Archive for July, 2010
Now Easily Manage Your Portable Apps With CodySafe
It would be extremely convenient if you could carry around your most needed computer programs in a flash drive. You could always use your favorite text editor, always use your favorite browser, always use all your favorite programs. For computer troubleshooters in particular, the programs-on-flash-drive solution is heaven-sent. CodySafe Free offers its users exactly that – portable applications which can be carried on your flash drive.
CodySafe is a simple to use program that can be installed on any flash drive or removable media. The installer is only 2.1 MB large and installs directly to your flash drive.
After installing the program on your flash drive, whenever you insert your drive in a computer you can open up CodySafe’s shortcut in the drive to present a view a like this:
From this panel you can choose which part of CodySafe you want to access. Applications Manager is where you will find all the portable apps.
The list of applications spans a wide variety of program types including image editors, browsers, documents readers, and others. Still if you feel like something is lacking, you can always add new applications yourself in a few easy steps.
The program’s settings allow you to set interface options such as enabling sounds, showing all programs by default, starting the program minimized, and sorting the applications.
CodySafe also features multilanguage support to ensure that the program caters to a wide audience.
CodySafe Free is a must-have application for all flash drive owners. You can get the program from HERE.
10 Collaborative Brainstorming Web Apps When You Work As A Group
The internet has recently seen a lot of progress in the field of online collaboration. When we are working on a project as a group and group members have to work remotely, online collaboration becomes a wonderful way to bridge the physical gap.
Below you will find 10 websites which I feel are great for brainstorming and working as a group. Check each one out and see which one suits your group project best.
1. Zoho
Zoho is the name for a collection of services. The entries you see in the image above are only few of what Zoho has to offer. We can sign up for an account and use Zoho’s services to easily gather ideas and create plus modify files / documents / images / presentations as a group. Click here to visit Zoho.
2. Mind42
Mind42 is free to use website that lets us brainstorm individually or as a group. We can create an account and record our ideas through simple mind maps. Mind maps can be group brainstorming a lot more effective because they save time when it comes to filtering our ideas. Click here to visit Mind42.
3. Imagination Cubed
Imagination Cubed is a very simple to use website that facilitates group drawing. We are provided a canvas on which we can draw with a red virtual pen. We can insert various shapes and text, draw straight lines, and change the canvas’s color. Our pen’s motion is also recorded and a “replay” button shows us exactly the motion our pen followed. We can invite our friends to our canvas via their email address. Once they join in we can draw simultaneously on the same canvas. Click here to visit Imagination Cubed.
4. Edistorm
Edistorm is a website that lets us add notes to a very large canvas. We can move around notes to prioritize them and sort our ideas. Under the free account we can create public and self brainstorming sessions. For a fee we can create private brainstorming sessions which let us share our canvas with users we invite only. Our invited users can view our canvas and add notes to it as well. Click here to visit Edistorm.
5. WiseMapping
WiseMapping is another website that lets users create mind maps as a group. The interface is user friendly and saves users’ time in figuring out the controls. We can embed ready mind maps in any website. Through WiseMapping we can also save our mind maps as image files or PDF documents. Click here to visit WiseMapping.
6. Think
Think is an online tool that lets users create interlinked mind maps. We can link one node of our map to many nodes and then shift them around as we see fit. The simplicity of use is what makes Think unique. Click here to visit Think.
7. Bubbl.us
Bubbl.us lets users sign up for an account and create mind maps as a group. The mind maps created on the site are colorful and have a variety of colors differentiating map nodes which makes them easier to spot and read. Click here to visit Bubbl.us.
8. Sneffle (Virtual Paper)
Sneffel gives users a whiteboard to draw on. The URL of the whiteboard can be shared with our friends for collaborative drawing. We can embed the whiteboard on our blog or website as well. Click here to visit Sneffel.
9. Glinkr
Glinkr, another online mind map creation tool, is great for online collaboration. We can create colorful mind maps that are easy to read. Plus we can attach additional descriptions and links to our nodes. The interactive interface lets us easily move the nodes of our map. Our maps can be exported to an XML file. Click here to visit Glinkr.
10. Solvr
Solvr is a free to use website that lets us post a problem and then share that URL with our friends whom we want to ask the solution from. This can be helpful when we want to reach a solution as group. The approach is that of an online forum but dedicated to problem solving. Click here to visit Solvr.
TomatoCart: Open Source Shopping Cart Solution
Online shopping websites always have the shopping cart option for their visitors and shoppers. Normally osCommerce is the tool used by developers to form the shopping cart. But now a much better option is available – TomatoCart.
