchout presentations.
open with: Dataton Watchout
SSPSS


Associated with SongShow Plus slideshows
open with: SongShow Plus
PPTX


Associated with Microsoft PowerPoint and is used for editable slide shows, which are very often used for presentations.
open with: Microsoft PowerPoint

Useful Online Financial Calculators

July 12, 2011 Online Tools

1) Dinkytown

This is probably the most complete collection of calculators that you will find anywhere on the Internet. Dinkytown features over 350 different financial calculators for you to use and also offers most of the them in a variety of languages. No matter what you need related to your financial situation, Dinkytown has the calculator for you, whether you need help tallying your mortgage payments, credit card debt or savings. If you really like a certain calculator who can also pay a fee to put it on your own website.

2) CSG Network

This site offers calculators that do not cater towards finances as much, rather, the calculators on this site aim to help you with a wider range of more general everyday situations in which you might need a calculator. For example, there is a calculator that can help you find out how large of a turkey you will have to buy for Thanksgiving based on how many people who are planning to feed, how large their appetites are, whether or not you want to have leftovers, and several other variables. Whether you need to know how much chlorine to put in your pool or you are just need a calculator to help your children out with their math homework, this site will probably have what you need.

3) Dollar Times

Yet another site that provides many different varieties of calculators to help you with your personal finances, however, Dollar Times is all about helping you manage your money and save. The site offers three categories of custom calculators from which you can choose from: Home and Car Loans, Investment and Savings, and Personal Finance. Using the calculators provided in these three sections, you can do a pretty good job of taking care of your finances, from calculating your mortgage payments, to keeping track of your retirement savings and monitoring how much you are spending on gas each week.

4) Choose To Save

Another extremely large database of financial calculators, this site does not have its own calculators, rather, it links you to the best and most popular calculators used for various calculations. You will be able to find calculators for following how you are doing on the stock market, calculators that will help you plan your paycheck spending, calculators for mutual funds and bonds, along with many more.

5) Hugh’s Mortgage and Financial Calculators

This is Hugh U. Chou’s site, and he loves calculators. Even though the sites states that Hugh specializes in mortgage and financial calculators, you won’t have to look very hard to see that there is actually a lot more that he offers on his site. Mr. Chou seems to be a man of math that loves making calculators for things that he stumbles across in life that intrigue him. For example, you can find a calculator for converting a cat’s age to human age and also to calculate your cholesterol levels as well. Among the many other financial and mathematical calculators, you will also find math and science related games and puzzles that he has developed for your entertainment.

6) Dr. Calculator

Of all the calculator sites, this one is the easiest to navigate. There is really nothing else included on the site other than 11 different categories of calculators. The categories available are the usual ones, and the calculators offer by this site will make it really easy for you to take of all of your personal finances without having to look anywhere else. Calculators are available to help you with your mortgage rates, managing your loans and your savings, calculating interest rates on various purchases, and keeping track of your investments.

7) Calculator Web

Even though this site might offer less calculators than others, it is a very specific and well-organized list of calculators. It is an especially good site for people who are deep into investments, with a set of great calculators that will let you manage your entire portfolio very easily. There is also a great set of planning calculators which are good for both short-term and long-term planning. You can plan out your weekly budget using these calculators, balance your checkbook effectively, but also calculate your retirement savings and how much you will need for other long-term plans, like putting your children through school.

8. Financial Calculators

This is one of the better organized calculator sites that you will find. Even though it does mostly have types of calculators that you will find on any financial calculator site, this particular page has an excellently detailed set of calculators for things that you won’t see on other sites. For instance, there is a great list of calculators that will enable you to manage your insurance plans, as well as calculators that will enable you to see where exactly all that money from your paycheck is going. The site also features great calculators for keeping your credit card payments in order.

9. CNN Money

CNN’s money site offers a typical list of calculators to use for managing your finances. However, it does have one of the better groups of real estate-related calculators that you will stumble upon. These calculators will not only enable you to calculate your mortgage payments, but you will also be able to keep track of your property’s value and they can even help you see what price range is realistic if you are looking to purchase a home.

10. Disposable Income

The name of the site speaks for itself, really. This fantastic calculator will tell you how much money you will have left to spend each month after you have paid for everything that you need to pay for in the course of the month. Just enter in your wage and all of your monthly expenses and find out what you are left with. If you are left feeling depressed at the end of the calculation, the site tries to pick your spirits up a bit by calculating how much time at work you must spend in order to be able to purchase various things (coffee, a laptop, a vacation to Greece, etc).

