Archive for the ‘Featured’ Category
| 28 Jan 2012 |
5 Reasons why your current webhost sucks and you should move to Bluehost |
There are millions of registered domains ranging from top level domains like .com, .net etc to regional country domains (.us, .co.uk, .de) and special domains (.md, .xxx, .co) which are all hosted on web servers.
Considering that you’re reading my post i’m pretty sure you are either looking for a better webhost, or just curious about what Bluehost can offer.
Click here to register at Bluehost for only $5.95/mo
Before i get started listing the reasons why your webhost sucks and you should move to bluehost, i have to mention that i’ve been with bluehost for over 5 years now, and this review represents my personal opinion about this webhost.
1. Bluehost has a monthly fee as low as 5.95$ and offers a wide range of features
6 bucks every month is nothing considering what you get in return: a free domain name, excellent reliability, loads of one click install scripts(powered by the amazing simplescripts, not the crappy fantastico almost every webhost offers)
Click to see the full feature list
2. Amazing support
Yeah, it happened to me too: the server went down and my sites were unavailable, so i promptly contacted the tech support. This happened a couple of times over the past 5 years and every time i’ve encountered an issue the staff clearly stated the issue(faulty ram, faulty hdd, etc) and ensured me my website will be up shortly and no data was lost what so ever.
3. Simplescripts script installer
As i’ve mentioned before, bluehost provides a service called SimpleScripts to all of its customers. Simplescripts is an advanced software installation service that can install automatically a huge variety of scripts: from blogging scripts to forum scripts, polls chat scripts etc. Trust me the fantastico software installer you’re using now is crap compared to simplescripts.
4. Extremely simple Google Apps integration
Lots of webhosts charge you a fee in order to be able to create email addresses linked to your own domain (e.g tom@thaslayer.com ). Other webhosts have the crappy web based email services. Why not have the ability to create your own email accounts which use Gmail(yes you’ve read it well). Google offers the app system free of charge and using the bluehost panel its easy to setup your domain to point its email servers to google’s gmail servers.
5. 30 day 100% money back guarantee
If within 30 days you are unsatisfied with Bluehost you can cancel anytime and get your payment 100% refunded.
Click here to register at Bluehost for only $5.95/mo
As i’ve mentioned the review above is based on my experience with bluehost, and if you are currently stuck at a crappy webhost i’m encouraging you to sign up with webhost and get relieved of all your hosting worries! Remember that bluehost offers a full 30days money back guarantee!
| 3 Nov 2011 |
The benefits of screen sharing to web developers and designers |
Screen sharing has fast become a vital tool for web designers and developers all over the world, having providing a real-time means of sharing content and project work with colleagues and clients, no matter where in the world they happen to be. However, there are still plenty in the web design and development industry who haven’t caught onto the benefits of the likes of screen sharing and web conferencing and continue to wait around for emails with huge, connection-slowing attachments to come through and ping confusing group emails back and forth.
While there have certainly been advancements to the various web services that enable the delivery of large files, there aren’t many that can compete with the usability and matchless communication advantages offered by free screen sharing and web conferencing software.
For far too long, one of the major drawbacks of a web designer or developer’s job was that all-too-familiar point when, after hours, days or even weeks spent meticulously constructing a project to specification, a client would think nothing of asking them to ‘just tweak one little thing’, causing a complete overhaul as a result. With instant web conferencing services, this whole crushing process can be avoided, enabling designers and developers to instantly communicate with one another and their clients.
Web conferencing itself has, in fact, completely overhauled the way that the likes of web design and development agencies now operate, day-to-day. Time is money, so with the frequency of tête-à-têtes between company representatives and their clients has been vastly reduced by such services, companies have been able to save thousands on travel expenses and the time and money it costs for their employees to go off site, proving that the development of web services is absolutely invaluable.
In the case of web designers and developers, screen sharing is perhaps the most useful of all the web services on offer, for pre-screen-sharing, endless hours were frittered away organising, travelling to and holding meetings, as well as waiting for large files to be transferred between the email servers of designers and clients. Now, all thanks to the wonderful free desktop sharing software that’s on the web today, associates can share work and allow open collaboration, wherever necessary, at the click of a mouse – no hassle necessary.