While osCommerce is a highly popular ecommerce solution, it is quite time consuming due to lack code-graphics separation and graphic template system. TomatoCart is a new generation of open source shopping cart solution developed by Elootec Technology.
The service is currently free and will remain so in the future. ExtJS is the framework used by TomatoCart. It also provides users with multi-window environments so that they simultaneously work on several modules. If you are already working on osCommerce, you can use TomatoCart Migration Tool to import osCommerce data of Languages, Categories, Products, to name a few.
Some of the highlights of TomatoCart include:
- RIA based Administration Panel: The Desktop and Mutiwindow environment, as known to all, is efficient.
- Search Engine Optimization: Rich keyword URLs are generated for products, reviews, just to name a few.
- Web Analytics (Piwik): Piwik is integrated into Dashboard to generate detailed reports about visitors to stores.
- Lightweight Framework: TomatoCart, high-performance is not picky of servers. It will do even on php5.1.6.
- Content Management System: Articles, FAQs, Slide images are fully under your control.
- Email System: You can manage your online store while handling emails.
If you are interested in this new shopping cart solution, check it out TomatoCart. A guide on how to use TomatoCart can be gotten here.
Congratulations To The Winners Of Monoslideshow (A Flash® Slideshow To View Your Images And Videos In A Web Page)
Thanks to all of the participants of contest in which you could Take A Chance To Win Monoslideshow Giveaway (A Flash® Slideshow To View Your Images And Videos In A Web Page). We ran the MySql random query and selected these commenter to give them Monoslideshow.
- Lee
- PHOTOlulu
- Yassar
- Daniel Söderström
- Ayaz Malik
- Good Web Deisgn | GWD
- Ronald
- Craig Paterson
- Voras
- Shaun
Monoslideshow is a Flash® slideshow to view your images and videos in a web page. It can be placed on every website, in whatever size you want and filled with whatever content you like. It’s designed for maximum flexibility, whether you want to have a professional looking portfolio, or a simple image rotator on your website.
Monoslideshow is a single .SWF-file. There’s no need to recompile or edit the slideshow in the Flash® IDE. Instead, all Monoslideshow needs is information that is directly read from a .XML-file. It’s compact, extremely versatile and easy for web developers to integrate in existing websites.
You can view your customization live and build your own XML configuration file using the online demo page: www.monoslideshow.com/demo. It has 20+ Professional photo transitions, Ken Burns effect (pan / zoom), Style interface elements to match your design, Easy navigation between photo albums, Fully resizable, fits every layout, Background music and image sounds, API for Javascript and Actionscript 3, Support for EXIF data in photo captions.
Congratulations to all the winners from SmashingApps.Com. All of the winners will be contacted in few days. If you are not winner at this time so please be patient and keep visiting here or subscribe to our rss feed, you can follow us on twitter because we are coming up with another new great contest in couple of days.
Thanks to Monoslideshow for sponsoring this wonderful contest at Smashing Apps.
If you want to conduct any contest at Smashing Apps just contact us and send us all the details.
An Easy Solution To Synchronize Folders In Windows With Bvckup
I use two computer machines – a desktop and a laptop. I run Windows on both. Whenever I create a new file on either machine, I back it up on the other. Many people use this system of manual backup which is quite time consuming. A much better alternative is automatically file synchronization and one of the best programs for this is Bvckup.
Bvckup is a program currently in its beta that works with Windows operating systems. The program has a number of interface and functionality features which set it apart from applications that perform the same auto-synching tasks.
After installing the program you can view it monitor your files from your System Tray.
When you open Bvckup, its window program readjusts to the compact view by default to occupy the minimum space on your desktop.
To enable the backing up a folder, you simple add a new backup job. This means selecting a name / description of the backup and selecting the source plus destination folders.
If there are files in the source folder which you want excluded from the synchronization process, Bvckup lets you specify these files.
You can also choose between scheduled backup or automatic backups whenever Bvckup picks up a change in the source folder. The program detects changes in the source folder by first inspecting changes in the local hard drive area. If no local changes are found, it saves time by not even reading that part of the hard disk thereby eliminating unnecessary spin-ups of idle hard drives. Moreover while backing up files, whenever possible only the modified portion of the file is copied instead of the entire file – this saves time.
A complete backup log is maintained which details all errors that occurred, if any.
In conclusion, Bvckup is a competent and user friendly file backup solution for Windows. You should hurry up in getting it because the program is only free as long as it in beta.
You can get Bvckup from www.bvckup.com
13 Google Chrome Extensions To Simplify Web Designer’s Life
You might have been using Chrome for a quite some time now but there is a good chance you are not taking its full advantage. Chrome’s maximum potential lies in the power of its extensions. Below We have gathered 13 Chrome extensions that will enable you all to realize Chrome’s full potential if you are a web design expert. You will not find these extensions in similar lists on other websites; I hope you find them to be useful to your computer usage.
