Archive for January, 2008



Host your own images sans database with DAlbum


h1 Friday, January 11th, 2008

screenshot of DAlbum

Found yourself in need of sharing images in the Internet? Before you go and spend a dime on commercial image album software, or waste hours uploading images one by one on third party sites, you might want to try DAlbum.

DAlbum is a free PHP photo album that lets you host your own images. Small and easy to install, DAlbum requires minimal knowledge in PHP manipulation, as the software is almost good out of the box. Just copy the files to your web server, follow the instructions, and you are ready to upload your images. The best news is that there is no need for any database to take advantage of DAlbum.

To share an image, upload it to a directory under DAlbum and click ‘Reindex’ in your web page. Once done with the reindexing, the images are now available for viewing. Though the software doesn’t have a lot of visual customization available, you may change the color scheme and the layout to a certain degree. Available are four pre-set color schemes you can immediately use. A bonus pack is also available for download to include slide show, video and other features in your DAlbum page.

DAlbum requires a web server with PHP 4.1 and Apache 1.3 installed.

Go to DAlbum

Get Your Shop Online with Zen Cart


h1 Thursday, January 10th, 2008

screenshot of Zen Cart

With the Internet fast becoming a large marketplace, entrepreneurs are quick to jump in to this new venue for business. However, one of the first stumbling blocks they often encounter is how to sell their wares. With Zen Cart, you get to overcome that hurdle easily.

Zen Cart is a PHP shopping cart system that lets you put up your wares and sell them on the Internet. Best of all, it is available for free. Downloaded as a compressed file, you just extract the contents on your web server and run the built in install script. Details of your MySQL are also needed during installation. Once done with the installation, you can add the different products you'll be selling. Zen Cart is powerful software, with many different options to choose from. Also available for downloads are community contributed additions which extend the usability of Zen Cart. Documentation seems to be the weakest area of Zen Cart. Being free of charge, the documentation is quite meager, dealing with the basics alone. If you are looking for a fast, easy to install, and cheap shopping cart system for your budding business, Zen Cart is just a click away.

Zen Cart requires a web server with PHP 4.3 or later installed and MySQL 4.1 or 5.0.

Go to Zen Cart

Scheduling made easy with Google Calendar


h1 Wednesday, January 9th, 2008

screenshot of Google Calendar

Organizing your schedules can be a pain at times. Nevertheless, hiring a personal secretary to do it isn't the only option. There's a free utility available for the job. Google Calendar lets you remember all the personal and business events such as anniversaries, birthdays, parties, deadlines and appointments. Try it for yourself, it will surely change your lifestyle.

Google Calendar is user friendly. If you know how to use the computer, you can use this tool. You can easily add events and invites in it. Plus, you can search the web for events that you might like and add them in your calendar. It lets you send out event invitations to your friends and track the responses. You can also share your calendar with family and friends. They can see your agenda and could easily know if you are free or not for that particular day. You can make a calendar for your design team and share it with your members. Now everyone won't forget a deadline. You can even configure it to send out reminders straight to your mobile phone.

With Google Calendar, handling your daily schedule will be a piece of cake. The site layout is simple and navigation is effortless.

Google Calendar is an online shareable calendar service offered free for those with a Google account. It runs on Mozilla Firefox 1.0.7, Microsoft IE 6.0 and Safari 2.0.3. JavaScript and cookies must be enabled in all browsers.

Go to Google Calendar

Flash Charts Made Easy with Fusion Charts Free


h1 Tuesday, January 8th, 2008

screenshot of Fusion Charts Free

Charts can be powerful if you want to drive a point home. However, charts are often dull, and only a few bother to look at them. Don't you wish you could make eye-catching animated charts alá Flash? Well, that's exactly what Fusion Charts does - free, quick, and painless.

Fusion Charts Free is a flash-charting component designed to make Flash charts for presentations. Knowledge in Macromedia Flash animation isn't a prerequisite in using this software. You don't even need to know anything about action scripts. All you need to know is the language you're embedding the chart in. Using XML as its data interface, Fusion Charts Free creates solid, interactive and visually impressive charts. Fusion Charts turns those boring data in animated charts.

Fusion Charts Free is so easy to use. All you need to do is to download the zip file from the site. No installation is involved. Just copy paste the SWF file of the chart of your choice to your server, just like what you do with your image files, and you're all set. Then you have to convert your data into XML and your chart is ready. All charts are rendered on the client side, which reduces the load on your own servers.

Fusion Charts Free can be used in PHP, Python, ASP, ASP.NET, JSP, Ruby on Rails, simple HTML pages and even in PowerPoint presentations. To view your charts, your users must have Adobe Flash 6 or higher.