Some of the web’s very web conferencing software available today comes complete with a free trial, so there’s absolutely nothing stopping curious developers and designers dipping their toe in the inviting world of web conferencing and screen sharing.
| 6 Dec 2009 |
17 Amazing Twitter bird icon sets which you probably haven’t seen before |
Taking a glimpse at the web you can easily realize that Twitter is no longer a trend, but a lifestyle. Millions around the world are talking about what they are doing in the exact minute of posting, they are sharing ideas and having conversations , just like via an instant messaging client. The best part is that anyone can join a conversation!
You can see the twitter bird icon on millions of websites, and what you can notice is that many websites use the same icons(maybe you too!) and this is the time when you can start wondering “why shouldn’t i be different?”. This is where the talented artists come in, who release amazing icons and icon packs(mostly on deviant art).
I’ve done some research and collected 17 icons & sets which will get your blog, website or forum readers look out to the tweet icon.
Amazing Twitter bird icon sets
Remember to read the licensing of every icon/icon set on the download pages!
1. Twitter Icons .PSD
2. Free twitter bird icons
3. Twitter Bird
4. Adiumy Twitter
5. Blue Bird Twitter Icon Pack
6. Twitter Icons Pack
7. Twitter Icon BIRRRDFON
8. Twitter Replacement
9. Twitter dock icons
10. Twitter Icon Pack 1
11. Twitter Icon Pack 2
12. Twitter Icon Pack 3
13. TwitterJoy icons
14. The GodTwitter Follow Button
15. Twitter Icon
16. Twitter Space Icons
17. IconTexto Twitter Buttons
Free twitter bird icons by ~Stockgraphicdesigns
| 13 Jun 2009 |
T.I. Ft. Justin Timberlake – Dead And Gone [inspiration music video] |
I heard this song quite a few times on the radio while @ work, or going to college or to work. The lyrics are really really catchy, but the music video is simply brilliant! I watched it like 10 times and listened to it like 50 times(today).
An other thing i like about T.I. that he doesn’t rap about crap. For example: 50 cent raps about bitchez, cocaine, guns, violence, while T.I. raps about learning from your mistakes and not doing the things you see on tv and in movies. This song is about the morale of life. (the video was made just before T.I. went to jail for 1 year and 1 day)
| 5 Mar 2009 |
TS Ad Integration v2.0 – You’ve got the power! |
TS Ad Integrartion v 2.0 is the latest major upgrade of slayer’s custom widgets v1.0 which was released last year in august.
What does it do?
The main purpose of this plugin is to help you monetize your blog, in a smart way i mean. Ad Integration is an all-in-one ad managing platform which lets you create, manage and assign ads to your posts and sidebar as widgets (new feature).
Just as at Custom Widgets 2.0 the management and options panels were tuned up to fit the WordPress 2.7 design, and along with the tune-up we removed useless elements which used up the space. By this way everything got more organized and cleaner.
Assign Ads as sidebar widgets
Did i mention that you can now add your ads as sidebar widgets? I think i did, but eh here’s a quick in-depth look:
After setting the ad location as Sidebar Widget the plugin will automatically create a widget which you will be able to add to your widgetized sidebar from the good old widgets page. And there you have it, you can manage the ads from your sidebar also 
How do i use it?
After you’ve installed and activated the plugin a stand alone meu item will appear right below the main menu. This provides quick access to the Custom Widgets management section.
Main Management panel
There are 3 main segments in the management panel: The ads display box, The Options box and the Donation box.
The Ads display box will show all the Ads you’ve setup. Those ads which are written in light grey aren’t public, and those which are written in black are live and running.
The Options box is meant to give you more flexibility and it allows you to define a custom css for the ads and even add html code to appear before or after the ad. The max ad count per page defines the maximum number of ads that should appear in the same time on a page.(category pages, tag pages, etc).
Adding a new Ad
Things can’t get simpler than this! Adding a new ad takes just seconds(after a bit of practice of course) and you will easily realize that Ad Integration is a very powerful ad management plugin and it will save you a lot of time and earn you a lot of money(hopefully).