20 best sites for free online storage and backup

July 5, 2011 Documents, Online Tools

Faster Internet connections and more widespread Internet access has made it possible for us to store our files in virtual hard drives for safe-keeping and easy access. Thanks to the many online storage sites that exist, you can always have your files at your fingertips, even when you are thousands of miles away from your home computer. Let’s take a look at some of the best free online storage sites you have to choose from if you are interested in such a service.

1) Dropbox

 

 

This is the perfect storage tool for people who work on more than one computer. It allows you to sync files between any computers that have Dropbox installed on them. You are also given a public folder that creates a link directly to your files and folders so you can share them. It is also easy to share folders with other friends or coworkers who have their own Dropbox accounts as well. You get 2 GB of free storage space.

2. Mozy.com

 

 

One of the most popular online storage sites, you get 2GB of space free of charge. The software also can be set to automatically back up your computer every week.

3. Adrive.com

 

 

 

Easily the most generous free site, it offers 50GB of storage with the basic account. The only shortcoming is that it will not backup your files automatically, though this is not a problem for many who take care of their files diligently.

4. Docs.Google.com

 

 

Google Docs allows you to upload 1 GB of various different files and store them, however, if you convert these files to the site’s own format (which offers its own equivalents of spreadsheet, document and presentation files) you will be able to save, store and share even more information.

5. Box.net

 

 

You get 1 GB of free space with this one, and you can store your files and access them from any computer and from most mobile phones as well. It is also excellent for sharing files with friends and family because it’s easy to use.

6. SugarSync.com

 

 

 

This service offers 5 GB of free space and one of its best features is that it is easily compatible with PCs, Macs and almost every possible smart phone.

7. SkyDrive.live.com

 

 

This service is free when you sign up for a Hotmail or Windows Live account and it gives you a generous 25GB, though the upload process is a little slow and tiring.

8. Esnips.com

You get 5 GB for free here, and the site is actually made for photos and videos, but you can easily turn off these options and simply use it as a storage site.

9. OpenDrive.com

 

 

This service offers 5 GB of free storage space, and is great for sharing with coworkers and collaborating on projects online.

10. FlipDrive.com

 

 

FlipDrive offers 1 GB of space and can be accessed from any web browser at any time. It also prides itself on being one of the most secure sites of its kind.

11. Storegate.com

 

 

 

This site aims at making it easy to store files, especially photos, easily and share them with friends and family. You get 1 GB with the free package and it allows you to share large files at once, such as whole folders full of pictures.

12. SpiderOak.com

 

 

 

 

Spider Oak looks to be an all-in-one service that is very well-rounded, offering free online backup, synchronization, sharing, remote access, and storage. You get a free 2 GB for life when you sign up.

13. One.Ubuntu.com

 

 

 

 

This site allows you to backup files and sync them from any computer, but also, you can save and store contacts, as well as bookmarks. You get 2 GB of space for free.

14. IDrive.com

 

 

 

Nothing really stands out about this service, other than the fact that it offers more free storage space than most – 5 GB.

15. DivShare.com

 

 

 

You get 5 free GB of storage space at DivShare, and you can really store anything, but it’s best for music and video, because it allows you to upload songs that are instantly stream-able and do not have to be downloaded to be played.

16. FileDropper

 

 

 

One of the better sites for hosting files. Maximum size is 5GB.

17. Megashares.com

 

 

 

You get 10 GB of free storage, but it’s best for sharing files quickly, because it gives you a url right away at which you and anyone else you give it to can instantly access the file.

18. Badongo.com

 

 

 

Badongo actually offers unlimited storage and sharing. It is another good site for people who want to stream audio and video files or make slideshows of your favorite photos and share them.

19. MediaFire

 

 

 

MediaFire is great because you have unlimited storage space for free if you open up an account. However, you cannot upload more than 200 MB at a time. It is perfect for storing and sharing things like images and music, and sharing is made easy with direct links given for each of your uploads.

20. Flickr.com

 

 

The premier site for storing and sharing photographs on the Internet, you are able to upload 300 MB of images each month. If the user has more than 200 pictures on the site, they will only be able to see the most recent 200 in their photostreams, but all the other images will remain stored and all links to these images that were posted anywhere on the Web will remain active.