Go to Fusion Charts Free

Pop Goes your Video with Free Vlog's Video Pop-Up Maker


h1 Monday, January 7th, 2008

screenshot of Video Pop-Up Maker

Have you ever wondered how they make videos play in a pop up window? Do you wish you could do the same with your videos? Wonder no more; Free Vlog has something for you. They made coding easy for vloggers.

Free Vlog's Video Pop-Up Maker is a good thing for vloggers with no knowledge of JavaScript. It will generate a code that would embed your video in a pop up HTML page. All you need to do is to input your video's URL and its title. A screen capture of the video is also required. Even without saying the magic words, your code is automatically generated as you type in the data. It's that easy. A preview window is provided to let you see how it'll look like. The next step is for you to copy and paste it to your vlog post.

The Pop-Up Maker will also make sure your QuickTime and Windows Media videos will work correctly in Internet Explorer. QuickTime movies will play right away instead of waiting for a few minutes before starting. IE users won't need to activate ActiveX every time they watch a video. So what are you waiting for? Try the Pop-Up Maker for yourself.

Free Vlog's Video Pop-Up Maker works on all browsers. If you have your own server, you can download and install it on it. Basic cut and paste skills are required.

Go to Video Pop-Up Maker

Brusheezy.com makes looking for brushes easy.


h1 Friday, January 4th, 2008

screenshot of Brusheezy

Ever had a problem executing a design because you lacked the proper brush for it? Say goodbye to your design frustrations with Brusheezy. It's a site that's got all your brush and pattern needs under one roof. Brusheezy is truly a graphic artist's dream.

Graphic artists won't waste their time hunting for brushes and patterns anymore. With Brusheezy's goal of becoming the main source of Photoshop brushes, you can be rest assured that they will deliver on their promise. The web site has amassed around 300 brushes to date and its number is still growing. It lets users submit brushes and patterns and it updates daily so you get fresh brushes every day. With its vast array of brushes to choose from, you'll surely find the right brush for your every need. It is community driven letting the users rate and comment on each brush. This feature makes sure that only the best brushes are included in its archive.

There are lots of web sites offering free brushes and patterns in the Internet these days, but what sets Brusheezy apart is that it only offers quality brushes and patterns. The brushes and patterns in Brusheezy are made especially for this web site alone. They are not found anywhere in the web. With its clean and easy to navigate layout, everything about the site is aesthetically beautiful.

Brusheezy works on all browsers. Downloads are for free. Available brushes and patterns are for Adobe Photoshop 7.0 or later.

Go to Brusheezy

Show the Real Score in Style with amCharts


h1 Thursday, January 3rd, 2008

screenshot of amCharts

They say that numbers do not lie, and if you want to show the truth in your site, why not do it with style? With amCharts, bloggers and web designers who want to rattle off numbers in their site can do so with finesse.

amCharts offers free Pie and Donut, Line and Area, Column and Bar, as well as Scatter and Bubble flash charts that you can integrate in your web pages. Unlike the usual image-based charts, these charts are interactive, allowing your users to fully appreciate the significance of the numbers you are presenting. Downloaded as a zip file, you just need to extract the files to start working with charts. To configure the charts, you must have at least basic knowledge in coding HTML, as you need to modify some parts of the code in order to customize the charts. Help is available in amCharts' web site if you need directions on how to proceed. Another feature of amCharts is that you can choose where your data is coming from, either from CSV or XML. This gives you the flexibility to handle the numbers you want to display in your site. With amCharts, numbers and style do come together.

amCharts requires knowledge on HTML coding and design for integration.

Go to amCharts

Need Fonts? Check out 40+ Excellent Freefonts for Professional Design


h1 Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008

screenshot of 40+ Excellent Freefonts for Professional Design

Fonts can either make or break your site. This is why it is important to have a wide variety of fonts to choose from. Littered all over the Internet are free fonts but of low quality. The high quality ones can cost you a lot. Are free yet high quality fonts all but a dream? This article doesn't think so.

Showcased are 40+ high quality fonts available for download. Focusing on design, these fonts are perfect when you want to radiate professionalism in your site. With samples already shown in the page, there is no need for trial and error in downloading. You can just browse, choose and download which fonts you'd like to use. It must be noted, however, that some of the fonts are not available for certain systems. Another section of the article deals with the Pixel fonts. These fonts can be used on certain types of programs, such as Flash, or when very small yet still readable fonts are required. Most of the fonts are submitted under the Open Font License agreement, allowing you to use or distribute them as you see fit (following certain guidelines and conditions.) With these 40+ free fonts, professionalism need not be very pricey.

40+ Excellent Freefonts for Professional Design displays on most browsers.

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