To distingush one ad from an other give a title to your ad(will be visible only to you via the management panel) and insert the html code. The exciting new feature in this release is thge much requested show in sidebar option which if delected will create a widget that will addable to your sidebar from the widget managemenet section.
If you choose to inser the ad into posts you can choose it’s location and it’s alignment. The final step of the new ad setup is the publish function where you can select to publish the ad or not.
Editing An Ad
You can easily edit an ad by clicking the Edit button in the right part of your ad management panel. This will take you to a page where you can edit your ad: rename it,change the code and it contains all the settings which were present on the Add new ad page + EXTRAS.
The extras consist in two handy features:
1) You can choose wether to load the ad automatically or manually. Loading the ad manually means that you will have to inser the generated code() into your post for the ad to show up.
2) By default after adding a new ad it will be automatically activated. You can deactivate it by selecting the No tickbox and saving the changes.
Download Ad Integration 2.0
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Installation
***To upgrade from Ad Integration 1.0 to v2.0 simply overwrite the old files with the new ones.
1) Download the .zip file to your computer and log into your wordpress admin panel.
2) In your admin panel head over to the plugins section and select the Add new segment. Browse to the custom widgets.zip file and click the Install button. WordPress will unzip the plugin and install it for you after which press the Activate Plugin button.
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Support us by donating
We work our asses off to release new plugins and themes for free. Working for free isn’t very motivating as you might know. If you wish to make a small contribution(you will be redirected to a paypal secure page) feel free to use the widget below.Once the donation meter fills up we will release a new theme and a new exciting plugin!
| 25 Feb 2009 |
5 Great icon sets for web design |
I browsed the web and did lots of lookups till i managed to gather these 6 icon packs(some of them you most probably haven’t seen). They are all awsome icon packs and perfect for personal projects. Remember that all icon set preview are linked to the author’s websites.
1) Monofactor Vector Icon Pack 1
As the title says these icons come in .Ai format(Adobe illustrator), the author recommends you open the pack with Illustrator above v8.0(CS). These icons are free to use on personal projects. If you wish to use them on commercial projects(from where you earn money) you need to purchase the commercial license which costs $50.
2) Pixelresort Pixelicious Icon Pack
Its pretty useless for me to write a description of the pack, because the author has already written one which contains all the essence:
“150 pixelcrafted icons mainly intended for developers. These have been a few months in the making, so enjoy them and put them to good use. The Icons are free for personal use or non profit organisations.”
3) Function Icon Set
The guys behind Wefunction.com really put lots of hard work in creating the icon pack. The pack contains 128 high quality 48x48px icons. This is their first icon pack and i must say it turned out wicked! The pack also contains social media icons. All icons have a sleek glossy look which you will definitely love. You have the right to use the icons anywhere.
4) On-Stage Vector PSD Icon Set
The pack contains 49 vector icons accompanied by their PSD forms. You may use the icons anywhere for free, but you may not redistribute or sell them w/o smashing magazine and the author’s permission! The icons were made by deziner folio(you know him form his famous wp themes) and the icon’s quality isn’t below his wp theme’s quality!
5) Aquaticus.Social
Social.me is an icon set consisting of 30 individual icons of the popular social networks/Web 2.0 sites out there Mmmm yummy! Thgese awsome icons will get you more thumbs up and traffic. The pack contains the sharing icons in 4 different sizes(size DOES matter). They were released under Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported which means you can share the icons but you may not alter their original form.
| 19 Feb 2009 |
5 Awesome fresh free wordpress themes |
Nowadays its getting harder and harder to find some decent free themes, but luckaly there are still some designers which release free high-quality themes. After 1 hours of research i gathered 5 awsome themes which were recently released.
Comfy News theme arrives from the creator of Guzel Magazine theme, Gabfire. As usual the theme design is extraordinary and makes some premium theme designers feel ashamed.
“Comfy comes with many features, some of them are basic magazine features such as dropdown navigation, feedburner subscription, advertisement spots, featured entries, ajax tabs, widget-ready, gravatars built-in, and more. [...] utilized jQuery to make the widgets fully controllable, you can minimize, maximize, or close any widget from homepage.“
As the author states the theme has some awsome features and its definitely worth checking out.
