Josh Woodward – “Chainsaw”
May 17, 2010
I first heard this darkly comic folk song by Josh Woodward on the Radio Free Oz podcast hosted by one-half of the legendary Firesign Theatre, Peter Bergman and David Ossman. The sweet beauty of Woodward’s guitar makes a sharp contrast with the twisted lyrics. You can download 150 free MP3s as well as purchase his CDs here. Support this talented singer-songwriter, you won’t regret it.
6 Critical WordPress Plugins You Should Have Installed from Six Revisions
May 12, 2010
If you develop for the web you likely already know about 6 Revisions. Here’s their list of 6 essential WordPress plugins:
- WP SuperCache
- Akismet
- WP-SpamFree
- Google XML Sitemaps Generator
- All in One SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- WP-PageNavi
To learn about their functionality and why you should install them NOW, go to the complete article here.
131 FREE Web 2.0 Photoshop Layer Styles from Dezinerfolio
May 10, 2010
Photoshop is an essential part of every web designers tool kit. And if you’re proficient in PS, you know that layer styles are akin to Paragraph and Character styles in InDesign and QuarkXPress: the fast way to apply consistent effects.
Now Deziner Folio has made it even easier for you (and what’s better than easy, right?). They’ve put together 131 free PS Layer Styles that install in a snap. You read that right: 131 FREE layer styles. Free and Easy. Two of my favorite things. Grab them here.
Design Inspiration: Over 500,000 Vintage Ads and Vintage Covers FREE!
May 5, 2010
The web has always been full of resources to help inspire good design, but never more so than presently. I’ve just come across two sister sites that are great for inspiration: a collection of over 100,000 vintage print ads and 450,000 plus covers from books, magazine and comic books.
So if you’re stuck for a new angle of approach for your current design project, or you just want to stroll through a digital history of ads and covers from the past Vintage Ad Browser and Cover Browser are your portals to over a half million designs at a price every designer can afford: FREE!
20 Resources for Website Templates from Smashing Downloads
April 26, 2010
Smashing Downloads offers these 20 sites for downloading a great variety of website templates, here. These are all free and can be adapted and changed to suit your needs, depending upon your knowledge of HTML and CSS.
For 13 collections of premium-quality WordPress themes selected by Smashing Downloads, go here.
Amazing new images of the Sun from NASA on CNET
April 23, 2010
Here’s a series of stunning new images on CNET of the Sun, paid for by your tax dollars and taken by NASA‘s SDO, or Solar Dynamic Observatory.
The SDO was launched on February 11, 2010 and is just beginning its five year mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before. Now where have I heard that before. . .?
Above is an an extreme ultraviolet, false-color image of the Sun taken on March 30. The colors indicate different gas temperatures. Reds are cool (about 60,000 Kelvin, or 107,540 degrees Fahrenheit) and the blue green end of the spectrum is hot (at more than 1 million Kelvin, or 1,799,540 degrees Fahrenheit).
20,800 FREE Online Training Videos from VTC
April 20, 2010
By now Lynda.com has established itself as one of the premiere online sites for video training and tutorials. But they are not alone in this space. VTC Online & CD Computer Software Tutorials offers training in everything from Animation & 3D to Game Design & Development to Networking & Security.
The great thing about VTC is that they have over 20,000 FREE tutorials for you to check out. So if you’re looking to brush up on your skills or want to explore some new software prior to purchase, this a great site to explore.
55 High Resolution Photoshop Brushes from Colorburned
April 14, 2010
I love getting new brushes, layer styles and actions for Photoshop. The good folks over at Colorburned offer a selection of 15 high resolution PS brushes for creating moldy paper effects, here. Then, in a burst of generosity they throw in 40 high resolution ‘streak of light’ effect brushes here.
Readability – Make Reading Content on the Web Better, Easier
March 30, 2010
The web is a great place for gathering information and doing research. I find though, that reading big chunks of content on screen leads quickly to eye fatigue. So often I’ll copy and paste the text of say, a New York Times article into a Word document and then print it out to read away from my computer. This isn’t a very ‘green’ way of consuming prose.
Now there’s another option: Readability from arc90 Labs. You just drag the icon from their web page on to the top of your web browser and it installs a bookmarklet. Then when you come across an article or post you want to read, just click on the Readability bookmark and it places your text on a white background with several configurable options.
You can change the style of presentation (newspaper, novel, eBook and more); the size of the text (extra small, small, medium, large, extra large) and the margins (extra narrow, narrow, medium, wide and extra wide).
Once you start using it you wonder how you ever did without it. And I think you’ll find that, like me, you’re printing out less and reading more — comfortably — online, on screen.
Neil Patel, a Technorati Top 100 Blooger: What I Learned Through 4 Site Redesigns
March 23, 2010
Neil Patel, founder of two Internet companies, Crazy Egg and KISSMetrics writes about what he’s learned through 4 redesigns of his site Quicksprout.
He’s intelligent and articulate and what he says has broad application for anyone presenting themselves or their business online. Read the Top Ten things he’s learned here.