MediaGirl Toolbox

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Browser Shots

Browsershots makes screenshots of your web design in different browsers. It is a free open-source online service created by Johann C. Rocholl. When you submit your web address, it will be added to the job queue. A number of distributed computers will open your website in their browser. Then they will make screenshots and upload them to the central server here. The best part is it's free!



If you need a little more robust browser screenshot tool, check out BrowserCam. If you want to try it out, they offer a 24 hour test whereby you can use the service and take u pto 200 screenshots. BrowserCam offers three services: The screen capture service, the remote access service and their newest service called DeviceCam which captures and displays your site in up to 3 PDA formats.

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Friday, March 2, 2007

Typetester

Typetester is an online application for comparing web fonts and it's the newest addition to my tool list.

Typetester has a great interface, is very easy to use and allows you to compare different fonts using your own copy or their default "Lorem ipsum dolor" copy. To get started, you select the fonts your want to compare (up to three). Then you can set css preferences for size, leading, tracking, alignment, word spacing, decoration, color and background color.

This is one of those tools that really does make a web designer’s life easier... so be quick to bookmark it!

Here's a screenshot of the main page:

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Monday, February 26, 2007

Project Management

Someone recently posted this list of project management tool to an email list that I'm on. I haven't used any of the tools so don't have much to add but it will give you a starting place if you are needing a project management software.

Project Management Tools

3f Project Management
Web based systems for online project management available either as a hosted solution or for self hosting.

Achievo
Achievo is a flexible web-based free project management tool for small to medium businesses. The Achievo software is open source, and built to be fully adjustable to company requirements.

Basecamp
Web based systems for online project management.

GoPlan
Web based online project management. Manage multiple projects with Goplan's intuitive user interface. All projects are accessible from your dashboard, next to your tasks, issues and calendar events.

Celoxis
Celoxis is a web based project management software which includes a complete management, tracking and collaboration platform. Celoxis is available either as a hosted solution or for self hosting.

Copper
Copper is a web-based project management software solution designed to help organizations collaborate and manage client information, projects, tasks, files, contacts and calendars.

Dovico
Easily manage time and expenses through this web based (Installed or Hosted Online) solution.

Easy Project
Web based project management, task tracking and project collaboration software system.

Elemen Tool
Elementool is a provider of web based project management tools for help desk, bug and defect tracking and time tracking tools.

eProject
Project Management Software & Web Based Project Tracking Tools

Project Perfect
Project Administrator is is a project management software tool that covers all the areas of Project Management that Microsoft Project doesn't. In other words, it covers everything except the schedule. It is not meant to compete with Microsoft Project or project tracking software. It complements and integrates with a scheduling tool such as Microsoft Project.

Same-Page eStudio
Same-Page eStudio provides software for project management, document management, online calendars and contact management that improves workflow and enhances communication between workgroups and clients.

Vertabase
Vertabase Pro features include advanced resource planning, project tracking, time tracking, project dashboards and comprehensive document management.

Wrike
A web-based collaboration tool for task management and project manangement.

QuickBase
QuickBase is a scalable, Web-based project management software from Intuit.

Lighthouse Pro
Lighthouse Pro is a complete Software Development Management (SDM) system which brings togetherall of the tools used to manage software projects in a web-based interface. Their Pro version is free

OpenDen Project Management Software List
A detailed list of open source project management software

DotProject
An open source project management tool.

activeCollab
activeCollab is an easy to use, web based, open source collaboration and project management tool.

15 Comments | Post a comment | Filed Under: Freelance, Tools

Monday, February 19, 2007

Text Link Ads

If you have a website on which you run Google ads, I would recommend taking a look at Text Link Ads as an alternative or a complimentary service.

Text Link Ads is essentially a text link broker. They connect high quality websites with folks who want to buy text links. The main criteria for being accepted by Text Link Ads as a publisher seems to be your page's Google PageRank. PageRank is one of the methods Google uses to determine a page's relevance or importance. If you don't know your Google PageRank, check it here. PageRank is listed from 0-10 with 10 being the highest. I'm not sure what your PageRank needs to be in order to be accepted by Text Link Ads, but the higher it is, the more likely they will accept your site.

After your site gets accepted, you will install a small bit of code into your website which will server up the ads. Next, Text Link Ads will begin selling the links on a monthly basis. You can choose to approve or deny any Text Link Ads sold prior to the links being published on your website. You receive 50% of the sale price for each text link ad sold off your website. Pretty easy.

Text Link Ads looks at a number of factors when determining the sale price for the text links on your site. A summary of these criteria is listed below:

Traffic of your website - the lower the Alexa ranking, the higher the price.

Link popularity of your website – the more links (and more quality links), the higher the price.

Theme of your website - there is more demand for some themes than others.

Number of links to be sold – the fewer the number of links on a page, the higher the price.

Sitewide or single page placement – “sitewide” vs. on a single page of your website (slightly more value given to links that appear sitewide).

Location on the page - more value when the links are placed in an area where they have the best chance of being clicked.

Here is a general idea of what the ads look like implemented into a website.

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Friday, February 16, 2007

FaxIt Nice

If you're like me, you need fax service sometimes but not all the time... so you don't want to pay someone a monthly fee for a service you may not use.

That's how I found FaxIt Nice. The site lets you send faxes two ways... You can either pay as you go and fax up to 5 pages within the USA for $4.99 without setting up an account. Or you can set up an account and buy FaxIt credits in increments of $20. That gets your per page cost down to 18¢ in the USA. Not too shabby if you just need to fax every once in awhile.

You can also receive faxes with FaxIt Nice. The faxes are delivered via email and they also keep a record of them for you to view online.

0 Comments | Post a comment | Filed Under: Tools