Theme Name: Comfy News theme
Theme Demo: Testrun Comfy
Theme Release Post: Comfy WordPress News Theme is released
Compositio was designed by Elena of Design Disease and as usual released by smashing magazine . Its a cool theme but a bit too clean, lets be serious now, besides the comment section and box there’s nothing special in it. It has the same old structure as the other free design disease themes do.
Theme Name: Compositio
Theme Demo: Testrun Compositio
Theme Release Post: Compositio: Clean, Beautiful and Free WordPress Theme
The Emplode wordpress theme is based on the Emplode website template by the same author. It was a good move to release it for the wordpress platform also. There aren’t many special features i could mention besides the clean look of the theme and how appealing it is.
Theme Name: Emplode
Theme Demo: Testrun Emplode
Theme Release Post: WordPress Theme: Emplode
I can watch movies(long name) theme was made by ACosmin who’s themes were featured quite a few times in my theme relases. It’s a cool theme but still i have a hard time deciding if it’s a retro or a 3d theme. It has a more out-of the ordinary look, and i’m sure many of you will find it appealing.
Theme Name: I can watch movies
Theme Demo: Testrun I can watch movies
Theme Release Post: Free wordpress theme – I can watch movies
Magasin Tres is an awsome magaizne theme. It would have been even more awsome if it’s width would have been 90% fluid, but eh, the fixed version looks good also. Its main features are: Featured Post, Feedburner Email Subscription, Twitter Account integration, Flirck Thumbnails, Automatic Thumbnail Resizer, Adsense ready with advertising blocks easily customizible via an Option Page.
Theme Name: Magasin Tres
Theme Demo: Testrun Magasin Tres
Theme Release Post: WordPress Theme: Magasin Tres
That’s it for this week. See you in next week’s post.
| 7 Feb 2009 |
Photoshop CS4 more powerful and lightewighter than CS2 |
Okay, now this is unbelievable, BETng4U installed Photoshop CS4 and on the other day he was telling me about how better CS 4 runs on his system(he has a PC similar to mine). Yesterday night i removed CS2, and installed CS4(trial version), and i have to say that it’s tempting me to buy CS4 and let CS2 go.
We all know that CS3 was a huge resource hog, many designers hated it(just like people hate vista now), and now that Adobe came out with CS4 which doesn’t devour your system everyone seems to be in love with it.
To check if my colleague was really right about performance and resource consumption i did a small test: Before uninstalling CS2 i opened up a PSD in it and checked how much memory it eats, after which i did the same thing in CS4 and voila CS4 ate about 31MB memory less than CS2. Same PSD, different photoshop version. Check pics below(enlargeable)
During the next 30 days i’ll do some more extensive testing and work with it, after the month passes i’ll decide if i’ll permanently switch from CS2 to CS4.
| 22 Jan 2009 |
11 Awesome Futuristic Wallpapers |
It’s simply amazing what artists can do with photoshop or paint shop pro. Their talent is reflected in the wallpapers below:
This wallpaper simply blew my mind. It combines the planets + stars with thunders and runes of a mountain in full harmony.
Yet an other wallpaper by ‘Alyn based on the artwork The Fate of Atlantis.
This wallpaper shows the mega-developed industrial earth where the humans have gained full domination over nature.
It started with a boom, so why shouldn’t it end with one? Earth’s devastation is closer than you think.
This is a beautiful fractal wallpaper. It’s pleasant to the eyes and makes a wonderful desktop background.
I still couldn’t figure out what the wallpaper wants to show. I think it’s a flaming worm hole or something like that.
An other collision wallpaper. This time a planet is hit from an other angle by s high-power asteroid(or missile?).
In the future most probably earth will turn into a huge industrial planet where waist will be dumped everywhere killing nature.
There is a realm that supports everything & all, even the very realms that support life itself. This is the Realm Of Existence, its form full of mysteries, full of life, full of secrecy.
The true devastating power of the volcanoes is unveiled in this wallpaper. Beware, you might get drawn in.