10 Free Online Tools to Create Comics

June 28, 2011 Online Tools


It used to be the case that if you wanted to make your own comics, you would either have to be a good artist or have someone else draw them for you. That’s not the case anymore, thanks to the many different website on the Internet that allow you to easily and quickly create your own custom comic strips to share with your family, friends and co-workers.
If you are one of those people who considers themselves funny, but you cannot draw for your life, thanks to technology, you can fulfill your ambitions of making funny comics without a problem. There are tons of sites out there now at which you can make your own, customized comic strips, and with the variety that all of them offer – from superheroes to stick figures – you will be able to create a personal comic to get your point across perfectly.
Sometimes you have a joke or a story that you want to tell, and you want to mix it up – try something new. Why not tell the joke or story in the form of a colorful and amusing comic strip? Here are some of the best site on the Internet that will allow even the worst of artists to make personalize comics to express themselves.

1) Make Beliefs Comix

 

 

This is easily one of the most popular comic sites around. It is so popular because not only do the comics look great, but they are also very easy to create. There are options that give you enough of a range where both children and adults will be able to use the site to make comics that are relevant to them. It is also increasingly popular because it is available in many languages and the site is always looking to ad new ones as well to their options.

Because it is so easy to use and so simple in nature, you might find it limiting if you are trying to get some more abstract idea across, and the colors that are offered are also fairly limited, especially for the background of your pictures.
is easy enough for children to use, but there are enough options for adults to get a message across, too. Users can choose from 25 characters to fill a two-, three-, or four-paneled comic strip. Currently, the site supports typing in seven different languages. There are plans to add Chinese, Japanese, and Korean characters in the future.

2) Pixton

 

 

 

The best part about this site is that there are three comic-making sections. One is for having fun, one is for children and educational purposes, and the third is for business needs. It is very easy to use as well, all you do is drag and drop into the comic what you want to see there. It is one of the most advanced sites as far as customization is concerned, and there are literally endless choices for tweaking your comic and making it come out exactly the way you envisioned it.

3) MarvelKids

 

 

 

 

If there is a company that knows something about comics, then I am pretty sure that this company is marvel. It’s no surprise that its comic creation site is great as well, even though it’s simplistic. One thing that is great is that there are tons of different panels you can use, so you are not constricted to the usual and boring boxes that most comics use. The characters you can choose from, of course, are all of the famous Marvel heroes and villains, including the Incredible Hulk and Wolverine. Also, you can do fairly interested and in-depth comics at this site, since it offers you the option of going as long as 22 pages. If you like making comics with these famed Marvel heroes, you’ll love it, but if you want to do something more original, then this is not the site you are looking for – go elsewhere.

4) ToonDoo

 

 

 

This is probably one of the best sites if you are looking for both versatility and ease of use. It allows you to be creative and really make the comic original, but it is also very user friendly as well. There is a huge library of images and characters that you can use, and the tools are very simple to implement and navigate. There are two tools of significance at ToonDoo, the TraitR tool, which helps you to customize your characters, and the DoodlR tool, which allows you to paint freely within the comic.

5) Strip Generator

 

 

 

There’s no room really at this site to work on your own style, but the characters that are offered are great to jot down some quick office humor and share it with your coworkers. One thing that is great about the site is that you are able to adjust the frames and make them longer and wider if you need to.

6) Chogger

 

 

 

Chogger is great because it lets you draw images from scratch if you do not want to use the images that are already available on the site. Another great feature you get with the site is that it allows you to connect your webcam and capture pictures that you can use in your comic strips. The frames at Chogger can also be customized to suit your needs very easily.

7) Pikistrips

 

 

This is one of the more creative sites. At Pikistrips, you take a photo of yourself or other people and then turn these photos into comic strips. Just upload the pictures and then you can mess around with them and decorate the pictures. You can add different hairstyle, facial hair, scars, hats, and other stuff to your pictures, and of course, text bubbles for dialogue.

8) Witty Comics

 

 

 

This is a simple comic that is most often used by people who are more interested in the dialogue than the actual pictures. The comics are pre-drawn scenes that are fairly simple and to the point, it is up to you to put some interesting commentary in there to spice them up. This is perfect for writers that want to practice their dialogue and story telling – letting the words speak more than the images.

9) Artisan Cam

 

 

Artisan Cam is a very interest site that has a lot of different art-related online activities, and it’s a great site for teachers to use in order to get creative with their students. The comic maker on the site is excellent and allows you to build short and sweet, six-frame comics with an easy-to-use drag and drop interface.

10) Write Comics

 

 

 

Write Comics is another simple to use and fun online comic. The process is very logical and simple to follow – first select a background, then choose characters, and then complete the story with speech bubbles. It’s biggest shortcoming is that the only way you can save your work is by copying it to your computer – it does not have its own online database where you can save your work and share it with friends instantaneously.