Give the list a thorough reading, try out any extension you are interested in, and let me know in the comments how they worked out for you. You are welcome to share if you know more useful chrome extension which our readers/viewers may like. Do you want to be the first one to know the latest happenings at SmashingApps.com just subscribe to our rss feed and you can follow us on twitter.
Speed Tracer
Speed Tracer is a tool to help you identify and fix performance problems in your web applications. It visualizes metrics that are taken from low level instrumentation points inside of the browser and analyzes them as your application runs. Speed Tracer is available as a Chrome extension and works on all platforms where extensions are currently supported (Windows and Linux).
Chrome Editor
With this extension, you can edit HTML easily, right inside your browser. You also have the ability to save a code reference for later use. It saves it to your computer locally.
Resolution Test
Resolution Test changes the size of the browser window for developers to preview their websites in different screen resolutions. It includes a list of commonly used resolutions as well as a custom option for you to input your own.
Web Developer
The Web Developer extension adds a toolbar button to the browser with various web developer tools. It is designed for Google Chrome and will run on any platform that these browsers support including Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
BuiltWith
BuiltWith is a web site profiler tool. Upon looking up a page, BuiltWith returns all the technologies it can find on the page. BuiltWith’s goal is to help developers, researchers and designers find out what technologies pages are using which may help them to decide what technologies to implement themselves. The BuiltWith Chrome Extension lets you find out what a website is built with by a simple click on the builtwith icon.
MultiSwitch
Whenever you have the need to simply switch between development, test and productive hosts you should use MultiSwitch. You are now able to customize the title of your environment.
Inline Code Finder
Inline Code Finder is a tool to traverse through all elements in a web page, and when it finds a HTML element with any of these, it will highlight them: Inline JavaScript events, Inline style, javascript: links.
IE Tab
Some sites can only be displayed using IE, and with this extension you can now see those sites without leaving Chrome. Great for web developers who want to test the IE rendering engine, users who use sites with ActiveX controls, and users who want to use the explorer view for local files
PlainClothes
This extension styles — or rather “unstyles” — the web. Just imagine: text is black, backgrounds are white, unread links are blue, visited links are purple, all links are underlined. Or any other colors you like. And all text is rendered in your default fonts (as defined in “Options” > “Under the Hood” > “Change font and language settings”). Everywhere. Automatically. You can control the extent of the “unstyling” via the Options window (“Extensions” > “PlainClothes” > “Options”), and you can toggle the “unstyling” on a per-site basis by clicking the icon in the location bar.
CSSViewer
CSSViewer shows the css parameters of any element in a web page, to enable/disable
it simply click the toolbar icon.
Aviary Screen Capture
This quick screen capture addon is a must-have for designers. It will perform a screen capture of the visible portion of any webpage and then open the capture INSTANTLY in a basic image editor where you can do markup (draw arrows and rectangles), edit (crop, rotate and resize) and get the exact pixel colors of the image. A perfect companion tool for designers.
Lorem Ipsum Generator
Chrome Extension that generates random “Lorem Ipsum” text. It uses a minimalist and well looking design. Many other extensions of this type – in other browsers – simply complicate this task, using really extensive code, XHR, etc. The main purpose of this one, is to use the less amount of code (and also memory) and help the developer/user to get the job done.
JavaScript tester
This extension adds a small & usefull shortcut to your browser “Alt+J”. To run and test pefromance of JavaScript code. When you press “Alt+J”, new textarea is added to the bottom of the current page. In this textarea you can write your JS code and press “Ctrl+Enter”, to run the code.
7 Powerful Tools To Get Maps And Directions Online
Online maps help us get directions to places we want to go. They also help us discover new places in the area we live. Some website even let us tag certain locations with notes which can be shared with friends and family, forming a travelogue.
If you are looking for such a tool to get maps and directions, then give my list below a read. You will find that each entry is unique and useful. See which one will suit you best.
You are welcome if you want to share moreTools To Get Maps And Directions Online that our readers/viewers may like. Do you want to be the first one to know the latest happenings at smashingApps.com just subscribe to our rss feed and you can follow us on twitter.
1. Mappy Friends
Mappy Friends lets visitors sign up with their Facebook or Twitter account. They can then view a map of the entire world and mark the locations they have been to. While marking the places they have visited, users can add notes with to a city or even a specific place in that city. Our Facebook and Twitter friends can view our visited locations and notes and we can view theirs. The result is a big map of directions which we can use anytime we want to travel to a new place next. Visit Mappy Friends.