Best ways to discover new music online

June 16, 2011 Online Tools

With the hyper-production of music that technology has enabled over the last decade, the Internet has also enabled people to not only share their music easily and find fans worldwide with little problem, it has also made it much easier for fans of music to seek out new and interesting artists that might appeal to them. There are literally hundreds of ways to find out about new music these days on the Web – whether you are reading blogs, getting recommendations from friends on Facebook or listening to Internet radio stations, it has never been easier to find mew music.

Discover New Music Online
Let’s take a look at some of the best ways to find new music on the Internet:

Last.fm

Last.fm is a social networking site that is geared towards people who are obsessed with music. You can install their scrobbler and link it to whatever program or device you are using to listen to music and it will keep track of what you have been listening to, whether its at home on Winamp or Windows Media Player or on your iPod. It displays this information on your personal page, and shares your music listening habits with the world. You can add friends just like you can on any other social networking site, and post on their walls as well. Using Last.fm, there are many different ways for you to discover music. For example, when you visit another person’s page, Last.fm will tell you the level of similarity you have with any given user and it will also list what artists you have in common in your listening library. If you have a high similarity with a person, you can look at their charts and see if there are any artists there that sound interesting to you, or you can even ask the person for some personal recommendations based on the artists that you have in common. Also, if you visit the official page of a band you enjoy, listed under the band’s description and biography is a group of similar artists that you can check out. You can also browse music by genres, since users on Last.fm are able to tag each artist as being part of a specific genre that they deem fit. Last.fm has a paid radio service as well that lets you listen to its enormous database of artists in high quality streaming audio, but also, there is a free music player that you can download and use with the Google Chrome browser. Once you download and install the player, you can go to any artist’s page and listen to their songs free of charge. The opportunities for discovering new music through Last.fm are truly limitless.

Amazon

The opportunities for listening to new music are fairly limited on Amazon. They do have streaming audio, but the site only offers you short snippets of songs to check out. However, there are other ways that Amazon can help you discover new music. If you click on an album that you know you love, listed under the album are users who have purchased this album from Amazon. Amazon also lists other albums that these customers have bought, which serves as a recommendation, since the person who bought an album that you love probably has similar tastes in music. You can literally spend hours on Amazon going from album to album and customer to customer, checking out what they have bought and seeking out these different albums if they sound interesting to you. Amazon also allows its customers and users to write reviews of the music that they have purchased. The users who purchased the music are able to write a review, many write small blurbs, but others go into great detail when they write reviews, and they also rank the album by way of a five-star system. Amazon does a great job of creating a multifaceted service that will not only allow you to seek out new music, read in-depth reviews of albums and songs, and see what else people who have bought an album you like have bought, but it also allows you to purchase the music right there on the site without having to search any further.

The Hype Machine

This site is very unique and much different for the first two mentioned. This site is not specifically for people who are looking for recommendations based no their tastes, it is more for people who are just looking to hear new things and to stay on top of all the latest trends in popular music. The Hype Machine is a music site for people who are fans of Reddit and Tumblr – sites that have constant streams of new information coming in at all times. The site actually aggregates all types of different blogs that offer mp3 into one location. It takes songs that were posted on a selection of about 1,500 different music blogs and it lists them on the main page of the site. After listening to a song, you can click on a button that says you “love“ it, and at the end of the week, the site will show its popular list that shows which songs received the most “love“ that week from users. There is also a Listening History section, which allows users to see what songs their friends have recently listened to as well. Also, above every song you will find links to online music retailers from which you can purchase the track. The site operates thanks to the commissions it receives from these sales. If you are someone who loves staying on top of all of the latest trends in music and you are interested in what critics and fans are enjoying the most currently, then this is the site for you.

Grooveshark

Grooveshark gained most of its popularity because of it’s large library of music and its great playlists. On this site, you can build playlists of songs you want to hear, and stream them all in the order you want to hear them. It is great for parties when you want to make a playlist of great songs, but you don’t want to take out your CDs or download every song individually just to play it. However, one of the other notable features of Grooveshark is its recommendation system called “Grooveshark Radio.,“ which finds songs that are similar to the ones that you are listening to and then queues them for playback. There is a happy face and a sad face next to each of these songs and the user can tell the recommendation system whether they liked the song that was recommended after hearing it. There is also a great Twitter-esque follow function at Grooveshark that lets you follow what others are listening to and share song with your friends easily.

Forums and Message Boards

No matter what kind of music you enjoy, there are found to be dozens, if not hundreds, of forums and discussion boards where people with similar tastes hang out daily and discuss music. Chances are, you will probably be able to find local message boards for any type of music you like as well, no matter what country you live in. Message boards are fun because they are highly interactive and also very helpful. You can discuss topics with people in real time and you can hear various opinions on any specific band or album from a large group of people who still represent one community. If you are interested in hearing a variety of opinions because taking the plunge and buying an album, then forums and message boards are the places to be. Once you have spent some time as a new member observing the discussions, feel free to join and give your opinions on bands and artists you are familiar with. Forums and message boards are also great places to ask for recommendations based on music you already like. Once you have spent some time on a certain message board and you are familiar with the personalities that post there, you will know who the experts are on certain topics, and who the people are on the board who have the most in common with you as far as musical tastes are concerned. Once you have located these people who share similar tastes with you and are clearly well-informed, checking out albums and artists they are excited about is usually a great way to find out about new music that might be right up your alley.

How to Optimize Images for the Web with Adobe Photoshop

June 9, 2011 Images

What do people mean when they say that images have been optimized for the web? The basic principle of optimization, as far as images are concerned, is to have the images look good while also loading quickly at the same time. You want your images to be small and able to load fast when someone enters your site, but still, you want them to be high-quality pictures that look sharp and detailed.

One of the most common mistakes people make is that they decrease the size of the image within their website creation program, not in an image editing program like Adobe Photoshop. You know this is the case when the page is mostly text with only a couple of pictures, but it still takes a long time to load. In order to have a successful website, it is vital for it to be able to load quickly, regardless of how much content is being displayed on it.

When you are resizing your image in a website creation program, you are not decreasing the file size of the image, just the scale of the image being displayed on the website. When you decrease the size of the image in the website creation program, what you are basically doing is that you are telling the browser to rescale the image while it is loading the page, which is additional and completely unnecessary work for the browser to be doing. So, even though it appears to be really small once the page has finally loaded, the actual file size of the image remains the same.

What you really need to do is to first resize the image in an image creation and editing program like Adobe Photoshop, where you will actually be changing the file size of the image before uploading it to your website. This is actually a quick and easy process and you don’t have to be a professional web designer or a Photoshop ace to do it.

There are dozens of different ways to resize images while keeping them clear and detailed, but let’s just look at the most simple and effective one for starters.

Using Adobe Photoshop’s “Save For Web“ feature

The two most common image formats that are used on the web are JPEG and GIF. Let’s see what each format is about.

JPEG

The JPEG is used most commonly when the image is a photograph, because it is able to represent images that use millions of colors and preserve the variations of continuous-tone images.

GIF

The GIF format works best when when compressing solid-color images and images with repetitive colors. This format is used most with logos, illustrations, line art and fonts, things of that nature.

Optimizing Images in 4 Easy Steps

Novices who are not that familiar with Adobe Photoshop might not know about the “Save For Web“ option, which makes optimizing an image for the web a lot easier than when you are saving images in Photoshop with the regular “Save As“ command.

The “Save For Web and Devices“ command and accompanying dialogue box makes it very easy for you to compare the original image and the compressed alternatives you have to choose from when you are resizing your images. Here’s what you do.

1. Open your image in Adobe Photoshop and then choose File > Save For Web And Devices.

2. When the dialogue box appears, click on the 4-Up tab. On the Preset drop-down menu, choose the file format you want, whether it is JPEG or GIF. In the upper left preview, you can see the original image. Photoshop automatically renders three alternatives to your current image, there is a high, medium and low-quality alternative available for both JPEGs and GIFs. Under each of the preview windows, you will be able to see the file size, the quality of the image, and how long the image will take to load on a given modem speed.

3. This is the part where you fool around with the options a little. Try out all of the alternatives and see what  they look like. See how the quality of the image corresponds to the file size of the image and then use your eye to make a decision and pick what you believe would be optimal for your website. The goal is to have the best possible image quality in the smallest possible file size.

4. When you have made your decision and you are happy with both the size of the file and the quality of the image, click Save and give the file a name. It’s as simple as that.


The JavaScript Toolbox

October 20, 2009 Online Tools
JavaScript is one of the most versatile scripting languages used on the web. So it isn’t surprising that many developers, who are interested in web design, are trying to learn it. If you’re one of them, then keep reading. Below, we’ve put together a list of the handy tools and resources that allow you to create, design, and customize your website using JavaScript. With these resources, you can easily enjoy the full functionality and great design of JavaScript.