2. Where I’ve Been
Where I’ve Been is another free website that lets us share our travels with our friends. In a manner similar to Mappy Friends, we can mark our visited locations on a map and then share it with our friends. Visit Where I’ve Been.
3. UMapper
UMapper is a online service currently in its beta. The website lets us create route maps. These maps are similar to the ones we can purchase from gas stations. The difference is that we can highlight the routes on our virtual map. For example if we have a house in the country and want to give our friends the exact directions, we can draw them on a map and share it with them. Visit UMapper.
4. Assemble
Assemble is an iPhone application that gathers information on our current location and conveys it to our friends. In order to use Assemble we first need to create an account on its site and then add our friends. Our location is sent to them via a short message. Visit Assemble’s website or get the Assemble app from the App Store.
5. Dear Map
Dear Map is another website in my list which offers a map sharing method. In Dear Map we create new maps from existing ones. We can add icons on our map and tour it with Google Earth. The map is then assigned a URL which can be shared with anyone we want. Visit Dear Map.
6. Simple Guide Tool
For people who need help in finding location on a map, Simple Guide Tool can be very helpful. The map used us extracted from Google Maps. A chat room is created by the user where he / she can invite other people. Other users see the same area of the map as being viewed by the user. This helps the user explain exactly (by combining the map image with textual chat) which location is being referred to. Visit Simple Guide Tool.
7. MapAList
MapAList is a unique address-mapping website. We can use it to pull up a list of addresses from a spreadsheet in Google Docs; the addresses are then mapped onto Google Maps. We can also modify addresses later and have them automatically synced on our map. To do all this we first need to allow MapAList access to our Google Docs account which is an easy procedure. Visit MapAList.
Looking For An Online Media Player? Give Moof A Try
How disappointed are you when you search for a song in your media player’s library and do not find it? Thankfully there is a solution to that – online media players. With an online media player, your media library is composed of all songs available on the web. You will almost always find the songs you are looking for.
If you are looking for an online media player, give Moof a try.
Like in most other online media players, you can easily search for any song on Moof. You start using Moof by creating an account on the site.
Once you create and login with your account, the player will load up within the browser.
You can search for songs using the search bar in the top right. If the song’s video is found on YouTube, a small video will be displayed in the bottom left. You can add any song to your Moof library to play it quickly next time you want to hear it.
Additional features of Mood include copying your iTunes library and listening to the songs in your iTunes library.
Overall, Moof is one of the more innovative online media players out there. It also provides a considerable level of integration with iTunes which many users will appreciate.
Check out Moof
Pencil Sketches That Make You Say ‘Wow’
To boost up your inspiration and creativity, here we come with this amazing post on Pencil Illustration. This post contains the best examples of pencil Illustrations created by skilled professionals. These artists make use of their creativity and skills to create such masterpieces of artwork. We hope that the listed illustrations will also help you to create some remarkable drawings. If you like this post, feel free to share it with your pals.
You are welcome if you want to share more Pencil Sketches For Creative Inspiration that our readers/viewers may like. Do you want to be the first one to know the latest happenings at SmashingApps.com just subscribe to our rss feed and you can follow us on twitter as well. Click on the images to go from where the images has been taken.
Shannon Elizabeth Illustration
Ben Barnes – Prince Caspian W2
Envolve: Facebook Style Chat For Your Website Visitors
Getting your site’s visitors to interact with one another can have many benefits. Site visitors will talk to one another and develop a site community which discusses site changes and lets you know what is going good and what needs improvement.
One way to enable visitor interaction is by providing online instant messaging features. Envolve does exactly that for your site.
Envolve introduces Facebook-like chat to your website. Through the insertion of a few lines of code, you will easily get a chat interface in the bottom right of your site like the one displayed in the image above.
I was pleasantly surprised to see how easy Envolve had made its usage for webmasters. The first step is to click the big green button you will see on the site’s homepage. The button says “Install it on my site.”
The next step is to enter you site’s URL and name.
After providing your name and email address, you select your site’s platform. You can choose a simple HTML based site or any one of WordPress, Blogger, or TypePad.
Each site type is basically a tab. Clicking on any tab will generate the corresponding code beneath.
In the case of HTML, the code appears as:
Clicking on any tab / site platform, will also display a short passage of instructions explaining where to use the generated code. You can see the HTML instructions and code in the images above. Clicking on the WordPress tab will display a view like this:
Like mentioned earlier, Envolve makes its usage very user friendly for site runners and blog owners. Whether you are running a massive site or a private blog, Envolve can help you in getting your audience to talk to one another. Check out Envolve.