TOOLS ANS UTILITIES

1) Minimee

Minimee can help you will CSS and JavaScript files for automatic minimization, combining and caching CSS and JS files.

2) DoctorJS

DoctorJS is a great tool for analyzing your script code.

3) MicroJS

MicroJS provides JavaScript code snippet for most common tasks

4) Diva.js

Diva.js (Document Image Viewer with AJAX) is a Javascript frontend for viewing documents, designed to work with digital libraries to present multi-page documents as a single, continuous item.
An extremely easy ti use boorkmaklet generator.

6) TestSwarm

TestSwarm is an open source project by Mozilla Labs which simplifies and shortens the process of running JavaScript test suites in multiple browsers.

7) JSConsole

This is an online console tool, for testing JavaScript, debugging and presentation.
A great tool for creating Javascript libraries.

9) JQapi

jQuery help, a great documentation tool.

10) Heatmap.js

Heatmap.js is a JavaScript library that can be used to generate web heatmaps with the html5canvas element based on your data.

11) Respond.js

Respond.js is a small script that allow you to use CSS3 media queries on browsers that do not support it yet

12) JsDoc Toolkit

 

JsDoc Toolkit is an application, for automatically generating template-formatted, multi-page HTML (or XML, JSON, or any other text-based) documentation from commented JavaScript source code.

13) Modernizr

Modernizr Modernizr is an open-source JavaScript library that helps you build the next generation of HTML5 and CSS3-powered websites.

14) Yepnope.js

Yepnope is an asynchronous conditional resource loader.

15) Jasmine

 

Jasmine is a very useful framework for testing Javascript code.
ObfuscateJS is a tool for compression of Javascript files.

17) PegJS

PEG.js is a simple parser generator for JavaScript that produces fast parsers with excellent error reporting.

18) JSONView

JSONView is a Firefox extension that helps you view JSON documents in the browser.

19) JSonduit

JSonduit is a service that converts web page content into a JSON feed that any website or mobile app can consume.

20) jsPlumb

jsPlumb provides a means for a developer to visually connect elements on their web pages.

21) Helma

Helma is a server-side Javascript environment and web application framework for fast and efficient scripting and serving of your websites and Internet applications.
HTML5 JSON Report format to view any JSON data in a human-readable HTML view
The editor can help you edit JSON strings.
Ligature.js will go through the text on a web-page, and insert ligatures where appropriate.

25) FitText

FitText makes font-sizes flexible.
SyntaxHighlighter is a fully functional self-contained code syntax highlighter developed in JavaScript.
Js-test-driver is a remote javascript console.

28) jsPerf

jsPerf aims to provide an easy way to create and share test cases, comparing the performance of different JavaScript snippets by running benchmarks.
Jsbeautifier is a tool for beautifying javascript code.

WEBSITES AND RESOURCES

 

As its title implies, this is a website that teaches programmers how to effectively read and code in JavaScript.

31) Devguru

A very helpful tool that defines all terms found in JavaScript and then provides code samples of what the code does.
Here’s a list of JavaScript objects, its methods, and properties. You can also find helpful examples that lets you see what it does.

33) WebAIM

Here’s a good reference point with tips on how to make your JavaScript accessible to all users.
Among programmers, w3schools.com is a renowned resource. Everything you need to know about JavaScript can be seen here.
A handy list of 100 Javascript tutorials.

36)Dzone

Look no further than JavaLobby if you’re looking to join a community that offers Java-related advice, tip, and stories.

37) Javascript

This site features a ton of resources that are related to JavaScript. If you’re looking to solve any Java-related issue, be sure to check out this site.
Aside from its extensive section about JavaScript, WebDeveloper.com also provides a variety of resources on other programming language.

39) AjaxDaddy

Ajax Daddy is a site that definitely should be appreciated. Containing a large number of Web 2.0 demos, it’s helpful to all programmers.

40) JSON

JSON is a data-interchange format that’s easy for both humans and machines to understand. It’s also built on two structures including a collection of name/value pairs and an ordered list of values.
MDN is an excellent resouce for both beginners and advanced programmers.
Eloquent JavaScript is a book providing an introduction to the JavaScript programming language and programming in general.

43) JSFiddle

JSFiddle is a great tool for collaborative debugging.
Amazing JavaScript video tutorials.
How to Node is a community supported blog about Node.js
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